The Walking Dead season 6, episode 10, “The Next World,” will go down in fandom history as one of the series’ most memorable episodes.
Not only because Rick and Michonne finally birthed Richonne. Not only because their lovemaking was as good as we could’ve hoped for it to be. Also for this reason: Butts.
The final few seconds of TWD 6×10 depicted Rick and Michonne lying in bed after (what is believed to be) their first time sleeping together. Things are peaceful — blissful, even! — when Jesus makes a surprise appearance in the bedroom.
Jesus isn’t looking for a threesome (that would probably be unholy, after all). He’s looking to talk to Rick after their various scuffles earlier in the episode.
Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln spoke to TV Line after the episode aired and explained how that scene came to fruition. As it turns out, Lincoln and Michonne actress Danai Gurira were the ones who came up with the full-moon shot:
When it came time to shoot the climactic scene in which Jesus (Tom Payne) interrupts Rick and Michonne’s morning-after canoodle session, Lincoln recalls asking his leading lady, “How are we going to top the kiss?” The short answer: More nudity!
As the actor explains, Angela Kang and Corey Reed’s original script called for an au naturel Michonne to “cover herself” with a sheet upon jumping out of bed. “Danai said, ‘No, she wouldn’t. She’d go for her sword.’ And I said, ‘Yeah. And Rick would go for his gun. And we’d both be naked.’
“So we campaigned for the butt-crack shot [at the end],” Lincoln adds, proudly. “That wasn’t in the script. We both said, ‘If we’re going to do it, let’s *do* it.’”
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We love that Andrew and Danai wanted to take the scene a step further. By going there, they blew away any and all fan expectations for a single Richonne introduction episode.
Richonne wasn’t the only highlight from The Walking Dead 6×10. After such a dramatic mid-season opener during 6×09, the series gave us a well-earned break from the horror with lots of memorable moments between Rick/Daryl (like each of them admitting that the other was right about searching for more humans) and Rick/Michonne.
This is an apocalypse, of course, so a little bit of horror was inevitable. Michonne and Spencer came across zombie Deanna, who had been lurking in the woods for weeks. Son had to kill mom, which wasn’t a pleasant scene to watch.
The Walking Dead continues next Sunday with episode 11 titled “Knots Untie.” Watch a trailer below:
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