The Walking Dead season 6 will jokingly go down as the “Tumblr” episode where the Richonne-shippers finally got their canon, but the build up to the big Rick-Michonne romance was always there. Producer Scott Gimple explained to Entertainment Weekly that it was a natural next step for the characters.
Michonne’s come a long way since she walked up to the prison with a basket of food. Rick slowly grew to trust Michonne, especially after she bonded with Carl and cared for Judith. Rick and Michonne’s friendship only intensified from there, both becoming fiercely loyal and protective of each other. Every so often, there would be hints of their romance in The Walking Dead .
The biggest moment was when Michonne finally sees Rick with a clean-shaved face, after they settled in with Alexandria. She smiles and compliments him, as if seeing him for the first time. It was only a matter of time before Rick and Michonne finally saw their love for each other, according Gimple.
“It was all about finding an everyday context. It was all about having these two characters come to realize that their intimacy and bond extended beyond friendship,” Gimple told Entertainment Weekly . “Alexandria, in the state it’s currently in, gave them the moment to come to that realization. And that’s a super clinical, mathematical analysis of romance. So I’ll say this: These are two people who have found kindred spirits in each other, strength, respect, support, loyalty. But the world has been screaming in their faces and clawing at them for a good part of their acquaintance. For all they’ve been through, when the world stopped screaming and clawing for them, they realized what they had.”
Some fans are concerned about Rick’s Black Widow status/ After all, his wife, Lori, and brief love interest, Jessie, met violent, messy ends. However, it seems that The Walking Dead is following Andrea’s storyline in the comics. Andrea died in the show’s third season, but her comic book character becomes Rick’s permanent love interest. She becomes a surrogate mother to Carl, and someone Rick can rely on to put him in his place when he starts to go full-on Shane. In the television adaptation, Michonne has done most of the things that Andrea did for Rick in the comic.
Just let the Richonne-shippers have their moment. Watch The Walking Dead season 6 episodes on AMC here .
