Daryl (Norman Reedus) washes up on a beach, tied to a capsized boat. Exhausted, he collapses on the sand. He is parched, but half-buried in the sand further up the beach is a child’s plastic bucket. It could be full of saltwater or dog urine, but he gulps its contents without doing so much as a finger test.

Leaving the beach, Daryl figures out he is in France when he sees a French sign. He is unmoved by this discovery, or perhaps so shaken by it that his face is briefly paralyzed. He plods onwards, and likely realizes around the same time as we do that France, like the cast of The Walking Dead, looks hot even in the apocalypse. 

He finds a boat, which helpfully contains some bottled water, a map, and a dictaphone with working batteries, twelve years into the apocalypse. Oh la la! The British owner of the boat voice-journaled, and we see a montage of Daryl cooking fish and looking at the map as he listens. Tragically, the Brit’s wife died, and he speaks mournfully on the tape of how his daughter wants to go home. Daryl does too. He picks up a stuffed penguin as he contemplates home. Is this a sniggering gesture towards the fact that he will shortly meet a different kind of “penguin,” in the form of a nun? I very much fear it is. 

Tonight, the newest spinoff of the The Walking Dead franchise, Daryl Dixon, hits AMC and AMC Plus. In the series, Daryl (Norman Reedus) washes ashore in France where he travels across the country hoping to make his way home. On the way, he meets a group of people who complicate that goal, including nun Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), from the Union de L’Espoir (Union of Hope), who thinks that Daryl is the one to escort Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), who they believe to be humanity’s greatest hope, across the country to a place called The Nest. Causing further complications, is soldier Codron (Romain Levi), hell-bent on killing him, who works for the political group Pouvoir des Vivantes, and their leader, Genet (Anne Charrier).

Recently, Scigliuzzi, Levi, and Charrier, along with Eriq Ebouaney, who plays Fallou, spoke with the media about the new series. SciFi Vision was on hand to ask the group to talk about what it was like joining such a popular franchise.

The young Scigliuzzi admitted that he didn’t know much about the original series, but added that it does, however, mean a lot to him.

The adult performers, however, were more familiar with the franchise. “I was a fan,” Charrier told the site. “I'd seen all the seasons, so being a part of it was just amazing…I think fans like me would have never thought they could be a part of the show.”

***The following contains slight spoilers***

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) is a man in crisis in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon: a physical crisis, a spiritual crisis, and, apparently, an identity crisis. The six-episode series, a second season of which is currently in production, has a fresh aesthetic, an accomplished supporting cast, and a title which is occasionally necessary as a reminder of who the man on screen is intended to be.

Beautifully filmed, with a soundtrack of wistful French songs and haunting orchestral numbers, the latest offering from The Walking Dead universe features an excellent, mostly French cast alongside Reedus, including Clémence Poésy, Adam Nagaitis, Anne Charrier, Eriq Ebouaney, Laїka Blanc-Francard, Romain Levi, and Louis Puech Scigliuzzi. France offers exquisite backdrops for the story.

But the shiny new setting only emphasizes how unfamiliar Reedus’s character has become. One wonders how much the lack of narrative coherence has to do with the “pretty late in the game” transition away from the Angela Kang–led spinoff featuring Daryl alongside Melissa McBride’s Carol Peletier. In the wake of that tumultuous change, we’re left with an often shaky premise centered on themes of fatherhood, fate, and finding one’s purpose.

At long last, Invasion is back! Fans of the sci-fi drama have waited two long years for the show’s second season, which debuted this week exclusively on Apple TV+. Ten new episodes will drop each Wednesday until the season finale on October 25.

And by all accounts, it was worth the wait. After a first season built around the character development, season two dials up the action. We rejoin the survivors four months later, as the reality of the alien invasion has set in, and humanity begins to fight back. Trevante, Aneesha, Mitsuki, Casper and Jamila are still scattered around the globe, still experiencing the invasion in very different ways, but across the ten episodes viewers will see a more complete picture of the aliens and their capabilities.

Just before the season premiere, SciFi Vision spoke with director Alik Sakharov, who helmed four of the first five episodes (201,202, 203 and 205). Anyone who has watched premium cable or streaming in the last 15 years knows Alik Sakharov’s work as a director of photography on HBO’s Rome, Game of Thrones and an incredible 38 episodes of The Sopranos. He has also directed many episodes of Thrones, the Starz hit Black Sails, Netflix’s House of Cards and The Witcher, and Hulu’s Ozark, for which he received an Emmy nomination.

Tonight, AMC airs the fourth episode of season two of Dark Winds. In last week’s episode, the assassin, Colton Wolf (Nicholas Logan), who previously shot Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), followed him into the hospital where he was recovering, but Chee was able to skillfully fight him off before the assassin got away again. In tonight’s episode, while Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) risks his life in pursuit of Wolf, Chee will consider a new proposition that could put him in more danger.

Recently, Gordon spoke with SciFi Vision about season two, including what it was like working with Jeri Ryan, the fight scene in the hospital, and more.

In Harlan Coben’s Shelter, which premieres today on Prime Video, Jaden Michael stars as Mickey Bolitar, who after the sudden and unexpected death of his father, is forced to start a new life with his aunt, Shira (Constance Zimmer), in Kasselton, New Jersey. Mickey quickly discovers that the quiet suburban town is not all it seems when another new student at the school, Ashley Kent (Samantha Bugliaro), goes missing. As he and his friends, Spoon (Adrian Greensmith) and Ema (Abby Corrigan), try to find Ashley, they end up mixed up in something that goes way deeper than just one missing student. Finding her may unravel the mystery of decades of disappearances and maybe even secrets from Mickey’s own family history. 

Michael recently spoke with SciFi Vision about working on the series inspired by the novel, including why he was torn taking the role, connecting with the character emotionally, Mickey’s relationship with Spoon and Ema, and more.

Recently, the second season of Heels premiered on Starz. The series is about the men and women who dream of making it big in their world of small-town pro wrestling. The story follows two brothers, and rivals, Jack (Stephen Amell) and Ace Spade (Alexander Ludwig), in a small Georgian community, who own a wrestling promotion. In the latest episode, Ace took off to find himself. In the upcoming all-new episode airing on Friday, when Jack leaves to find his brother, he leaves Willie Day (Mary McCormack) in charge, giving her the opportunity to write scripts and start developing a Woman’s Division with Crystal (Kelli Berglund). The actress recently spoke with SciFi Vision about Willie’s new responsibilities, what about her character’s journey surprised her, how she most connects with the character, and more. 

The new reality series Survive the Raft, which is hosted by Nate Boyer, follows nine contestant from a variety of diverse backgrounds as they set sail and live together on the Acali II for twenty-one days. With each challenge they win, the team earns money that goes towards a group pot that will be divided among the contestants who remain at the end of the journey. At the end of each episode, the crew is given the option to continue with the same group or switch out one of the contestants for someone new. A social experiment, the show will test whether personal gain will ruin their chance to split the prize as they are tempted along the way. Will the good of the group outweigh what’s good for one?

Boyer recently spoke with SciFi Vision about the series, why it’s unique, and why he chose to be a part of the experiment.

Season two of Dark Winds returns tonight to AMC. In season two, Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) and his former deputy turned private eye Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) are reunited when their cases cross paths. With the help of Sgt. Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten), they must stop a killer who is protecting a secret close to Leaphorn and his past. 

Matten recently spoke with SciFi Vision about her character’s journey in season two, Bernadette and Jim’s relationship this season, conquering her fear of horses, holding in laughter behind the scenes, and much more.

Today season two of Heels premieres on Starz. The series is set in a close-knit Georgia community and follows a family-owned wrestling promotion and the men and women wrestlers as they try to make it. The series stars Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig as brothers and wrestling rivals Jack and Ace. Season two picks up after the success of the Duffy Wrestling League at the South Georgia State fair as they prepare to make a deal with a streaming service and take it national. Meanwhile, rival promotion Florida Wrestling Dystopia’s Gully seeks revenge.

Amell and Ludwig recently spoke with the press about what fans could expect this season. The two talked about their characters’ relationship as brothers in season two with SciFi Vision. “For Jack, I think it's become a little bit less about worrying about Ace or worrying about Staci or worrying about Thomas or the DWL,” Amell told the site. “He's more focusing on handling his own business and taking accountability for his actions, and the way that he's behaved since his father killed himself, which has been, I think, well intentioned, but misguided, and has hurt people. So, this is very much about him just not trying to wave a magic wand [to] make everything better with everyone all at once, but just taking accountability for his actions, specifically with Ace and Staci…which is a fun thing to play.”

“Ace is trying to pick up the pieces,” Ludwig told SciFi Vision. “He's still a complete mess after what happened. There's a huge rift between the brothers. This show [is] not just a wrestling show. It's about family, and it's about identity. Ace is trying to find his identity in the ring and outside of the ring. What I love about this season so much is not only do the women lead the charge, and you get to see that on a whole other front, which is, I think, really exciting with this backdrop, but you get to see the inklings of what this could be with Jack and Ace, how big this actually could be.”