Danai Gurira, who plays the stoic and strong Michonne and Okoye in The Walking Dead and Marvel Studios’ Black Panther and Avengers franchises, respectively, is interested in taking on a “goofy” role.
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“Buddy cop, let’s do the buddy cop. [Laughs] No, I’m just kidding, but sort of, yeah,” Gurira told The Hollywood Reporter when asked about other roles and ways the 41-year-old actress still hopes to be seen.
When participating in a drama actress roundtable alongside Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Niecy Nash (When They See Us), Patricia Arquette (The Act), Christine Baranski (The Good Fight), and Michelle Williams (Fosse/Verdon), Gurira said she wants to do “something goofy.”
“I’ve been doing a lot of, my characters have been very ‘strong,’ and that can have its own trap, you know what I mean?” Gurira said.
“Though thankfully I’ve had a really, like especially lately with Okoye for instance in the Marvel movies, that she’s got a lot of different things — she’s very humorous, she’s got a lot of heart. And so does Michonne, but it’s just like, I just got to expand on more of the spectrum with her. But the idea of like say putting away strong altogether, like, ‘I have no strength,’ let’s start from there. That would be interesting.”
Gurira, who debuted as the Dora Milaje warrior in Black Panther before reprising her role in the back-to-back Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, is expected to return to Wakanda in writer-director Ryan Coogler’s coming Black Panther 2.
In 2020, Gurira will depart The Walking Dead after eight seasons, and is anticipated to reunite with co-star Andrew Lincoln in the offshoot Walking Dead television movies planned by network AMC.
Explaining her exit in part is her status as an in-demand movie star: Gurira has been eyed for roles in Godzilla vs. Kong — sequel to this summer’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters — and the untitled Star Trek 4, since paused indefinitely by studio Paramount.
That blossoming movie career makes it harder for Michonne and Okoye to co-exist, a tight-lipped Gurira explained during an April appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
“There was a lot of overlapping that happened, from Walking Dead, into Black Panther, then Black Panther into Infinity [War], then back into Walking Dead, then into Endgame. There was a lot of flow between Michonne and Okoye,” Gurira said.
“There was one day I literally woke up and went into Michonne, and I was Michonne until like 11 p.m., and then I was picked up at 3 a.m. to go be Okoye all day. So that was a special day.”
