The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Showrunner on the Richonne Proposal

"That's their last moment they get to have in that way before all hell breaks loose."

By Cameron Bonomolo

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 5.] There were no "I dos," and there was no wedding episode, but Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) finally tied the knot on The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Sunday's "Become" episode revealed that Rick planned to marry Michonne on the bridge being built during season 9, one that symbolized the future and connection between the communities. But then Rick blew up the bridge to saved his loved ones from a zombie horde and disappeared with Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), who had him helicoptered away as part of her deal with the CRM, and Rick and Michonne's future went up in smoke.

Eight years later, the couple reunited and escaped the inescapable Civic Republic Military. They were on a cross-country road trip headed home to Alexandria when CRM Warrant Officer Jadis Stokes tracked them down in Wyoming, intercepting them and interrupting a romantic "honeymoon" consisting of scavenged ramen noodles, dusty bottles of whiskey, and a woodside cabin. 

But it was a series of flashbacks chronicling Jadis' secret yearly meetings with her confidante and former flame Father Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam) that revealed the priest planned to marry Rick and Michonne on the bridge with a ring he found in the forest. Then the bridge happened, so Gabriel eventually gave the ring to Jadis/Anne as a "symbol of faith, of love." A dying Jadis finally returned the ring to its rightful owner — along with information on the CRM dossier Rick and Michonne need to find and destroy before going home.

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"It's a broken world, Michonne, and you're the only thing that puts it back together. 'Til my last breath, I am yours," Rick told the mother of his children, kneeling with the ring in hand. An emotional Michonne replied, "I could never have imagined this. But it could only ever have been you. I'm yours." With that, The Walking Dead pronounced Rick and Michonne husband and wife.

It was a heartfelt episode with callbacks to two essential Richonne episodes. The first was the season 6 episode "The Next World" with the mention of the specific toothpaste that Michonne requested, and the second was the season 7 episode "Say Yes," where Rick and Michonne enjoyed a romantic road trip while scavenging guns for Jadis to help them fight their war with the Saviors. As it happens, "Say Yes" and "Become" both saw the couple engage in talks about "reordering" the world.

"It's a throwback, a little bit, to one episode that we had during The Walking Dead," showrunner Scott M. Gimple, who co-created the series with Gurira and Lincoln, said on The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Episode Insider. "It's like a honeymoon. An apocalyptic honeymoon, but a honeymoon. There's a sweetness to it, and they're so together, and everything's going to be fine, but, obviously, the world is still coming for them."

"The marriage proposal was driven by Danai as a story idea to bind them even closer," Gimple added. "That's their last moment they get to have in that way before all hell breaks loose."

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The honeymoon is over in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live finale, which finds Rick and Michonne on a mission to infiltrate the CRM's Cascadia Forward Operating Base during the army's summit with its top commanders, including Major General Beale (Terry O'Quinn) and Command Sergeant Major Pearl Thorne (Lesley-Ann Brandt).

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 6 airs Sunday, March 31, on AMC and AMC+. Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD and follow on Facebook for more TWD Universe coverage.

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