The Walking Dead‘s Danai Gurira talks about Michonne and her dynamic within Rick’s group, as well as one of her defining moments in last week’s 3×12 episode, “Clear.”

The Walking Dead saw the official introduction of Michonne in season 3, and after 12 fully fledged episodes, Michonne is starting to slowly work her way into Rick’s group as an increasingly important member. As each episode goes by, we slowly learn more and more about Michonne and 3×12 “Clear” was one of Michonne’s most vocal episodes.

In an interview with E! News, Gurira said, “We have yappers, and we have the ones who aren’t revealing a lot. I have to commend my bosses for making that really good storytelling. That’s real. That’s how it would be…some people would be trying to work things out through words, and others who would say, ‘Why should I share my past? It doesn’t work, it accomplishes nothing.’ That was a very powerful and smart choice in terms of how Michonne was crafted.”

In that comment we can bear more understanding to the quiet, but deadly, Michonne. She was new to the group, knew no one, and trusted nobody, and yet she’s expected to be a “yapper”? The silence of Michonne speaks volumes, and now with her slowly working her way into becoming an incredibly important ally, 3×12 “Clear” showed her significance in venturing off to Rick’s hometown with Rick and Carl.

“When things are dire, when things are that scarce, when you can’t trust anybody, you have to create your own protocol.”

But fans have flocked to the sadness of the hitchhiker in last week’s 3×12 episode, “Clear.” The poor man had survived for so long in this zombie apocalypse, but neither Rick, Carl or Michonne stopped to help the man.

Gurira explained, “I thought it was brilliant. That’s war. You have to pick and choose your battles. I was talking to a woman in Liberia, and she’d had to deal with things that were very similar, where you just can’t help everyone you pass on the side of the road.”

“When things are dire, when things are that scarce, when you can’t trust anybody, you have to create your own protocol. It’s going to make some viewers very uncomfortable. They want their heroes. But what you saw on the show, that’s real. That’s what was brilliant about it – it rang so true,” said Gurira.

How did you feel when you saw them drive past the hitchhiker? Would you have picked up that hitchhiker if you were Rick, Carl or Michonne? And what do you think about Michonne’s unravelling as a character?

Be sure to check out Michonne’s next outing in The Walking Dead in this Sunday’s episode, “Arrow on the Doorpost,” over on AMC at 9 p.m. ET/PT.