Hell Yeah Michonne!

“Gurira wants colour-blind casting where it doesn’t undermine the plot. “With Shakespeare, there’s no reason why Hamlet shouldn’t be Chinese or Lady Macbeth Ghanaian. It was written close to 500 years ago! The idea that we’re still thinking about colour when casting Shakespeare is ridiculous.”

She notes a little improvement. “You look at some amazing TV shows right now, like How to Get Away with Murder with Viola Davis. The fact she is black in the show has no relevance, but it’s a part where someone would have traditionally looked at that script and said ‘let’s cast a white woman’ FOR NO REASON.” She shouts the last three words.

Exceptions are times where race is integral to the narrative or where they offer a depiction that is scarce on screen. She feels her Walking Dead character, Michonne, is one such example. Michonne was African-American in Robert Kirkman’s comic book on which the series is based. “She has dreadlocks and a sword. Black women of that nature are under-represented on television.”

Gurira tells me proudly about all the different Michonne action figures. She clearly adores playing her: “I have this fantastic character who has complexity and a distance to go in terms of who she is and who she could be. That’s an actor’s dream.”

Michonne was almost silent in the early seasons, a stretch — I suggest — for someone as articulate as Gurira. “Yes, it built up a lot of intensity in my body. It made me step away from myself and find this woman and the wounds that caused her to create a mask of disconnect to the world.”

Many fans of the show want Michonne to become romantically involved with the male protagonist, Rick, played by Andrew Lincoln. They even have a portmanteau nickname: Richonne. “It makes total sense that [viewers] see something special. They have a very intimate friendship. It is a friendship, however. I have no idea what that evolves into next.” There’s a throaty laugh: “I appreciate that fans want Michonne to get some loving, though.””

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