‘The Walking Dead’ dog actor Seven has died

Norman Reedus has paid tribute after Seven, his canine companion on The Walking Dead, passed away.

The news of the dog actor’s death was announced on the show’s official social media channels, with an Instagram post reading: “Rest in peace, Seven. TWD’s best boy.”

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Reedus also took to his Instagram Stories to share the news, writing: “Gonna miss u Seven. Best tv buddy ever.”

Seven’s “Dog” character was first introduced in The Walking Dead as a companion of Lynn Collins’ Leah. After Leah vanishes in Season 10, Reedus’ Daryl ends up finding and adopting the canine, naming him simply “Dog”.

Dog survived to the very end of the show and was last seen in the series finale of The Walking, which aired in 2022. Daryl last saw his companion when he left to search for Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), with Judith (Cailey Fleming) promising to look after the pooch for him.

On working with Seven, Reedus previously told ComicBook: “It’s so good. I love it. I think he’s the smartest cast member we got.

“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. It’s great! I love it. He loves me, too.”

On incorporating the dog in the series, then-showrunner Angela Kang told Entertainment Weekly: “So we were talking about, how can we show the state that Daryl’s in? And I thought that it would be great that he’s been off for a while after Rick’s presumed death. Daryl just went off. And Daryl is somebody who hunts and goes about and does things, and it seemed like a dog is a good companion. It shows that there’s still a desire for him to have a connection somehow. And so the dog is his faithful companion.”

Kang also previously explained that Reedus helped pick the dog for show. “He kept texting me pictures of adorable dogs for weeks. And the two dogs that play the dog are great. The main dog, his name is Seven, and he is just so adorable and such a great dog. So it’s a lot of fun seeing Norman work with the pup finally.”

Reedus recently starred in his own spin-off series, titled The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. The show received a mostly positive response from critics and fans, although some noted clear similarities to HBO’s The Last Of Us.