Late? Probably! But here it is in the series finale of “The Walking dead” (finally) introduced fan favorite sword wielding bad-ass Michonne to unsuspecting viewers.
The Hollywood reporter caught up with Kirkman to have a lil talk about the casting of the lovely Danai Gurira for this iconic role.
THR: Last night you announced the casting of Danai Gurira as the iconic Michonne. How were you able to keep her casting a secret?
Kirkman: It was very carefully done. The scene was shot — that wasn’t Danai in the costume — so we held the casting until later so it wouldn’t leak because we knew that once we cast Michonne there would be so many agents, managers and casting people that would be aware of it that it would be impossible to keep it under wraps. We waited until later to do it and worked really hard to preserve that reveal.
What was it about Danai that separated her from the others likely auditioning for the role?
Danai really portrayed the power and strength that we need Michonne to exhibit. Michonne is a very complex character who’s dealing with a lot of things and has a very intricate personality. There’s a lot to that role, and Danai, more than any other actress, showed us that she could exhibit that strength and show what an intense character she could be and, at the same time, have that emotional core and be able to show a vulnerability to a certain extent that we don’t see much of but is definitely there. She really was the whole package, and I think she’s going to do a really good job.He went on to talk a little about Michonne in the comics…..
You’ve done this six-page origin story for Michonne, revealing more of where she was at the onset of the outbreak. Are you interested in telling her backstory on the show as a way to fill in people who aren’t familiar with the comics?
The Michonne origin is something that is not that unknown. The story in Playboy shows it for the first time and goes into a bit more detail, but these are all things she’s discussed in the comic book series. A lot of that stuff is out there. I’m not really a big fan of going too far into the backstory; I’m more interested in telling stories going forward. Michonne is infinitely more interesting if there’s a lot of mystery surrounding her. That’s the way we’ll be doing things in the show.
More as it breaks!