The Walking Dead Star Suffers Fury from Richonne Fans over Rick Grimes’ Disappearance

The Walking Dead's Pollyanna McIntosh admits she sometimes suffers backlash from "Richonne" shippers over Anne's role in taking Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) "away from his family."

"I had a little warning. I had about 5 months warning that that was gonna happen. What surprised me when I got the script was, I was under the impression — I mean perhaps just formed by my own paranoia — that she was going to kind of abduct him and I thought, part of me was like gleeful about the backlash to be honest," McIntosh told TooFab at San Diego Comic-Con.

"Part of me was a little bit nervous, like people are going to absolutely hate me. Sometimes they conflate the character with the real person and even hearing some of the things that people say is hard sometimes to hear — people talk about death threats and all this awful stuff — but in the end it was really a saving of him and actually people have been very kind. They say thank you for saving Rick."

Anne's last minute helicopter rescue of a gravely wounded Rick ultimately saved his life following his explosive encounter with a walker horde, and McIntosh is grateful Lincoln's final episode successfully telegraphed the former Scavenger leader "did it for the right reasons."

Still, "The Richonne [shippers], they're strong fans as well," McIntosh said. "That's really where I get most of the fury from."

Because Rick has been missing from Alexandria for six years, McIntosh addressed worries Rick and Anne's time away together meant their dynamic could turn romantic and bring an end to Rick's loving relationship with Michonne (Danai Gurira).

In a March interview, McIntosh said Rick was unlikely to go there despite Anne's long standing attraction towards him.

"Those Richonne fans, they love themselves some Richonne. And it's a beautiful love story, and it always has been," McIntosh said.

"They're so equal in their relationship and they work so well together, and I think it would really tear a lot of people apart if he was to just cheat on her with somebody else, and that just seems crazy."

The star does expect Anne to suffer the fury of Michonne and Daryl (Norman Reedus) should they learn Rick is still alive somewhere far from home.

"I was thinking that for Michonne especially, what an absolute heartbreaker. And then if she were to discover that he were still alive, that would be even more frustrating," McIntosh said during a December convention appearance.

"On the one hand, Jadis-slash-Anne did a great thing by saving his life. On the other hand, they could be quite pissed off with her, couldn't they? Because they knew nothing about it."

McIntosh is expected to co-star alongside Lincoln in the first Walking Dead movies, planned for a theatrical release from Universal Pictures.