Danai Gurira Talks The Governor, Black Characters & Walking Dead’s Return
Danai Gurira plays Michonne on the AMC television series The Walking Dead, and was recently interviewed by Zap2it. The show returns tonight, February 10, to begin airing the final 8 episodes of the season.
Gurira, who normally wears her hair short, and is a slim and stylish dresser, sometimes doesn’t get recognized in public due to appearing so different from her character.
When asked about Michonne’s character, who is perceived as hard to read and not too social, she replied:
It was very deliberate to make her unreadable and an enigma. She’s not going to be the sort of character you get to know quickly. That’s who she is. The desire people have to see her unravel in a way, it’s not going to be what they get.
However, Gurira says Michonne changed in the mid-season finale:
“She’s going back to Rick and offering her services to him. That’s her saying, I need a community and I need to be with people. “
On the show’s past and future treatment of Black characters:
You know, I’m just not sure how I view any of this. The thing I love is that Michonne is in a world where she’s not thinking about the color of her skin.
The stories of Tyreese and Michonne and Sasha and whoever else comes along are stories that are going to be very rich and complex. That’s what I look for. They’re on journeys, it’s about allowing the journeys to occur.
Tyreese and Sasha are the newest Black characters who first appeared in the mid-season finale, and were in a recent promotional clip.
On killing The Governors zombified daughter:
‘He took away what I loved and came after me and created a division in my relationship,’ that’s how [Michonne] thinks. I think she thought she could handle [the fight], but the progression through the scene… There are moments women realize they’re not as strong as men, and it’s like, ‘Oh crap! I’m not as strong as him.’
Read the entire interview over at Zap2It. The Walking Dead returns tonight and airs at 9/8c on AMC.
