The Walking Dead Showrunner Explains Michonne’s Potentially Dangerous Decision

The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang sheds more light on Michonne’s (Danai Gurira) risky decision to set sail alone with stranded lone survivor Virgil (Kevin Carroll), a family man desperate to get home. When responding to a distress call from Oceanside in 10×08, “The World Before,” Michonne and daughter Judith (Cailey Fleming) apprehended Virgil during his attempt to steal a boat needed to sail to his fortified home on Bloodsworth Island. There Michonne expects to collect a cache of large weapons capable of destroying the walker horde controlled by Alpha’s (Samantha Morton) Whisperers, but Michonne was ultimately swayed to take the journey when Virgil brought to mind a phrase passed from Siddiq (Avi Nash) to Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln).

“Michonne makes this decision to help this guy get home, Virgil, and there’s a lot of things going on,” Kang said on Talking Dead following the midseason finale. “One, part of it from an emotional standpoint is the guy says some stuff that reminds her of both Siddiq and Rick: ‘My mercy prevails over my wrath’ is the thing that she is reminded of when he says that ‘mercy might be in short supply these days.’”

The other aspect, Kang added, is because “Michonne, at heart, is a person who is a good person and she was helped by strangers herself. She has helped strangers, so there is that aspect.”

Michonne isn’t entirely trusting, but what should be a four-day round trip by sea is worth the risk — even if it means leaving Judith behind for now.

“The part of Michonne that is the head of security for Alexandria is thinking, ‘OK, if this guy has stuff that we could use, like munitions, big weapons, things that can take out massive numbers of zombies at once,’ she feels like it’s her responsibility to check it out,” Kang said. “But it might be dangerous, so it should only be her, because she has absolute faith in herself. She knows that she can get out of a dangerous situation. She feels like she’s got a pretty good beat on this guy, and she’s not going to let an opportunity to maybe end the war just pass her by.”

Can Virgil be trusted? TWD newcomer Carroll says that’s something fans will have to figure out.

“This is a world where all facets of humanity are up for grabs, depending on the situation, because of the need to survive,” he previously told TV Insider. “It makes everything we do as human beings — they become valuable depending on how it serves survival in this period. But in terms of being trustworthy, I think that’s a part of the fun of the journey to figure out for our fans, but they have to also understand, as, within the world in which we’ve developed, every facet of humanity is up for grabs because of everybody’s need to survive. So, I’m going to leave it at that, and tell them to have a great time figuring it out.”

The Walking Dead Season 10 returns with new episodes Feb. 23 on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.