Original subtitles

Rick and Michonne are perfect partners in an imperfect world.

They first met as reluctant allies, but over time, their bond grew.

Through so many hardships, so much loss and sacrifice, they found each other.

Until one day, when it all got taken away.

Michonne was fearful that she may have lost Rick forever.

And Rick never stopped thinking about his family, and never stopped trying to

get back to them.

But when Michonne made a fateful discovery, she knew she had to find him.

had to make her family whole.

So, how weird is this?

After all this time.

Yes, and finishing telling the story of Michonne, to be here where it all

started.

The only thing to really do is to start at the very beginning because it's a

very good place to start.

This is approximately where Rick and Michonne first met. Yeah.

How did you feel that day?

What do you mean? How do I feel? How did you? What, meeting you?

Yeah, do you remember it?

I think I do remember. Of course I remember it. I think he was going

quite a defensive phase where he was very distrustful.

And seeing somebody with a katana and two zombies with their... You don't

remember. I have no idea.

I'm leaving.

You don't ever relate when someone don't remember.

How do I do this?

Did I? Come on. Okay, so to help my colleague out here. Listen, don't tell

this. How I came to the gate was I didn't have the two zombies.

I was covered in zombie gunk.

Okay, so you didn't have the two people on the chains.

No, they were long gone. I got rid of them long before I met you.

Oh, my God. There were a lot of walkers clinging onto this fence.

Yeah.

And you're standing there. And Carl's there as well. Should we over?

Because he was the one that convinced me to go and get you.

And that's when Carl says we have to.

Yeah, that's right. And pushes for her. No, I do remember that, guys. Everybody

calm down.

Carl.

That was a memorable way for the character. It was a great way, yeah.

And also because they're so similar in temperament and personality.

They're kind of their alpha. They're independent.

They're stubborn.

It wasn't easy.

Yeah. When they started. It was such a counter experience for Michonne from the

governor. Yeah. Because the governor, he was trying to charm her and and sort of

woo her into his. And she was like, she does have respect for Rick even before

she meets him because of Andrea. And so she knows it's time to not be a loner

anymore. But the governor was trying to treat her all good. And she's like

flipping swords and killing his zombie daughter.

But when she comes here, Rick is hostile, but Michonne trusts that. Yeah,

yeah. She trusts that considering the world they're in, considering the man

knows he is, considering who he's protecting.

Yeah. And he has a lot of grace for Rick. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So when you joined, and we were in season three, what did you feel joining

cast? Were we a welcoming cast?

Yeah, everyone was amazing. I remember I became immediately very close to Lauren

and, of course, to the awesome Steven Yeun.

And, of course, to Laurie Holden.

And you were okay. You were all right. You were nice enough, you know. It was

like, okay.

No, I'm kidding. You were very sweet.

Apart from when I dropped you.

Well, yeah, I mean, that was a funny day.

You want to tell it? No, you tell it. No, you tell it. If you tell it, then,

know, it'll lighten it up. Okay, so we had a policy.

You'll lighten up for you. We had a policy when we were filming that we

throw marks down.

The crew were...

absolutely the heart and soul of The Walking Dead.

And we had this environment where everybody kept acting at all times.

And we didn't call cut.

What does this have to do with it? I'm getting there. This is basically

protecting myself.

The scene goes where I see you drop.

I'm like, I don't think she should come in here. She's got a katana. She's

dangerous. We need to... And Carl's going, get out. We have to save. So

eventually I do. I concede we're going to do that.

And... It was supposed to cut when I pull you onto my back.

And I didn't do that.

And so I picked you up, got about three steps, dropped you, and then

decided to fall on top of you as well, which wasn't the ideal welcome.

I'm like, what is this dude doing? He's not supposed to do this. I'm just lying

there. I'm dead. I'm like, I'm out. I can't do this.

I remember Lenny James. We were on the porch in Alexandria one time, and we

watched you, and you had your dreads and your katana, and you were just sort of

walking down the main street. And he went, look at that.

And I went, I know.

And he went, that's the coolest character.

We'd never seen anything quite like it. It's so deeply, profoundly,

apocalyptically cool.

Do you know what I mean?

I think we were just always a bit jealous. That's probably why I dropped

Speaking of jealous of great, cool characters, your son, Chandler

Riggs. Yeah.

Extraordinary young man. Yeah.

We just struck gold with that kid.

It's an extraordinary bond to see somebody grow up in front of your eyes

screen and spend so much time with.

this incredibly impressive young man. It's not the truth, but I spent more

with Chandler Riggs than my own son for a lot of that decade.

That's not the truth, but it felt like that some days.

And you never know what you're going to get with young actors and what they're

going to turn into. But I think he's a brilliant young man, you know, and a

very, very impressive actor. And I always sign off with DTVS, deceased TV

It's my sign -off with Chandler Riggs. You know what I mean? It's a bit weird,

but that's the way we roll here.

I couldn't speak more highly of him. He's so incredible.

And really was that warm, welcoming heart that was at the heart of this

That's exactly what he did for Michonne was kind of what I felt he was towards

me. We just really clicked and got along. I loved my scenes with him so

I just thought Judith should know what her mom's like.

It was really with Carl and the idea of this young man growing up in this world

that really warmed her heart and, of course, aligned her with you very deeply

want to keep, preserve him. We sort of had this family, didn't we? It sort of

established before we even fell in love.

What are you doing?

Winning a bet. In your dreams.

I'm still on.

You spoke too soon, wise guy.

This might go on a while.

Maybe we can...

Speed this up.

Yeah, you're right.

Shouldn't be fooling around.

We should probably go.

This is the one, because I know from all the scars.

Yeah.

So cool.

I remember doing an interview with a magazine, and they challenged me to a

firing range, and it's actually really well balanced, this thing.

And I did quite, I don't know if I'm picking myself up or anything, but I got

quite a lot, but I will right now pick myself up.

I got quite a lot of bullseyes with real things in Atlanta.

We went to a shooting alley. A bit more coordinated than you were hitting

me on the head.

Why is there a rock here that says Andy's Rock?

That's because I had a limp for a while, and I like that rock in my boot.

And I get a little bit OCD about things.

No! And this was the one that I had to have, so... You?

Yeah, and so I would put that in my boot because we didn't want to fake it.

I mean, it's absurd, but yeah, that's what we did.

So that's why I was hobbling around with that rock in my boot. Wow. And we got

it from outside the prison, actually.

Wow. Yeah.

I have to say, I am very moved by good prop.

making and design it really helps doesn't it and we were so fortunate in

show to have such an incredible design team in all areas and also of course

and kmb and it's just i mean we were so fortunate we walk into environments they

weren't sort of sets it was an environment so did i apart from you

katana does that make sense me stealing my katana just break down that sentence

apart from stealing your katana

Was that the one that wasn't in the Smithsonian, but it found its way into

apartment in New York? Tell me where it is.

Apart from the katana that you decided to pilfer, are there any other

props that you would have liked to have held on to?

Listen.

don't be mad because you don't have a katana yeah i am jealous um i know um

like norman used to end each season on a motorbike he took every crossbow he

took one home at the end of everything every season in full costume yeah with a

crossbow driving home yeah thank you for another good season yeah on a bike that

was probably designed by him nine years to get my katana

So, yeah, is there another prop or thing I would like to have kept?

Maybe the governor's eyeball.

Oh, that's cool.

I don't know if we really got it. She just put it in, but I don't think she

yanked it out, you know? But I think we should have a thing of the eyeball with

that piece of glass stuck in it. That would be amazing.

Yeah, I want that. Speaking of that, I'll never forget Dave Morrissey, who

played the governor, attacking in such a badass way out on that field.

Go ahead!

Screaming and all this, and shooting at us when the wall was kicking off.

And then he got into his car, and he had obviously the patch on, and he started

driving, and he just lifted his patch up.

Because he couldn't drive with one eye. He was terrified. I just remember going,

um, that's not that bad.

They can cut around it. They can cut around it.

Right, okay. He called him out.

I did. We love you, David. You're an incredible, incredible actor.

Amazing. What is that?

Judith and Carl.

But where was that? What is that?

Is it the porch?

The porch. Oh, the porch of the house.

Did you just cut it out of the porch and leave the hole in the porch?

No, the porch is complete.

You sure about that?

Sure you didn't just leave a hole in the porch? I'm going to check later on when

we go.

Look at that. There we go.

Had my air out, as they say in Scotland, for the whole of the first episode.

Okay. Moving on.

Right. Right. Now we're talking.

This was my first outfit that the fantastic Yulin Tuffy, who was our

designer for many years, did a fantastic job. Amazing job, yeah.

And she really enjoyed kind of stepping away from certain things that the show

had had, like duller colors.

So Michonne kind of got more color in her palette. No, it felt like a dig. I

don't know about duller colors.

You brightened up the show. No, I didn't say that. I said Yulin decided to give

me color. And then we covered you in blood.

Oh, God.

The boots. I can't believe all the stuff I did this with. There came a time I

had to graduate these and put on some shoes with a bit more heel support.

But, like, listen, sturdy as hell. Like, nothing's going to get past them or

around them. So you were being appropriate to the environment, is what

saying. We were, you know, we were down and out in the dirt eating dogs.

Yeah, that was a low point. It was low, and I think at the end of it, we meet

Aaron after we were in the barn, and you look at me, and I'm like, nod, and then

you punch him. Yeah.

Like, I wasn't saying punch him. I thought that was the nod. I was saying,

believe what he's saying.

So we're clear?

That look wasn't a let's attack that man look.

It wasn't, he seems like an okay guy to me look.

She's like, we've got to give this guy a shot because her instincts are saying

this could be a place, as she says to you in that episode, where Judith could

grow up. We can't just toss him aside and say he's lying. Yeah, yeah.

We don't need to find out. We do.

You know what you know.

And you're sure of it.

But I'm not.

Me neither.

Your wife's dangerous.

Mine isn't. Passing up someplace where we can live?

Where Judith can live?

That's pretty dangerous.

I'd call dibs on that one.

It's got more curb appeal.

Because this hasn't changed that much, I feel this is more shocking to my

system, seeing this now.

I mean, we've shot every single part of this place.

So what did you feel like when you came here? Were you just relieved to get a

hot shower?

It was about the idea of moving into something structured and real that was

and good.

And the belief that that had to exist, that Michonne was holding on to. And she

was the one who said, let's go towards D .C.

She was the one who said, we've got to give Aaron a chance.

And she's the one who persuaded you to come here.

And you didn't know whether or not you were going to be able to do it. And we

had that conversation that was about what you would hear when we got there.

when we got to the doors, we hear children laughing.

I loved coming here. It was about coming together in a place that was clean and

beautiful, and we could not shoot on the side of a ditch road.

I hated it, actually.

I know, that's perfect for our characters. I hated it, because it was

I didn't feel real.

It just didn't feel like the show, and I was really uncomfortable.

And also, then I had to shave my beard off, and I was furious about that. Which

we all thought was great.

Yeah, well, I'm glad you did.

He had this wretchedly massive beard. It was like you could not see his face at

all. But I thought I was really rocking it. And then my son, who likes to

humiliate me, showed me a photo of the beard. And I was like, oh, man, that was

like about four months too big.

Why didn't anybody tell me? It was a lot.

It was a real shock because all the men on set in solidarity shaved

their beards.

when he shaved his.

It was a really shocking day to come to work.

And all the girls were like, did you see Andy? Oh my God.

So he was a little haughty on set for a few days. And then I was like, I asked

if Andy. We did double takes. It was weird.

I just, well, I just, and then we had to wear that uniform, which made me feel a

bit weird as well.

What was your reaction to Deanna appointing us constables?

Well, I mean, the good thing about it was that it allowed us to have

There was a nervousness about, are they going to try to eat us like Terminus did

or try to, you know, kill us like what was about to happen here? And so I think

the cool thing was the idea that she was entrusting us. It was really her

reaching out and saying, I entrust you with the authority over this place.

I'd like you to be our constable.

That's what you were.

That's what you are.

And you too.

I sort of took the law into my own hands. Exactly. He became the biggest

in the whole darn gone place.

He was a dick.

He was, but I mean, I re -watched that and I was like, oh my God, that was

really... some crazy vigilante stuff you went after. And it was really just

because you had a crush on his wife. Would you care if you didn't have a

on his wife? Yes, I was entrusted as being a constable. That's not how a

constable functions. I was keeping the peace. I was keeping the peace. I kept

the peace and I knocked your ass out.

That was keeping the peace.

But it made for great drama.

If you don't fight, you die.

I'm not going to stand by.

Was it a conscious decision to actually hit me?

It was a conscious decision to make it work and trust that you could

take it, whatever it took.

Wow. But no, I did not consciously want to actually make contact.

Come on. I probably deserved it. I had it coming. But it was just a little

It was a tap.

Yeah. And I think it helped you enact your action.

Yeah. Which you did pretty well. Thank you.

Yeah, you look pretty messed up. I loved how it came out, quite honestly. I

thought it looked great.

The punch did lead to a very tender moment between Rick and Michonne, which

think was definitely a hint at what was to come, which was the scene where he's

sort of admitting that he lied to her and was scared to tell the truth because

she could talk him out of things.

hand her his gun yeah and her response is to trust him and

to make him keep his gun yeah and to trust him to make the right move and to

him know that she's still with him even if things don't work out here i think

that was a very telling moment between them as future partners yeah

This is exactly where it happened.

Mm -hmm.

When did Scott actually, Scott Gimple, when did he tell you?

He told me at the beginning of the season.

He told me in a way that was very, like, he was almost too afraid to mention it

in full sentences, but he basically told me. You know, we had had conversations

about why I was grouped with you so much, and one of the writers said to me

time, they're like, well, we just keep writing to Rick and Michelle because

those scenes just work so well. We just keep writing them.

And so he would be talking about things like that to me, and then he just did

that thing that keeps happening this year.

And he couldn't bring the words up. He was scared, like the walls were

listening, you know.

And I was like, you need to record something together. He's like, well, we

want to say all of that.

But yeah, so he had always... But it really did freak me out to see it on the

page. Oh, God, yeah. I was freaked out. I was like, holy shit. But then it

made... absolute sense, as soon as we did the thing. Yeah, I will give Rick

this. It looked like he was making the move and she was responding in shock to

the realization that this is exactly what she's wanted but not dared to truly

bring to full consciousness.

And now it's just dead clear.

Well, and I think it was also for the group dynamic. It was already

that there was a sort of father and mother of the rest of the group.

Certainly the biggest baby in the group, Daryl Dixon, you know, felt that much

earlier on.

He had very mixed feelings about our coupling. He was so... Oh, my God. He

like, I'm mad.

He said to me, I'm mad.

I was like, what do you know about me? And then he started... Michelle was

supposed to be with Daryl. Yeah. But then at the same time, he thought,

supposed to be with Daryl. Yeah. So he was just in a bit of a conundrum. Yeah,

he just didn't know where to turn. He was very confused.

It's a very difficult season for Normski.

Bless him.

Bless them.

Sorry.

What?

So, Danai, this spot in particular, did it haunt you?

Yeah, this was the Negan lineup place where it felt like we spent about 200

shooting on our knees. It was awful.

And it was, like, the saddest part was to see, like, how defenseless we were.

Like, we had no way out of that situation.

Any.

Maybe.

Mighty.

And we lost two spectacularly brilliant actors.

Yeah. Yeah.

It was just here, wasn't it? I mean, it was... And they had that horrible

whistle, didn't they? They were that... That... Yeah.

And he was such a saunterer, you know. Mr.

JDM.

We had to spend hours and hours just watching him just masquerade, you know?

Yeah. Well, bless him. I mean, he did have to come. Oh, no, no, no. He was

brilliant. And do 14 pages of dialogue. I know, taking that role, like just

dropping in and just blanching us. That's no small task. It took a Titan

JDM to do what he did. I mean, from an audience perspective, he was extremely

entertaining, but utterly horrifying, diabolical. I still think that the

reconciliation was so difficult with...

The Saviors, wasn't it? It was such an amazing sort of ambitious idea for the

writers to try and rehabilitate him.

Yeah. And they did it. They kind of did it. Yeah.

I mean, I think by the time I leave the show, he's still locked up in a cave.

Yeah, good.

But also, you know, losing Stephen, I fought so hard to try and save Stephen.

Did you? Yeah.

Because, you know, he was such a great friend and he'd been there for... He's a

pillar of the show.

Yeah. Big time.

But the death dinner was a tradition that kind of kicked in very early. I

it was Sarah Wayne Kelly that just went, well, let's do a death dinner. Great.

It's a great idea.

And what it did is that it made sort of more sense for the person leaving,

hopefully, but also helped everybody recover from the change in the dynamic.

Yeah. You know, which I thought was really inspired.

And everyone could express love to the person.

Yeah, it was great. It was just, yeah, it was. It was like having your funeral

and being alive yeah with stevens i had this idea i was like steven was such

like a performer like he could dance he could sing like none of us could and he

would just be always just singing like a lot of justin timberlake and like you

know the boy band stuff so we did i want it that way as a lip sync we're all in

white pants i do remember that yeah yeah And then Kudlitz as well, lovely

Michael Kudlitz. Yes, who then came and directed and directed some astounding

moments I've been able to do with him as an actor. I know there's a moment there

you don't like and I won't talk about it.

Yeah, let's talk about it. Because why would you just bring it up and then just

move on?

It was just a moment where he was about to possibly take his own life and

Michonne stopped him.

With your lips? No. You stopped him with your lips?

In his gratitude, we hug and then surprisingly to Michonne, he does kiss

Oh, he kisses her? Yeah, of course. Was it reciprocated?

How long was it? No, not really.

It couldn't have been more than three seconds. Okay, that's reciprocated.

Anything past a second is reciprocated. She pulls back like this, but you're

never going to watch it. That's not even a second. It's like half a second. Oh,

my God. And then she proceeds to only talk about Rick.

That's even weirder.

You might not know about this, but in my final episode, it was like a sliding

doors thing.

You could have killed someone else.

I didn't kiss anybody. Okay.

We're going to do it. Let's do it now. No, no, no. I'm recapping.

Nobody. It was just a moment where you're so silly.

You kind of go through a journey with her of how it could have gone if she

hadn't made the choice through her humanity to save her. And so you see

really gruesome sequence where she just leaves Andrea to get killed.

Wow. So that's like her other reality and she becomes a savior.

What? So this is all a sliding door sort of thing that's going on in her mind.

She's hallucinating because she's been made high by some tea that causes

hallucinations. Long story. It's how she finds your boots, though. Long story.

So then she's walking down the line and it's really freaky. I have an incident

with you guys where I'm the person saying, help me. And then you guys drive

me in the car when I have the orange backpack from episode 12. I'm that

So then I have beef with you guys. Something else happens. Oh, yeah, you go

shoot all the people in the thing that we do.

And so I have personal beef with you guys because I'm in one of the beds and

shoot a couple of people and get away.

It's crazy.

This is a great episode.

I kind of wish I watched the show. I kind of wish you did, too. It sounds

really good episode.

He comes down the line. He sees everybody.

Then he says, now I'm going to let my girls, who are doing such great work,

her decision.

Oh, and you kill the person in the lineup.

Yeah, but it ends up being I kill myself.

I wonder how many scenes we've done on this porch.

You know what I mean? It's so bizarre.

This isn't the right porch, but it's just brought to mind.

You know, Scott Wilson and his porch scene, which is after Carl's been shot

we go to the farm.

And I just want to shout out Scott Wilson. Just because it was such a

He was just one of those extraordinary mentors, wasn't he? That we all loved.

Your exit from the show.

Yeah.

I thought they did such a beautiful job.

Particularly, I loved our scene.

On the bridge, you're my family.

I felt you.

You did.

We were able to say so much in that episode because of bringing

actors back like John Bernthal and Scott.

And I think that that was the brilliance of the writing. It was really,

really... Proper genre writing that you could sort of break apart the form and

try different things and fail Sometimes it sometimes it works and I thought they

did a magnificent job with that exit

I have a B.

Not an A. I never had an A.

He's hurt, but he's strong. Can you help him?

I'm trying to save a friend.

A friend who saved me.

I have something for you now.

We have a deal?

You're still here.

You're going to be okay.

They're going to save you.

It was hard leaving the show.

It was really hard.

I knew what I was doing. I knew the hole that I was leaving.

And there was that draw of wanting to stay and be with my family here, but

knowing that my real family was needing me back home.

And the truth was that I could have gone a year earlier, and I wasn't ready to.

I remember we were at Comic -Con, and I went,

can't do it i said i saw everybody and i was just like i'm gonna have to stay a

bit longer i said to scott i said scott i don't think i can do it yet i haven't

made peace with it you know it was a big deal this is gonna sound long but you

preferred your experience after i left no i don't mean it like that

i don't i swear i don't but there was an interesting there was a buck coming

Through the navigation she had to make.

That's it.

It was like we had to go six years forward.

And then she has a son now. She has a five -year -old that looks just like

And then she has this very precocious...

12 -year -old daughter who walks around with her little katana on her back. It

was just so riveting and amazing to work with her. It was just a new beginning.

It was super smart.

The little katana on her back, which I just loved.

Yeah. I already mentioned it. I love that little thing on her back. Now she's

kind of outgrown it, hasn't she? Did you steal that as well?

Who exactly is supposed to have that katana except me?

Who, Andy?

Who?

Was it difficult for you? Because you went the following year.

Well, when you said you were leaving, I think I knew it was my time as well

coming. And I didn't know exactly how or when, but I knew I had to start

thinking like that.

And when you left, you said, now go lead.

And I was like, what?

I was like, that's scary.

And I was like, how?

And you were like, just...

Do what you, do you, be you.

And I was like, what the F does that mean?

And so you walked away like fucking Yoda.

And I've just lived like that.

I think I might have meant that for Norman.

I'm joking.

Though, yeah, I mean, I was surprised that you said it to me, but you did. You

asked me the question, you know, earlier, what has it been like to return

him? And I said, well, it's...

So easy and so effortless, but also deeply important to do it as well. And

thankful for you because you were the one that said we have to, we should.

You know, there's a story to be told and we need to finish this thing. And I

thank you for that. And, you know, it's been such a special experience. You

can't, no matter how many of these we do and how much information we give you.

on film or in books or whatever, or at Comic -Con. You know, we lived

it. It's like I was thinking as I was driving here going, I used to drive back

listening to Johnny Cash when we'd done a day that was great, like when you

knocked me out and we had one of those big days.

And there was nothing better than seeing a sort of Georgia sunset, listening to

a bit of Johnny Cash and going, we had a good day at the office.

And only we sort of shared that. And it was...

And it's a very, very special, you know, thing that we'll always have.

Yeah.

Hey, Rick.

Here.

Look at this.

This place.

Consignee Grimes.

You've been located and are instructed to surrender.

Remain in place with your hands up.

Hold it to your heart.

It's true.

Forever.

We're the ones who live.

We're the ones who live.

What was it like, Danai, to reprise the role of Michonne?

in the six -part miniseries for AMC.

It was incredible.

I mean, it was very intense.

I mean, we started off, it was the three of us, you know, creating this thing,

and we got a lot done in a short amount of time in terms of figuring out what

this was supposed to be.

It was an epic love story, kind of the heart of it, wasn't it?

These two incredibly similar types of people that love one another have

disappeared from the mothership.

And we just wanted to sort of fill in the blanks, really, didn't we? Well,

it was definitely a story that needed to be completed. And I do think that these

characters are so beloved, you know, by us as well. So to be part of that

creative process and to have a bit more input from the sort of the genesis was

really exciting. Yeah, yeah. You know, and I think a lot of it was what would I

want to see, you know?

You wrote an episode and starred in it and produced an episode as you were

filming. Yeah. As well. And I was so impressed, so kind of shocked at your

capacity to be able to wear all of these hats at the same time. I don't think I

would be able to.

do that you know what i mean were you able to kind of navigate that yeah i

it was it was intense it was intense but it was just like once i started to

write it and was getting more and more invested and getting it as rich as it

needed to be for the characters and for the journey there was just no letting go

of it it was like it's your kid now it's just your kid you take care of your kid

but anyway the long and short of it was it was extremely intense and extremely

hard, and also extremely rewarding. Everybody was just incredible with

the vision I had. As were you. As were you. Bless you. Sometimes I was a

little... No, no, but... No, foxy is not the right word. Is it not the right

word? No. Good.

Specific. Okay, I love that word. Yay!

But I think the fact that we're...

trying to explore a new world we're sort of world building we're not sort of we

are world building and what i've always loved in the show is when we meet people

or strangers and you hear their story so what i want to hear is the bigger story

of what's been happening in the you know in america in the continent while we've

been scrabbling around in the dirt but also for me it was always about the

reason that we do this is to get these two lovers together to tell a love story

because after all what when you're on your deathbed what else is worth talking

about you know what i mean it's love man and i think that the story began with a

man looking for his family and it finishes potentially with

these two lovers hopefully finding one another and and completing the circle

yeah yeah yeah