Walking Dead's Danai Gurira Talks That Shocking Moment Between Michonne & Rick!

SPOILER ALERT! Don’t continue if you don’t want to know what happened on tonight’s The Walking Dead.

Danai Gurira, who plays Michonne on The Walking Dead, just opened up about her character’s hookup with Rick (Andrew Lincoln).

“I had a pretty good inkling something was coming soon between the characters, but when I read it I was still kind of surprised. There was something surprising seeing those names on the page doing that. Seeing it in writing was like, “Whoaaaa!” I was kind of thrown,” the 38-year-old actress told Variety. “We have a lot of fans who are very much about these two being together and they were picking up on something that was definitely there. I picked up on something since the episode ‘Clear’ in season 3. Mr. Gimple had written that episode. He wasn’t making all the calls at that point, it was before he was showrunner, but we actually chatted about it even then.”

Click inside to read more about what Danai Gurira had to say about the hookup…

On if it felt like it was planned: “I think Mr. Gimple was playing a very long game with it, which is very impressive. He didn’t want us to get ahead of it which is why we were never informed – we chatted but he never explicitly told me. That was really smart because it really was about the characters staying in the moment of the journey of how intimate they became as friends over these seasons. In terms of everything: their mutual connection to Carl, the way she trusts him and he trusts her, the way they can talk to each other with a glance, they work really closely together – it was something that was definitely building over the course of the seasons. We felt these characters had a very interesting connection, but it was in the realm of friendship until it wasn’t. I think the timing is really perfect because the last episode they bonded even more deeply as a result of what happened and almost losing Carl. They seamlessly worked as a team to save him and get him to Denise. It was really clear to me how much [Michonne] loved both [Rick and Carl]. When she had one on the table but couldn’t do anything more for him and the other one walked out the door into the fray – I really felt like this was the first time I was experiencing Michonne panicking. She really could not bear the idea of losing both of them in one day. She had to do all she could to not let that happen. The bonding of that experience and the fact they have a newly formed life now – it’s two months later, they get Carl back, and they’re able to rebuild Alexandria. Rick transformed as well. He’s able to take on all that Deanna used to say and that Michonne would encourage him to believe – to come to Alexandria and consider himself one of these people. He’s now much more hopeful and I think that’s something that appeals to Michonne as well. They’re in a place where they can actually allow their hearts to express themselves. Things are stable and better, they have a new lease on life.”

On if she thinks any fans will reject the notion of their hookup: “What I thought was great about it was it’s really submission to the organic progression of two characters. That’s what I like. I like storytelling that’s truthful. The idea of saying we shouldn’t do it because with certain types of characters you don’t want to see that side of them, it sounds like an imposed concept rather than following a story’s organic progression. To me that sounds like copping out of going in a direction these characters are naturally going in. They’re living in the same house for God’s sake. They have so much in common and they’re so connected that it just makes sense they find each other this way. And it would be strange if Michonne never explored this part of herself. She is a full woman. As a playwright, when I’ve researched war zones – people fall in love in war zones because they’re in a life and death circumstance and they’re able to get to the truth of things.”