The Walking Dead Cast and Producers Talk “Richonne”

Today at Comic-Con International: San Diego, the creative voices behind AMC’s The Walking Dead had an opportunity to answer questions about the Internet’s latest “shipping” obsession: Rick Grimes and Michonne.

The answers varied wildly, with some producers saying that the relationship is fine the way it is and Andrew Lincoln saying, jokingly, “let’s get it on.”

“There’s a friendship there that is what I think I treasure about Michonne’s connection with Rick,” said Danai Gurira, who plays Michonne. “As I was saying in the panel, he was the one that challenged her to step out of who she was being and what she was becoming. After that fight with The Governor, she was becoming something quite ugly. And so it was that question of ‘Who are you going to be right now?’ And you know you want to be part of this community, but you’re not going to be tolerated by the leader acting like this. And so that connection that was formed through her really having to become more humbled, more centered on ‘Okay, I can’t be this kind of person anymore,’ that happened through Rick and so I think that caused her to have a respect for him and eventually I think he gained a trust and respect for her.”

“And the tables were turned at the end of last season, where he was going to a place where it wasn’t serving him, it wasn’t serving them and it wasn’t serving the Alexandrians and she basically had to knock him out,” said producer Gale Anne Hurd. “So that’s such a journey that the two characters and their relationship has taken.”

“The thing that I love about playing scenes with Danai as Rick and Michonne is that they have a kind of jokiness to them; there’s a gallows humor that’s a bit cowboy, because they’re both warriors, all the rest of it,” Lincoln said. “And she’s one of the few people I think who can take the piss out of Rick. She’s the arched eyebrow, kind of smartass remark, and I love playing those scenes as well.”

“They have a very intimate relationship,” said showrunner Scott Gimple. “That’s the funny thing: People are like, ‘Oh, my God, what if they were together?’ It’s like, they’re really, really intimate. I mean, they have done things for each other that’s familial or deep, deep, deep friendship. The way that they spoke together, for example, in [Season Four, Episode] 16, it was meant to convey just how far these people have come with each other.”

He added, “But yeah, look: there aren’t that many people in the apocalypse, so maybe when everybody is dead and it’s just me and her left, let’s get it on.”