Lesley Goldberg and Daniel Fienberg, who are the two hosts for The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top 5 podcast had a very special guest on their latest episode. Actress Danai Gurira, who plays Okoye in the Black Panther films and Michonne in The Walking Dead franchise delved deep into her experience as a writer, showrunner, and executive producer on an episode of The Ones Who Live, as she gets back into her role of Michonne in this new The Walking Dead spinoff.
Danai Gurira talked about leaving The Walking Dead and coming back
When asked about her decision to leave The Walking Dead after the 10th season, which happened before the pandemic, Gurira said that after being on the show for seven seasons, she wanted to open herself up to new ventures. Though she loved the commitment the show demanded, she wanted to explore other opportunities.
But the multi-talented actress also mentioned she felt that she was never done with the character of Michonne and always wanted to come back to her. Andrew Lincoln, who plays the character of Rick Grimes was also not done with it, “so it was clear he was coming back with the movies. It was always planned that I would do that with him, though we didn’t announce that. When I started negotiating out of the show, that was a part of it — that I would come back. We just didn’t know when and how; it took a different form than we planned,” she opened up.
Gurira delves into being a part of The Ones Who Live
When asked why The Ones Who Live, which was originally set to be released as three feature-length movies, was turned into a six-episode long series, Gurira said that it was because the streaming service AMC+ got involved. After that, it was decided that it would be released as a miniseries and both Andrew and Danai were approached to be co-creators of the show alongside Scott Gimple.
She also talked about how it was working with Lincoln and Gimple on the show and mentioned that all three of them had a unified idea that this show should be a love story between Rick and Michonne, and that should be the focal point in the post-apocalyptic setting. “When we got in the room, it was about the nitty gritty of turning a Walking Dead show into an epic love story. That was fun to do. I think I was more the expert on love stories between the three of us, so it was an interesting navigation of how to make sure that the love story was the propelling and driving force,” Danai explained on the podcast.
She also mentioned how the original show did really allow room for love stories like these to bloom as it was extremely fast-paced. She explained, “It was important to me that we make sure that the threads are coming together, that there’s a love story payoff at the core. That’s why episode four is important to me, because that’s where the love story payoff comes together, and all of their obstacles are clear.”
Danai, who was the writer, executive producer, and showrunner of the latest episode, also talked about her experience with the show as she further explained, “This had to be something that was about the conflict between these two and their love and whether or not it will prevail. That appealed to me because I’ve yearned to see more of it on the mothership, we just didn’t have the space for it.”
But when asked if the series will end with the two upcoming episodes or if will there be a second season, Gurira said that she could not answer that.
