The Walking Dead has a new breakout star in Danai Gurira, who plays Michonne, a fan-favorite from the comic series. Though we haven’t seen much of her yet, next week’s episode promises some more screen time for the warrior woman.
Many fans have been anticipating Michonne’s appearance on AMC’s The Walking Dead, and as someone who didn’t watch the show before being cast, Danai Gurira shared with IGN that she had to give it a shot.
“I was hooked because it was such a beautiful, human story. Ironically, it was about the human needs, it wasn’t just about the zombies.”
We agree with her – it isn’t the fear factor of the zombies that draws us to The Walking Dead, it’s the human story of the characters and how they’re able to survive after such a tragedy.
While Gurira did do a little research on Michonne’s character from the comics, she pulled her inspiration for the character from personal experiences.
“To me, it really reminded me of when I was a playwright – I did some work on a war zone in Liberia, which the war only ended in 2003 – and I interviewed a lot of women who, because of the trauma of that war, had become very formidable female rebel fighters.”
Gurira brought her interaction with those women to Michonne’s warrior mentality.
“So to me, there was something resonating about her and what I was seeing on the page. I was like, ‘Well, these chicks really exist. This isn’t fiction.’ So that made it even more compelling and appealing to me.”
Michonne has obviously been on her own for awhile when we meet her, but next week we’ll see her and Andrea taken to the town of Woodbury. Gurira doesn’t think Michonne will fit in too well, considering her loner attitude and hesitation to trust others.
“To be a part of a community with many people, that’s a scary thing.”
We have seen Michonne work well with one character so far, and that is Andrea. Unlike being in a town setting with lots of people, being one-on-one with Andrea has built a strong relationship between these two women.
“There’s definitely a mutual respect and trust of each other and what’s needed. Andrea knows that Michonne is going to take care of her. She goes and tries to do all she can to help her in the situation she’s in. So there’s definitely a very close connection there.”
Gurira (and arguably the audience) sees Michonne as one of the strongest characters on the show. However, Gurira also says Michonne “can get very intense.”
We would argue that intensity is needed to survive in this world.