‘The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira Reveals What She Said To Scott Gimple Upon Finding Out Carl Was Dying

The Walking Dead star Danai Gurira told executive producer Scott M. Gimple to let Michonne have her time with Carl before his untimely death, she tells Access.

“I said to Gimple when he told me that Carl was passing, I said, ‘if you don’t let me say goodbye fully, we’re gonna have some problems,’” Gurira says with a laugh.

“I didn’t say it like that, I didn’t say it like that. No, I would never do that to him. But I was like, ‘yo, you gotta let me, you gotta let me have my time with him. You gotta let Michonne have her time.’ And he did, he did.”

The actress, whose katana-wielding zombie slayer Michonne came to be a mother-like figure for teen Carl Grimes, says 18-year-old co-star Chandler Riggs “was so amazing, he was so amazing.”

Riggs’ death dinner — a traditional get together held by the cast in honor of an exiting cast member — “was hard,” Gurira says.

“I cried, ’cause Chandler has been the biggest blessing to me I feel on that show, as has Carl has been to Michonne,” she adds.

“I found Michonne when I worked with Chandler. I found her heart. When me and him would work, something would just happen. It was just ease and chemistry and connection and trust, and it was a beautiful thing. You can’t even manufacture that, you can’t plan it. I was so amazed by him… he was so mature and kind and polite and loving, like, he’s amazing.”

Carl and Michonne’s bond first formed in season 3, which introduced Danai as the sullen warrior who would soon become one of the group’s most valued members.

Episode 8×09, “Honor,” saw Carl and Michonne exchange tearful goodbyes as the boy succumbed to fever brought on by an incurable walker bite. Calling her his best friend, Michonne said, “you’re mine, too.”

Later, before shooting himself, Carl and Michonne traded “I love yous.”

“I just find him to be such a blessing as a young man, he’s astounding,” Danai says. “And then on top of that, the way our characters — I mean, he has been the biggest blessing to me. I got a little depressed for a while there to let go of him. It was hard.”

Gurira stars in Black Panther, now in theaters. She’ll reprise her role of Okoye in Avengers: Infinity War, in theaters April 27.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.