Potential spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 6 are below.
There are no rules set in stone that The Walking Dead will bring death and carnage when it returns to AMC for Season 6 this fall, but the show has earned fans’ expectations for things like that. As well, we tend to anticipate that at least one major character or two will take the fall each season, and rumors are swirling that everyone’s favorite swordsmith Michonne might not be around for very long. But that can’t be right, can it?
Now let’s be clear, this is a particularly heightened piece of speculation based on the production shoot currently ongoing in Georgia. According to Inquistr, those nearby the production have claimed that while nearly every single member of the cast has recently been seen on set on frequent occasions – including Andrew Lincoln, Melissa McBride and Michael Cudlitz – actress Danai Gurira hasn’t been seen at all, and her name hasn’t come up during any of the set calls.
What’s more, reports are saying that the production team is currently filming an attack on the central setting of Alexandria, with lots of explosions and gunshots heard in the area. So there’s no better situation for a character to meet their maker than during a mass strike from what we presume will be the new threat, the Wolves. Still, having a proper scenario doesn’t necessarily mean that such an important character should have to die.
Readers of The Walking Dead comics know that Michonne is still alive in that universe, although her story has taken quite a turn in recent issues. But it’s not like the show hasn’t previously changed the stories of characters’ comic counterparts. Still, fans have been waiting to see Michonne finally find some semblance of happiness on the show – with many hoping for a relationship with Rick or maybe Morgan – and her recent authority role within Alexandria seemed to indicate that she was content. At least, until the finale happened and she felt the need to take her sword back off of the wall.
Of course, the devil’s advocate reasoning behind all this can be any number of simple solutions. Perhaps Gurira is feeling under the weather and is filming her scenes at a different time, or maybe she’s just been hiding out in a part of the set where people don’t have easy visual access to her. It’s not out of the question that her part in the big attack is keeping all the kids safe in a different section of Alexandria or something, although that’d be dumb, since she’s one of the fiercest warriors in the group.
You might remember conversations some months back about other fan favorite Daryl Dixon perhaps getting taken off the show after reports came out that actor Norman Reedus was selling his Atlanta home. Reedus later denied those rumors, saying the house in question wasn’t even his. So it’s entirely possible that we’ll be seeing Michonne’s brand of walker annihilation for years to come. Make that: we’d better be seeing Michonne’s brand of walker annihilation for years to come.
