The Ones Who Live Danai Gurira talks relationship focused Walking Dead spinoff

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live concluded its six-part look into Rick and Michonne's lives. Portrayed by Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, the characters departed in seasons 9 and 10, and fans longed to see them return and see more of their epic love story.

The Ones Who Live premiered on AMC and AMC+ in February 2024. This series was exactly as promised: a love story focused on Rick and Michonne. The series featured the long-awaited reunion of Rick and Michonne as they battled the ruthless CRM (Civic Republic Military), where Rick had been a captive for over eight years.

The Ones Who Live also gave fans another scene which many believed the series would fail without, the reunion of Rick and Michonne with their children, Judith (Cailey Fleming) and RJ ( Antony Azor). It was a touching moment when Rick saw his daughter again and finally met his son, now eight years old.

Fans are eager to learn if there will be another season of The Ones Who Live, but it seems this will be the end of this series. There could be more spinoffs coming in The Walking Dead universe.

In an interview with TVLine, Gurira discussed a spinoff that focuses more on the characters' relationships than on their "do-or-die" struggles.

"That’s a really fascinating idea. I think the beauty of and the issue with the mothership is that there’s too much going on, so you don’t get to zero in on the real issues of two people’s dynamics or crises very often. You don’t get to give it the screen time and the full breadth [of examination you might otherwise] because there’s a big villain to deal with and so much action."

- Danai Gurira

She brings up what viewers have been saying for years, the flagship series had too much going on. Throughout the eleven seasons the cast had grown to include many amazing characters, many of which never had focused storylines due to the huge number of characters. Creating a spinoff which focused more on relationships would be something new to the fandom.

The Walking Dead did a great job in the beginning when the cast list was smaller. Episodes could easily hone in on relationships and issues charcters faced without sacrificing other stories. But, as the cast grew it became difficult and often a story would start and that character wouldn't be seen again for a couple of episodes, reducing the impact the characters journey could have.

Next up, AMC will release season 2 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol in the summer of 2024. Dead City has started filming for its second season, which will likely release in 2025.

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