Walker Stalker Atlanta: Andrew Lincoln And Danai Gurira Panel Recap

Andrew Lincoln took the stage in the Thomas Murphy Ballroom at the Georgia World Congress Center on Sunday morning to talk with fans of The Walking Dead at the fifth annual Walker Stalker Con in Atlanta.

The panel is quickly turned over to fan questions. One asks why Rick didn't shoot Negan right away in Episode 8x01.

"Just so you know, I sent maybe seven emails to Mr. Scott Gimple around the subject before we shot it. What we wanted to do was offer up a deal. If we had taken him out straight away, the war would've just been ofgf to the races. It was an aggressive counterstrike. We wanted to give them the offer first, you an surrender. Obviously, he's not gonna surrender…We don't wanna lose any lives so it's a big show of force…blow it up, retreat, and use the walker army which are the dead. You will find out in episodes 2, 3, 4 and 5 the whole plan."

The next fan asks if Lincoln can recommend any good books. He works too much to know very much about current books but is interesting in reading about the rise of the Islamic State. He says Steven Yeun always guided his choice and recommended a documentary to him recently.

The next fan asks what music he is listening to for Season 8. Lincoln says "there's a beautiful album" by a band called "Nick Cage and the Bad Seeds."

In the middle of the next fan's question, Danai Gurira walks in.

"How beautiful is my TV wife?" Lincoln said.

"Im also a little bit of a note taker," Gurira said. "I have a bag and I have a big book. I think with words, if I see words, it connects myself to my imagination…if I look at something written, I will re-look at the script…and it makes my imagination move."

What was their favorite episode in Season 7.

"I think it was when we went on our honeymoon," Lincoln said.

"Apocalyptic honeymoon," Gurira said. "That was fun."

"I enjoyed it, a lot," Lincoln adds.

It turns out, there were deleted scenes with Rick and Michonne together. "We got in trouble," Lincoln said. "We did the scene. There's a very strange rule in America, you can shoot a lot of things and miss if you're Rick Grimes, but you're not allowed to show more than an inch of your interglutial cleft. That is what my lawyer called it."

"Their relationship I love," Lincoln said. "It's that legacy from Season 1. We built something with a fine ensemble of film actors…She's done the work and she just lays it down. It's like playing tennis. You play with someone who's better than you and you play better."

The two discuss acting on other sets versus working on The Walking Dead's set. Nothing can compare. Lincoln credits his castmates for devoting themselves to the scenes and each other. His performances depend on the performances around him. Gurira was happy to join the show when it had found a thorough foundation because it meant there were cast members and a crew which was dedicated to their work and each other. "I knew it was great," Gurira said," I'm just scared of scary stuff!…Then I got the audition and I said, 'I gotta watch the show!'" She remembers seeing Lincoln and Jon Bernthal working together and realizing she really wanted to be a part of this show.

Having raised the kids, would Rick want to have a baby with Michonne and vice versa having lost a child?

"I think we need to repopulate the earth," Lincoln said. "And when I say it I mean Rick Grimes with a British accent…Yes, yes, and thrice, yes. Let's get it on."

"He, Rick, doesn't have to bear the load of that," Gurira said. "But, yeah. You know, yeah. Michonne would have to think about that a little. She likes being agile. She likes being able to move."

"She'd still be kick-ass with a bump!" Lincoln said. "She's be amazing."

"In theory, I love the idea," Gurira said. "The practicality of it, I don't know, Michonne would have to think that through."

How does Lincoln prepare for the difficult scenes, like the snot scene?

"Oh, the snot scene… When I prepare for a snot scene… I don't know what a method actor is particularly. When I tried I realized everybody has their own way of working. I wish I'd been told that in year one of my drama school…The one advice I will give to actors is don't listen to all the writers. It's controversial I know but I wish that I had trusted my instincts more."

Favorite and least favorite thing about their characters?

"I've learned to do things I don't necessarily want to do playing Rick Grimes…He just keeps pushing himself forward and linking arms with other people and doing the same thing. It started as an individual movie this thing and now we're a conglomerate. We're an acronym. We're #TWD. It's become a movement. With great power comes responsibility. You have to do things that make your nervous like sitting in from of thousands of people trying to act like yourself."

Gurira calls Lincoln out for not answering the question at all.

"The character, I think that in the beginning there were a lot of things I didn't like about her…being very singular, being very untrustworthy…but it wasn't the funnest thing to play…That was tricky and hard for me to play," Gurira said. "The cool thing is that she has progressed and evolved through that and gone through things…That's what I really dig about her now."

How does he feel about Rick snitching on Michonne for the protein bar?

"Why would you bring that up now?" Lincoln said. "You can only build a relationship on honesty! He's rigorously honest. He's a Sheriff's deputy that can't hit Negan with a gun but he's scrutinously honest."

Gurira tries to describe her view of Rick and Michonne's marriage.

"I always thought that the marriage was the 'Say yes,'" Gurira said. "Say Yes is the episode we did the honeymoon thing. In that episode when we're in the room with the meals, you always said that that was, in a sense."

"What I'm excited about for this season, potentially, is for Rick to say verbally, that I love Michonne.'"