The Walking Dead lost another of its longest-running stars this past season, as Danai Gurira left the show as Michonne after seven years on board the post-apocalyptic drama. The Marvel actress has made clear her love for both the character and the franchise as a whole many times before, though, so you can bet that saying goodbye to the series was a tough decision to make.
While speaking to Entertainment Weekly a while back, Gurira opened up about the “incredibly hard” process of leaving TWD, making clear that should couldn’t have asked for a better working experience during her time as Michonne.
“It was incredibly hard to even imagine leaving. I loved that show. I loved the family that I had there, and that I always have. The beauty of coming to work and loving the people you’re around and the work that you’re doing and the things you get to do and call it your job, is like nothing I could have imagined.”
As to what led her to make this hard call, Gurira went on to say that she needed to explore other avenues in her career, particularly away from acting.
“But there are aspects of my work as a writer, and I needed to allow it to have space. To really let it have its space in my life and in my artistic pursuits as well. And I just had to let the space come to pass.”
We already know one writing project Gurira is busy on. She’s serving as showrunner on HBO’s upcoming drama Americanah, featuring her fellow Black Panther co-star Lupita Nyong’o in the lead. Based on the novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the 10-part series follows the struggle of a duo of Nigerian immigrants in America. Alongside Americanah, Gurira has also signed a deal to create new content for ABC Studios.
She might be busy writing/producing, but the actress likely isn’t done with The Walking Dead. Her exit heavily hinted that she’ll either appear in Andrew Lincoln’s movies or get her own spinoff, or maybe even both. Whatever the case, we’re fairly confident we haven’t seen the last of Michonne.
