How life may be for Michonne without Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead

Season 9 of The Walking Dead will be the last season for Rick Grimes and Showrunner Angela Kang dives into how his exit might affect Michonne.

With the confirmed news of Andrew Lincoln’s upcoming final season on AMC’s The Walking Dead, fans have been speculating just how much the loss of Rick Grimes could affect Michonne. Rick and Michonne have shared so much love and loss together, especially last season when they both suffered the devastating loss of Carl Grimes.

What fans don’t know however is how Rick Grimes will exit the show this season. Death may not exactly be the only possibility, but no doubt, not having Rick around will be devastating for Michonne.

Showrunner Angela Kang talked to host Yvette Nicole Brown during The Walking Dead: Season 9 Preview Special  about Rick and Michonne’s relationship in season 9:

"Rick and Michonne are one of the strongest relationships that we have on the show.  They are in a really good place together and they support eachother’s goals. They have their own journey’s that they are going on this season."

It’s always so great hearing about Rick and Michonne’s relationship blossoming into even more love as the show goes on. Sadly, fans will be seeing Rick and Michonne together for only one last season and Angela Kang addressed how this would affect Michonne:

"With Andy’s last season on the show, we are going to explore what that does to Michonne. It’s apart of her story going forward. We will be exploring the different directions Michonne goes, and it may not be the way that you expect."

This is a very compelling answer considering that some fans believe that Michonne might be grieving Rick’s loss for a long time. This is definitely going to be an extremely painful loss for Michonne, however, someone once told Michonne that her pain could be useful one day. In season 6 in the episode “Now”, after Deanna gets bitten by a walker, she gives her plans for the future of Alexandria to Michonne. The plans indicate what Deanna wanted Alexandria to become in the future. On the blueprint, a phrase is written in Latin and Michonne asks Deanna what it means. Deanna tells her that the phrase says “Someday this pain will be useful to you”.

Is it a coincidence or a possible foreshadowing that Deanna gave the plans for the future of Alexandria to Michonne, who will probably take Rick’s place when he is gone? Is it also a sign that the plans had “Someday this pain will be useful to you” written on it? Michonne might make use of her pain from losing Rick to lead the people of Alexandria. She has always been extremely capable of being a great leader. Rick Grimes would have totally wanted her to take his place if he was unable to lead his people anymore. That might be one possible direction of Michonne’s story this upcoming season.

What do you think Michonne will be up to during season 9 of The Walking Dead? Let us know and leave a comment down below!