As confirmed by Danai Gurira herself at Comic-Con this past summer, The Walking Dead season 10 will be the last to feature Michonne as a regular. The character’s been a firm fan favorite since her arrival back in season 5, and has only increased in importance to the show since Rick Grimes left halfway through last season. Though we’re sad to see her go, we’ve apparently got some great Michonne moments still to come in the upcoming run.
Showrunner Angela Kang spoke to TV Line and gave us some clues about the character’s storyline in the new season. She teased some shocking revelations as well as instances of Michonne getting to be her old badass self.
“There are some things of major importance that we will learn, which have massive consequences. But we’ll also get to showcase good, old-fashioned Michonne being a badass.”
Kang has previously promised that Gurira will get a “meaty” story in season 10 despite her incoming exit. Likewise, it seems that the actress will be around for most of the run as well. Unusually, this year will be shot out of order and it’s known that Gurira has already filmed episode 12. She might have a reduced role, probably only appearing in a handful of episodes, but Michonne should be around into the second half of the season at least.
We don’t know exactly how she’ll be written out, but it may be another impermanent exit like Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan, as Michonne is reportedly due to show up in Lincoln’s movie spinoffs. So, maybe she gets whisked away in a helicopter like the father of her children? Or else she could perish in season 10 and Gurira will return via a vision or flashback instead?
Either way, we’ll find out soon enough, as The Walking Dead returns to AMC in almost a month’s time, on Sunday, October 6th.