New ‘The Walking Dead’ Theory Explains How Michonne Might Make Her Exit

While spoilers for the second half of Season 10 of The Walking Dead start to spill out, there are still some questions that haven’t been answered yet. Fans of the show have known one of the most popular characters in the AMC series is leaving by the end of this year. Danai Gurira is stepping away from the show. That means Michonne is going too.

What’s left to guess at is just how Michonne will depart. The Walking Dead showrunners have used a wide variety of mechanisms to shuttle characters out of the story. Some like Glenn Rhee’s Steven Yeun were killed off in the most gruesome of ways. Others like Lennie James’ Morgan simply moved on. A new theory making its rounds on the internet believes the comic books have already tipped how Michonne will go.

The Express breaks down the theory by pointing out the sword-wielding heroine’s TV arc has been quite similar to Andrea’s in creator Robert Kirkman’s books. In the comic, Andrea is Rick Grimes’ wife and she’s murdered by The Whisperers in an act of retaliation.

That storyline has Negan infiltrating the enemy camp and killing off their leader, Alpha. The Whisperers, in turn, unleashes a herd of walkers on Rick and his group and Andrea perishes in the subsequent attack.

In the AMC series, Andrea died several seasons ago, having never become Rick’s love interest. Instead, Michonne took over that role before Andrew Lincoln’s version of Rick was hurt and then disappeared when Lincoln left the show.

This version of The Walking Dead has other similarities which could be hinting at the eventual conclusion to her character. After befriending members of Rick’s group, Negan has seemingly switched sides and is now a member of The Whisperers.

Should showrunners want to mimic the comic story, Negan could be acting as a double agent in order to get close to Samantha Morton’s Alpha and take her down. As the war between our heroes and The Whisperers is raging, one final retaliation could spell the end of Michonne.

While the theory makes sense, there are others who believe Gurira’s character will make a more peaceful departure. Not long ago, rumors that Gurira could eventually return to the broader The Walking Dead universe at some point in the future began swirling. Crossover talk with The World Beyond reported on by ComicBook.com has Michonne eventually resurfacing on that program which is set several years in the future when humanity has started to recover from the zombie apocalypse.

Because it’s known Michonne is leaving one way or another this season, dueling The Walking Dead theories will get proven right, or wrong eventually.