You can’t tie people down forever. Danai has given 8 years to the show. And it makes perfect sense for her to go after Rick. Killing her would be pretty much unbearable for me. She is still my favourite character.

Maggie? Now that was messy. Grrr. I think it will be very strange to have her back. I can’t even imagine.

 

But Lauren too "gave" 8 years to the show. I mean, that's partly what's wrong with it. If at some point you feel like you're bigger than the show that put you on the map, please just quit.

And maybe 8 years is too much for some. Just cut ties. I can understand they'd fix something for Rick, because he was the core of the show, but none of this "my career" bullshit should have been acceptable.

 

I get where you’re coming from, but I think it’s not as clear cut, and can’t be as clear cut. You see, you’ve already made a concession for Rick since your previous post. Andy needed to get off the show, but killing Rick would have ruined the show, hence they came up with a genius plan of the movies.
By keeping Rick alive, the hardcore fans enjoy an added layer of excitement to the story: when will the group finally learn he is out there some place?

So then comes the implications of Rick’s departure on Michonne. Which they’ve played out beautifully. The doubts, the mourning, the carrying on. But from our point of view, it’s also been the “when will you find out?” Because the relationship between Michonne and Rick has also been at the very heart of the show. And what would be a better story now?

1. Rick is out there somewhere. Michonne dies 7 years later still mourning him. Their son (whom he’s never met) and adopted daughter will lose both their parents. One day Daryl gets to introduce RJ to Rick. (Now that last part I kind of dig, but that could still happen as part of Scenario 2.)

2. Rick is out there somewhere. Michonne finds out he’s alive after 7 years of mourning him. She sets out on a long and dangerous mission to bring him home back to his family.
The two reunite. Rick learns about RJ.
They come back to Alexandria, Judith will run towards them, and Daryl will walk up behind, holding RJ’s hand. End of TWD.

Well, I know which version I’d prefer.

I have nothing much to say about Maggie/Lauren. I’m not a particularly big fan of her character, so I’m not really invested here. The timing of the issues between Lauren and the AMC was really bad and it was very messy. I think killing her and leaving yet another orphan behind, Glenn’s son of all people would have been just too much darkness for the show, just at the time when we lost Rick. I think this is what swung it in favour of keeping her alive. I don’t miss her, I don’t think the show is missing her, and I’m only looking forward to having her back out of curiosity of how and for what purpose.
I would have been ok with knowing she and Hershel are fine and carry on staying wherever they’ve been for the past 7 years.

 

You misread me. I'm giving them a pass for Rick, but I'd still prefer him dead and I hate this whole extra layer to the story. I don't think the show would have been ruined with him dead - there wouldn't be much difference and the episodes we have now are among the best we've had.

But with allowing him his whims of a family life, indulging Michonne and Maggie's whims with their careers, they kind of painted themselves in a corner. For one, the message they send to the viewers is that TWD is second-tier even to its own crew. But also, they put themselves in a position where it would be really hard not to allow free vacations to Darryl or Carol... Or maybe Judith will want to go to boarding school for a few years and they'll have her come back as a gang-leading-cigar-smoking-half-cyborg-punk only to find out her father was alive all that time? What if Eugene wants a break? Is he important enough to deserve one?

Sasha was one of my favorite characters. When she got her Star Trek gig, we all knew it was over. Never an announcement of her departure and still to this day, she denies there was any cause-to-effect. Same for Dale, he wanted off, he asked to be offed. That's it. That is to me a lot more respectful to the show, and how it should have been done for everyone.

But hey, to each their own and it's really minor beef and doesn't prevent me from enjoying the show, so...

 

We agree and then disagree, and that's cool. I agree that the show's been great without Rick. Other characters could finally come to the forefront. I actually like not having an obvious "Leader" anymore. But I doubt I'd feel the same way about TWD if Rick was dead. I'm ok with him not being here but I find it comforting and hopeful and hugely important that he's not dead. And I love this extra layer.

I partially agree with your resentment of all this tiptoeing round the actors, and how it sets a precedent, but I also think you're just a wee bit too harsh! Eight years is a long long time for people to commit, on such a demanding show. And death is not necessarily the only way out of a long running show like this. Moving away is perfectly acceptable. Moving away and coming back is also acceptable. Disappearing and reappearing too. There's no rule everyone should only be allowed a one way ticket on this show. "You wanna leave? Fine. You die." I don't see why. I think it's ok that they try to deal with these things more creatively.

And I too miss Sasha.

 

Funny but I've gotten used to the show without Rick now as in "show years" it's been over 5yrs since his "death" to the characters knowledge.

I do however wonder how he would've reacted to the Whisperers threat and his interactions with Alpha. That would've been some amazing television right there!

As for Michonne it's understandable as I feel the story will involve some type of news where this new territory she is going to mentions a guy with a beard who was found ashore then taken to another community. That's the only way I could really think of off hand to have her character search for him.

Maggie, well it seems once Glenn was killed then the decision to allow Negan to live was the apex of her arc. Fantastic acting btw as I can still visualize her crying as she was yelling that Negan had to die..."No!...He killed Glen...he has to die!!" After that, her leading Hilltop etc has been meh so far although I did like how she ruled with an iron fist.

Ultimately looking forward to seeing how they reintroduce her to the show.

 

Creativity is the key, exactly. If the writers decide to make a character disappear and come back, well I'm all for it (even though FTWD has proven that it is more often than not completely stupid). But that an actor would impose that absence on the writers, that to me is the opposite of creativity. It's a constraint - and yes the writers can decide to be creative about it and go for alien induction, but it just shouldn't be imposed to them! Well, anyway... Sasha was so beautiful, and I can't stand Star Trek, so I'm an unhappy camper.

 

Omg, just imagine. Just. Imagine. I can just see that head tilt.

I hope we are all on the right track speculating that Michonne will leave because she learns about Rick. I’d be gutted if that didn’t happen now. We’ve waited over a year. Michonne waited seven years...

 

I’m not sure either Andy or Danai imposed their absence on the writers. I imagine they both just said they wanted off the show as regulars. And then the writers begged them to not close the door on their characters, and proposed the movie solution to Andy, which opened up the same solution to Danai. And this seemed to work (hopefully) for both of them as a solution. Because both of these actors are extremely grateful, and they adore their characters, and feel loyalty to the show and the fans. So I think that is why it will work out.

Sasha, yes. Beautiful and so incredibly strong. One of my favourite TWD moments ever is when she laid herself down on top of a bunch of dead walkers... I still shiver thinking about it.

And yes, these movie franchises snatching up our cast is super annoying. If we lose Connie to the Marvel universe (resulting in Daryl going off to live in the woods with Dog again for the next six years), I won’t be a happy camper either.

 

You see the world in pink, and I see it in brown. ;-)

Oh crap, I went to check on IMDB what you were talking about. That's no good news (for us - but $$$ for her).

 

Ha! I see there's an awful lot of *brown* in the world but thankfully there's a lot of *pink* too. I just tend to focus more on the *pink* for my sanity and emotional wellbeing. You should try it sometime?

I don't think I'm that wrong about Andy and Danai though.

 

Reminds of a saying I heard often in Caribbean, "A person who wishes to see evil shall see only evil". If that is true then the opposite could very well be true.
I truly hope your Michonne theory is the way they go.

 

lol, I really hope so too. This show desperately needs a touch of pink every once in a while.

I simply can’t contemplate the other way for her to be written out.

 

Maggie should be brought back to the show, for one or two episodes so can can die properly.

 

The situation with Lauren is sticky. I was always under the impression she wanted more money and the powers that be didn't feel Maggie was important enough to the story and had a specific number they were willing to go. Afterall she wasn't essential to the story, especially once Maggie didn't kill Negan.

I imagine Danai asking off the show factored into their decision to bring her back, plus it's not like her career took off. So it's probably a mutual situation where both sides understood the situation. She wasn't getting the money and the roles she hoped and AMC figured Maggie is going to be more important and have a bigger role with Michonne leaving.

My only hope for the character is that she gets a more expanded role and is more central to the story. Even though she became the leader of Hilltop and obviously had a significant role in the first half of season 9, I really felt that she was almost a side character for a while. For too long she was "Maggie and Glenn". Now that's she's returning I hope she has a more important role going forward.

As far as Michonne goes, I REALLY hope she goes looking for Rick. I still believe Rick's story will be about him in a location where he isn't allowed to leave so he works his way up the ranks in order to earn the trust or ability to leave. I think it would be awesome if Michonne became part of that story and the two of them worked together again. They do have amazing chemistry.