Merle Dixon

A racist, misogynistic survivor who becomes the Governor's enforcer.

Merle Dixon is a fictional character from the horror drama television series The Walking Dead, created by series developer Frank Darabont and portrayed by Michael Rooker. He is a Southern redneck hunter and the older brother of Daryl Dixon, whose misogynistic and racist behavior creates conflict within his survivor group. The character, an original creation with no counterpart in the comic books, later becomes the right-hand man of The Governor in the community of Woodbury, Georgia.

Quick Facts

Series

The Walking Dead

First

"Guts" (2010)

Last

"This Sorrowful Life" (2013)

Portrayed by

Michael Rooker

Voice

Michael Rooker (Survival Instinct)

Creator

Frank Darabont

Family

Will Dixon (father)
Daryl Dixon (brother)
Jess Collins (half-uncle)
William T. Dixon (grandfather)

Facts from the source article.

Did You Know?

Merle is a main character in the 2013 video game The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, which focuses on him and Daryl during the early days of the apocalypse.
He also appears in the 2023 video game The Walking Dead: Destinies.
Rooker lost a significant amount of weight in preparation for the role in the third season.

Appearances

Merle Dixon is the older brother of Daryl Dixon. Raised by a neglectful and abusive father after losing their mother, Merle spent time in juvenile detention and later served in the United States Army, where he once punched out five teeth of a non-commissioned officer after mouthing off. Before the outbreak, he was a drug dealer and user. In the episode 'Guts', Merle joins a group scavenging in Atlanta and, atop a department store roof, fires a rifle at walkers despite the group's protests.

He insults T-Dog with a racist slur and beats him in a fight before Rick Grimes punches him and handcuffs him to a pipe. T-Dog is left to watch Merle but accidentally drops the handcuff keys into a vent while the group seeks an escape, forcing T-Dog to abandon Merle and chain the rooftop door shut. In 'Tell It to the Frogs', as walkers breach the building, Merle uses his belt to reach a hacksaw from a spilled toolbox and cuts off his own hand to free himself.

Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, and Glenn return to the roof and find evidence of the self-mutilation; they follow a blood trail through the store but cannot locate him. Their truck is later missing, possibly taken by Merle during his escape.

Development and reception

Michael Rooker described Merle as a survivor of the zombie apocalypse who was already an asshole before the outbreak, adding that it is unclear whether he would be a good leader, though Merle believes he would be. Robert Kirkman praised Rooker's performance, calling the episode 'Guts' 'The Michael Rooker Show' for one solid episode. Kirkman also noted that Rooker is a friendly, boisterous person despite often playing villains, and that his character is important as the first truly dangerous human the group encounters.

Rooker ad-libbed frequently, occasionally exceeding the show's cursing limit. Eric Goldman of IGN disliked Merle's introduction, calling him 'ridiculous'. Leonard Pierce of The A.V. Club wrote that Merle behaves unlike anyone in his situation would and seems to exist only to cause dramatically convenient trouble, though he acknowledged that leaving him to die leaves a bad taste. Rooker confirmed his return in the second-season episode 'Chupacabra' at a 2011 convention, noting that fans unexpectedly embraced Merle and that the character's unpredictability made him like a boogeyman. Kirkman expressed hope that Rooker would appear regularly on the series.