He had already shown signs of his talent when in 2007 he participated in The Visitor, the Tom McCarthy film for which Richard Jenkins was nominated for an Oscar. But it was her debut as the fierce warrior Michonne in the third season of The Walking Dead that established Iowa-born, Zimbabwe-raised Danai Gurira as a pop culture icon. She is also a playwright with several hits on Broadway, she would soon add another character, Okoye in the Black Panther franchise, to be very present among the youth audience. Gurira spoke exclusively with La Vanguardia about the return of Michonne in the miniseries The walking dead: The ones who live, the third installment of that world after the end of the series in 2022 that premieres this Monday on the AMC streaming service in Spain and whose first episode, exceptionally, can also be seen on the AMC channel at 9:10 p.m.
When you left The Walking Dead, did you think you weren’t going to play Michonne again?
No, because everything was planned in advance. Even before Andrew Lincoln (Rick in the series) left, we knew that one day we would work together again to complete our story. In my last contract with AMC, it was specified that Michonne was coming back. In our last episodes in the series, it’s left open ended, where it’s not clear if he’s dead, and in my story, which continued several years later, it showed that she found evidence that he was alive, and that’s the story. reason why he leaves history, to try to find him. Therefore we left all those elements ready so we could continue. It was clear that our story was not over.
Did you miss her in recent years?
Yes of course. I’ve been very busy with other projects and working on other things, but she is a very special character to me. She taught me a lot, she is very deep and I have always tried to give her everything I could. I’m very grateful to have been able to play him, so obviously I missed him.
Michonne went through a complete transformation from when she first appeared in season three until she left in season ten. What was it like for her to accompany you in that process?
That is a dream for any actress, to be able to play a character that grows, changes and evolves, while going through everything one can imagine. That’s why I thank Scott Gimple and Angela Kang for giving Michonne great complexity as a female character. Throughout the story she found love, motherhood and became a leader. It’s funny because if you look at some moments from my last season in the series you realize that she is still that crazed warrior that she was when we met her. And you could also see it in the last season that I shared with Andy, when they led a very civilized life. At night Michonne would sneak out to go out and kill zombies because she missed that experience. She evolved, but she never stopped being the woman we met in those first episodes.
What has it been like to return with this miniseries, where in addition to being an actress you have been a screenwriter, director and producer?
I only directed the episode I wrote, but we all created the story. Scott Gimple, who is the showrunner, worked closely with me and Andrew. Thank God we are all great friends and we love each other very much. We also collaborated in creating the team, hiring the other directors, the director of photography and the department heads. Doing it made me realize everything I know because I have put on several plays and worked in television development for a few years. But it was interesting to do it with people who are such friends.
What will audiences discover about Michonne in the miniseries?
They have never seen him in these types of circumstances. Never before has she had to deploy tactics like she does in “The Ones Who Live.” But they’re also going to see the same old Michonne, so I think there’s a great mix of old and new.
Rick has been through some very tough situations since he left Michonne’s life until she finds him. Do you think the Rick who appears in the series is a different person?
I think Michonne doesn’t know, and she doesn’t care either. The only thing that matters to her is knowing if he is alive. She is convinced that she is, and she has found signs that this is the case, like her cell phone or her boots, and what she thinks is that if Rick is in trouble, she is going to rescue him. All she knows is that he needs her. We have seen him give birth many times. He needs her and that’s how she sees the world. Only she can save Rick.
How complicated is it to create a love story in a context as horrible as that of “The Walking Dead”?
It’s not difficult, because ultimately, they are alive. When you find the person with whom you feel you have a connection, who attracts you and generates passion in you, and you understand each other in a lot of things, nothing holds you back when it comes to giving your soul and life to love. In that sense, I think they were very measured when the relationship started. First they became partners, and then they started a family in which she was Carl’s best friend and took care of Judith. They become family without even realizing it. In our conversations, we all agreed that Rick was the one who first fell in love with Michonne, before she discovered that she was attracted to him. I find that that kind of personal journey is much more intense and powerful in the apocalypse, because life is precious and you can’t take anything for granted.
In the miniseries there are brief moments where an alternate reality is imagined for Rick and Michonne. Who do you think she would have been if there had never been an apocalypse?
It’s something we explore in season four, where she remembers some things from her previous life in her dreams. She certainly could have done many things. In the comics she had been a lawyer, and in our version she left university to venture into art but she still didn’t have a clear idea of ??what she was going to do. I imagine she would have become a leader, perhaps in the art world, perhaps as the owner of an art gallery. Or maybe in an alternate reality she would have become a boss in the corporate world. She is a woman of many talents, and she could have taken on all kinds of situations and made them work.
How long do you think you would survive in a post-apocalyptic world?
I imagine it could survive for a long time. I know I wouldn’t leave without a fight, that’s very clear to me…
