Actor Jimmy Smits has joined the fourth and final season of AMC+'s "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon", with the streamer confirming a 2027 premiere and releasing a teaser trailer. The casting matters as it signals the show is building towards a dramatic conclusion, bringing in a recognisable name to play a character with a mysterious connection to lead character Daryl Dixon, teased in the clip's closing line, "Welcome home, son."

Smits will play Captain Alejandro Perkins, a former US Navy officer and medical doctor who has found an unusual way to survive the zombie apocalypse. The final season will follow Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) across the ravaged badlands of Spain as they cling to hope amid growing uncertainty about their future, continuing the show's European storyline. The series, executive produced by David Zabel, Scott M. Gimple and others, also stars Romain Levi, Eduardo Noriega, Óscar Jaenada, Candela Saitta and Hugo Arbués; Smits previously reprised his role in Showtime's "Dexter: Resurrection".