Ones Who Live Creators Discuss Michonne’s Journey

Warning: This article contains spoilers about The Walking Dead: Those Who Live episode 2, “Gone.”

last week the those who livewe saw everything Rick Grimes had been through since he left The Walking Dead in season 9. This week, it was Michonne’s turn.

Although the couple surprisingly reunited at the end of the premiere, this week’s installment, titled “Gone,” once again showed us what Danai Gurira’s character had been through since leaving the mothership series in season 10. And that It meant picking right where her Season 10 final scene ended, with her helping a couple who had been left behind due to an injury that was holding them back.

Was that always the plan when Gurira was shot? TWD exit? “Absolutely,” showrunner Scott M. Gimple tells EW. “That’s why we cast Breeda Wool and Andrew Bachelor (as the couple). They are both great actors. They were in that last episode for 10 seconds. I don’t know if we would have chosen that caliber of actor for the 10 seconds. The reason I wanted to cast those people was because I knew there was a bigger story to tell.”

And the story shows how that decision in season 10 ultimately leads to Michonne’s reunion with Rick. “At the end of that story, she said, ‘I have to find Rick.’ Oh. Shit, these people need help. I have to do it’. And now you can see that, wow, the fact that she helped those people is what ultimately led her to Rick. So yes, it was the plan.”

The most heartbreaking moment in Michonne’s journey occurred when, after spending a year recovering from a CRM gas attack, she and her new partner Nat (Matthew August Jeffers) sat by a campfire and Nat essentially gave Michonne permission to to return home to his children. and I still think Rick was there, telling him, “You can know when to go. You can do both. “It’s not giving up.”

It was the most important scene of the episode for Gurira. “There comes a point where she goes home,” says the actress and executive producer. “As determined as she was to fight while being sprayed with bleach and all that, she still sought to continue the fight and get to him. But there comes that moment when even she has to accept things.”

And that acceptance made me cry. Lots of tears. “That moment for her in the fire is really a moment of letting go in a way that is unprecedented for her,” Gurira says. “In a way she breaks it, but she also strengthens it. Because she is a mission-driven person and a love-driven person, she now has to go to her other loves, to her children, and there she will become her destiny. So that aspect of her breaking through to that point and then meeting him right at that point is this mirror. They’re kind of mirror episodes in that sense, because she’s not the one letting go the way she finally does in that episode.”

Of course, this being The Walking Dead franchise, not everyone got a happy ending in the episode, as Nat ultimately paid with his life when he was shot dead by a CRM soldier. It was a brutal end for a character who had such a huge impact in a single episode. “What a glorious death,” Gurira says. “That was a fantastic death. His death was a beautiful thing. He was looking like, ‘Wow, look at that.’ That is a great death. That is amazing.'”

Gurira found work from her co-star Jeffers, with whom she also performed on stage in Richard III – equally commendable. “He is simply an impressive young man and I can’t wait for the world to meet him in this role. I think he was absolutely fantastic.”

Andrew Lincoln agrees. “I agree with you. So much charisma, that gentleman. What a great actor.”

This marks the second episode in a row. those who live has introduced a seemingly important character only to kill him off before the first episode was over. They did it last week with Okafor, Craig Tate’s CRM officer, and this week with Nat. Simply the cost of doing business in this world, Gurira says. “That’s the show, man. That’s the show! That is walking Dead idea that we’re going to make you love someone, but this world doesn’t allow people to move on. It’s so dangerous that you can’t get too attached to anyone, really. that’s vintage Walking Dead.”

But while Okafor and Nat may not be the ones who live, the characters will live on in terms of the impact they had on Richonne. “The reverberation of these characters in Michonne and Rick repeats throughout the rest of the season,” says Lincoln. “They inform and make decisions and help these characters make decisions later in the story arc. So that they don’t die. In a way they continue.”

Speaking of which, Rick tells Michonne that in order to survive, she needs to hide who she really is and not show the CRM that she is a leader. But knowing what we know about Michonne, is that possible? “Michonne exudes a power, charisma and strength that is hard to hide,” says Gimple. “And then you can ask him to hide it. She might even try to hide it. I don’t know if she will be able to hide it.”

The Walking Dead: Those Who Live airs at 9 pm ET/PT on AMC.

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