No, Michonne is Not Done Yet on The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead sent Michonne off on a mission with a mysterious new character in the mid-season 10 finale on Sunday night. Natrually, fans suspected that Michonne literally sailing away with Virgil could be the last they see of the character on the AMC zombie series given the news of Danai Gurira exiting in the current season. This is not Michonne's final episode in The Walking Dead as Gurira will be playing the part in a few more episodes when the series returns for the back half of its tenth season in February of 2020.

Gurira will exit the series prior to the Season 10 finale but she will appear again early in Season 10B. "We will check back in on that story, but it won't be the first episode back in the next season," The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang tells EW. "I'll say that. There's a little time while they're journeying."

This, of coursem, sets up an exit for Michonne which would not call for the departure of fan-favorites Judith and RJ. While Michonne is reluctant to trust following Dante's shocking betrayal, the hope offered by Virgil and his ismilarity to a certain Rick Grimes line was too much for her to pass up.

"We were thinking for a while that it'd be interesting if, in some way, this character just kind of triggers thoughts about the past for Michonne. Just about all kinds of things," Kang said. "And so 'mercy prevails over my wrath' — obviously that's tied to Rick, but it was first uttered by Siddiq. To give an eye into our process, at first, we were going to play a version where maybe Michonne and that group was sort of siloed from the information about Siddiq. But in talking with Danai, she felt like she wanted to be able to honor her connection to Siddiq, which I think was a really valuable thought. Because there is this very deep connection to her family and Carl. Siddiq was really important to Carl.

"And so then he was really important to Rick and Michonne too. And I think being able to have this comment that immediately ties both the love of her life and this dear friend who was like family to her who just died — it all kind of worked. It just felt like it kind of did this nice triple duty in the moment and our actors did an amazing job playing it."

What did you think of the shocking death in The Walking Dead's mid-season 10 finale and overall quality of the show in 2019? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram and Twitter.

The Walking Dead will return for the back half of its tenth season in February of 2020.