A Belgian shepherd called Seven, who featured as Dog on the last three seasons of the hit zombie series The Walking Dead, has died.
The television drama’s official Instagram page broke the news, posting a photo album of the canine and writing: ‘Rest in peace, Seven. #TWD’s best boy.’
Dog is the longtime loyal companion of one of the show’s principal characters, the taciturn Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus.
Norman shared his own heartfelt tribute to Seven on social media, uploading a string of pictures of them together to his Insta Stories.
‘Gonna miss u seven,’ wrote the 55-year-old actor, adding a broken heart emoji before concluding: ‘Best tv buddy ever.’
A Belgian shepherd called Seven, who featured as Dog on the last three seasons of the hit zombie series The Walking Dead, has died; pictured behind the scenes with Norman Reedus
Dog was introduced on season nine and became an instant fan favorite, as well as one of the lucky characters to survive to the blood-soaked show’s finale.
The Walking Dead was infamous for killing off beloved characters and viewers used to joke on social media that they would ‘riot’ if Dog died.
Dog winds up with Daryl after being abandoned by Daryl’s love interest Leah Shaw, who was played by True Blood actress Lynn Collins.
Seven was the first dog Norman had ever worked with, and he waxed rhapsodic about the experience during a 2018 interview.
‘I love it. I think he’s the smartest cast member we got,’ the Florida-born actor quipped while speaking with ComicBook.com.
‘We just did a scene the other day that ended up being the opposite of what it was supposed to be because the dog just wanted to do something else, and it came out so much better. He’ll probably be running the show.’
Norman was full of praise for Seven, saying that the experience of acting alongside his furry co-star was ‘great! I love it. He loves me, too.’
In his offscreen life, Norman used to have a rescue cat called Eye In The Dark, who became a social media sensation in his own right.
Dog is the longtime loyal companion of one of the show’s principal characters, the taciturn Daryl Dixon, played by Norman
‘Gonna miss u seven,’ wrote the 55-year-old actor, adding a broken heart emoji before concluding: ‘Best tv buddy ever’
Seven was the first dog Norman had ever worked with, and he waxed rhapsodic about the experience during a 2018 interview
When Norman adopted Eye In The Dark from a shelter in Manhattan’s East Village, he was informed the cat was ‘never gonna love you.’
Eye In The Dark then ‘scratched my neck up in the cab on the way back’ from the shelter, Norman shared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
However Norman’s son Mingus, 24, whom he shares with his supermodel ex Helena Christensen, apparently took the warning as a challenge.
Mingus, who was then five, ‘kinda just threw a basketball at it and trapped it under a trash can until he broke it like a horse, and now it’s this loving cat,’ Norman dished.
The cat enjoyed years of internet celebrity, including with a fan account on Twitter, until Mingus announced in March 2022 that Eye In The Dark had died.
Along with Mingus, Norman shares a five-year-old daughter with his longtime love Diane Kruger, whom he has been with since 2016.
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