Danai Gurira Compares Black Panther Role To The Walking Dead's Michonne

Most of the ComicBook.com community knows Danai Gurira for her katana wielding role as Michonne on [...]

Most of the ComicBook.com community knows Danai Gurira for her katana wielding role as Michonne on AMC's The Walking Dead. Soon, though, much of the world will know her as Okoye of Black Panther.

In the upcoming Marvel Studios flick, Gurira will play a member of Wakanda's Dora Milaje. The Dora Milaje were founded as a ceremonial wives-in-training program but were never looked at romantically by the Black Panther. Instead, they are equipped with skills necessary to protect the king and their homeland.

Given that Gurira plays an empowered and skilled survived on The Walking Dead, many fans are wondering in the sword training lends itself to landing the role in a Marvel Studios film. ComicBook.com got to the bottom of it while talking with Gurira in an exclusive interview.

"The filmmaker had never watched it," Gurira said. "I'm not saying that everyone else that was involved hadn't, but Ryan Coogler had never watched The Walking Dead. He'd watched me in something completely different."

It was a much smaller project which lead to Coogler's discovery of Gurira.

"It's quite amazing to hear, but these are African women roles," Gurira said. "He'd watched me in a more independent film called Mother of George. He's never seen The Walking Dead."

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As for how Michonne and Okoye will stack up to one another, Gurira says they are very different characters but their skillsets will undoubtedly compliment one another.

"I'm training right now for Black Panther, and, yes, there's a lot of ways that they're extremely different. I'm learning such great, awesome new things. There's a lot of ways that, yes, one helps another. There are things about using combat that help each other. Absolutely. There's a lot of new things to learn and I'm really enjoying. There's so much new. She's a whole 'nother thing.

"Okoye is a whole 'nother thing," Gurira concluded.

MORE WALKING DEAD:

Two Big Easter Eggs In 'Service' Preview / 5 Actors Who Almost Played Negan / Andrew Lincoln Reveals Surprising Death Scene Revenge / 7 Facts About Negan / Negan's 5 Best Lines From The Cell

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter. Black Panther is set for release in February of 2018.

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