The first The Walking Dead season 10 image features Danai Gurira’s Michonne in a fiery battle with zombies. After years of declining ratings and increasing fan discontent, The Walking Dead season 9 delivered what many critics agreed was the show’s best storytelling in a long time. If one development helped The Walking Dead overcome its recent slump, it was the season 9 arrival of the villainous Whisperers and their terrifying leader Alpha (superbly played by Samantha Morton).
Of course, season 9 was dominated not by new arrivals but devastating departures. No exit was more earth-shattering for the show than that of Andrew Lincoln, who departed as Rick Grimes after heading up the cast since the very beginning. Maggie actress Lauren Cohan also exited the show in the front half of the season, but it’s been reported that the series is trying hard to get Cohan back. Late in the season, a whole group of characters was killed off by the Whisperers, including long time regulars Tara (Alanna Masterson), Enid (Katelyn Nacon) and Henry (Matt Lintz).
As The Walking Dead heads into season 10, another important long time cast member, Gurira, is also reportedly headed for the exit. As Michonne’s storyline prepares to wrap up, EW has released a first look Walking Dead season 10 image that features Gurira’s katana wielding character in a ferocious battle with zombies while surrounded by fire. See the image in the space below:
Speaking to EW, Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang offered some insight into the significance of fire in season 10:
“One of the things that we have going on this season is, we’re continuing some explorations of natural elements and how they play into our world. And fire is one of those elements that comes into play in a few key ways that twist the story in a way that will be pretty exciting.”
Indeed, bringing the elements more into play actually began with season 9, when a snowstorm descended and made things very difficult for the characters after the already devastating losses they suffered at the hands of The Whisperers. Going by Kang’s comments, it seems fans can look forward to more instances of bad weather or perhaps a forest fire complicating things in season 10 (as if the world being overrun by zombies wasn’t already complicated enough). Kang naturally isn’t giving much away about what specifically is going on with Michonne in the above image, but it appears the character is in a lot of trouble. Michonne of course is very good at getting out of trouble using her trusty katana. Somewhere along the line though, something must happen to Michonne that leads to her departure from the show.
Of course, just because Michonne is leaving The Walking Dead, that doesn’t mean fans need to necessarily say goodbye to the character. Rick Grimes departed the series without dying, and is expected to return in a series of Walking Dead movies being developed by AMC. Cohan too appears on her way back to the franchise. It would not be a shock if Michonne also left the show without being killed off, leaving the door open for the character to be reunited with Rick in one of the movies. As for season 10 of The Walking Dead, very little is known about what is expected to go down, but no doubt The Whisperers will be in the thick of things again, and no doubt the show will introduce a bunch more new characters (to replace all the ones that died at the end of season 9, if nothing else).
