Earlier this week, we reported that Danai Gurira was in contract negotiations with AMC about her future on The Walking Dead. Since joining the show in the third season, Gurira’s star has begun to dramatically rise, with her appearance as Okoye in last year’s Black Panther cementing her as an actor to watch.
Now, it seems like she’s outgrown the series that made her name, as The Hollywood Reporter has announced that she’s officially exiting in season 10. Gurira has indeed managed to negotiate a deal with AMC, but the terms say that she’ll only appear in what they describe as “a handful of episodes that will be interspersed throughout [the season].”
The working theory is that the character won’t just disappear though and will instead graduate to AMC’s planned Walking Dead movie trilogy, joining former co-star Andrew Lincoln for some big screen adventures. It’ll be fascinating to see how this works, if true. After all, over the character’s time on the show, she’s gradually become more and more of a central figure and leader to the gang of survivors. So there’s going to have to be some kind of big split in the group at some point over the next season and a half.
Though Gurira’s time as Michonne might not be quite at an end, the show will undoubtedly be poorer without her. She was always one of the more dynamic and fun characters to watch, and was responsible for some of the most badass moments in The Walking Dead‘s history over the six seasons she’s appeared in. Then again, if AMC really is planning to run the series for many more years, perhaps introducing some fresh new central heroes will be just what the doctor ordered?