'Walking Dead' actors push for bare essentials
Spoiler alert: This story contains significant details from Sunday’s episode of AMC's The Walking Dead.
Surprise: Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) kissed and found their way into bed on The Walking Dead Sunday. (Meta-Surprise: A Walking Dead surprise that doesn't involve anyone dying.)
Although many have speculated (and hoped) that the battlefield bond between the Colt Python enthusiast and katana sword artist would turn intimate, Lincoln says he didn’t see it coming.
“I really didn’t. The funny thing was, Danai said, ‘I absolutely did,’ ” Lincoln says during a phone interview with USA TODAY.
The kiss comes in a tonally different episode set six to eight weeks after the mayhem of Dead’s midseason return, which featured the death of Rick’s incipient romantic interest, Jessie, and her sons. Calm and security have been restored in Alexandria and life is as close to normal as it can be with flesh-eating walkers only a wall away.
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The Rick-Michonne connection ("Richonne," to fan advocates), “makes complete sense,” Lincoln says of their magic moment, which comes during a how-did-your-post-apocalyptic-day-go conversation. “It was that sort of domesticated, familial relaxation between old friends and then we look at each other. It wasn’t a surprise. It’s, ‘Of course. Of course, this is right and it’s meant to be.’ ”
It may make sense, especially with a more grounded Rick, but the prospect of longtime walker-killing colleagues becoming lovers required adjustment on set.
“The crew was like, ‘What is going on?’ ” Lincoln says. “The whole episode we kept looking at each other going, ‘This is crazy.’ But it felt great and real and completely different."
The episode features another surprise, the introduction of a man who says his name is Paul “Jesus” Rovia (Tom Payne). He's an engaging and highly skilled operator who accosts Rick and Daryl (Norman Reedus) as they finish a "Butch-and-Sundance" supply run that includes some welcome humor. Jesus, known as Paul Monroe in the comic books, steals their truck before they finally catch him and bring him back to Alexandria.
(At their initial meeting, once-suspicious Rick considers inviting Jesus to join the survivors in Alexandria, while no-longer-welcoming Daryl disagrees. “Rick has done a complete turnaround on this, whereas Daryl is much more reticent after what he’s seen and been through,” Lincoln says.)
Back in Alexandria, the captive Jesus does his Houdini act, walks in on Rick and Michonne as they sleep and says: "We should talk." The surprised – and naked – couple jump from bed, both reaching for their weapon of choice.
For that confrontation, Lincoln and Gurira advocated for their characters to throw modesty to the wind.
“The final scene was supposed to be a little more demure. Danai and I just said, ‘The audience has seen us have a kiss. Then, there’s this reveal of us in bed. The only way we’re going to up this ante and make it real is we’ve got to be naked,’ ” Lincoln says. They explained to executive producer Scott M. Gimple: “ ‘We wouldn’t hide under sheets. We’d go for the gun and katana.’ We wanted viewers to know nothing’s changed. They’re just ferocious.”
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Their fighting instinct may not have changed, but the altered relationship will affect others in their survivor family. Lincoln is cryptic: “Huge ramifications. That’s all I can say.”
The arrival of Jesus could mean the introduction of other people, while Saviors and Wolves remain outside Alexandria.
“Oh, yeah. There’s a lot more coming your way,” Lincoln says when asked about additional human contact. The season’s second half "moves extremely quickly and you’re going to meet a lot of new people in quick succession. It is an incredibly kinetic, fast-paced, brutal but much bigger show than we’ve done for quite some time.”