The Walking Dead will flashback to what appears to be Michonne’s (Danai Gurira) earliest days in the apocalypse in the back half of Season 10. The newly released trailer for the second half of the season shows Michonne, clad in a hood, crouched in front of a walker with a visible chain. When Michonne first appeared in the 13th and final episode of Season 2 — where she was portrayed by a stand-in when rescuing Andrea (Laurie Holden) from walkers — Michonne appeared as a mysterious hooded figure backed by a pair of walker escorts with removed jaws, used by Michonne to camouflage her scent from the undead.
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Another clue the scene is set somewhere around Season 2 or Season 3, Gurira’s first season, is Michonne’s dreads: she wouldn’t change up her look until the six-year time jump in Season 9.
This look at what is likely Gurira’s final episode is reminiscent of 9×05, “What Comes After,” the sendoff episode for Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes. That episode played as a tribute and sort-of “greatest hits” for the exiting Rick, who relived parts of his past in the form of hallucinations caused by rapid blood loss from an injury: Rick encountered dead ex-partner Shane (Jon Bernthal), Hershel (Scott Wilson) and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green), and he even returned to the hospital where he was laid up in a coma from a pre-outbreak gunshot wound in the earliest days of the apocalypse.
Flashbacks were interspersed throughout Season 9 — 9×14, “Scars,” was set in the past and revealed the origin of the matching “X” scars on Michonne and Daryl (Norman Reedus), and 9×11, “Bounty,” temporarily revived the dead Jesus (Tom Payne) for a flashback set during the mostly unseen six-years skipped over in the time jump — and showrunner Angela Kang already confirmed we’d be revisiting the past this year:
“Yes, I will say that there’s some flashbacks this season,” Kang told EW ahead of Season 10. “One of the things we were kind of dealing with in the season has to do with illusion and people’s fears and what’s real, what’s not, the weight of the past on people. So, we’ll definitely see some windows into the past that kind of shed light on the present. It should be interesting.”
When we see her next, Michonne will be struggling with the loss of close friend Siddiq (Avi Nash), who she learned was dead in the Season 10 midseason finale, “The World Before.” The episode also referenced Rick when newly encountered stranger Virgil (Kevin Carroll) said “mercy is in short supply these days,” reminding Michonne of a phrase Rick adopted from Siddiq: “My mercy prevails over my wrath.”
“We examined what are some of the journeys that she’ll take that have both plot resonance but also just personal resonance for her,” Kang told Deadline. “Also, Michonne’s struggling with the death of her friend, Siddiq. He was so tight with Carl (Chandler Riggs) and after Carl’s death, I think Siddiq took on a lot of significance, and that definitely plays into her story going forward, as well.”
The Walking Dead Season 10 returns with new episodes Feb. 23, 2020 on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.
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