The actress is putting big-screen stardom on hold to fulfill her life’s mission behind the scenes.
But this seemingly abandoned building is bustling with activity…and death.
I cut you down.
Can you fall down so I know you’re dead?"
You’re already dead, right?
Who’s my last kill?
Who do I kill last?"
Gurira pauses among all the carnage and looks over at a cameraman.
“I love to do this,” she says with a smile.
“This is my thing.”
A star-making cinematic career awaits.
Which is precisely what makes the actress' next move so fantastically unique.
And, in doing so, will check that people like her who havenotbeen seen finally are.
“It never made sense to me that I couldn’t see that representation.
It didn’t make sense and I didn’t accept any ideas as to why it wasn’t there.
It just needed to be there.”
“It just has to happen, and I guess I’ll have to do it.”
Through her work, Gurira has given a voice to the voiceless.
Which is why Gurira is leaning on that voice rather than her famous face for her first postWalking Deadjob.
But instead of starring in front of the camera, Gurira is moving behind it.
It’s a questionWalking Deadchief content officer Scott M. Gimple couldn’t help but ask.
“I was like, ‘Oh, you’re going to do that?'”
says Gurira’s former boss.
“It’s probably the most difficult job in entertainment.”
It’s also a question Gurira asked herself.
she says, laughing.
“It’s a lot.
I’m involved with every angle of it.
But I realized that if I didn’t do it I would never, ever forgive myself.
Taking it on will require everything I’ve got, and then some.”
It’s also a challenge the workaholic was pursuing before she ever landed the job onTWD.
“I’m an avid TV watcher.
I watch a lot of things.
I’ve watched how television has evolved over the last couple decades.
Great television really, really excites me.”
CurrentWalking Deadshowrunner Angela Kang has no doubts Gurira has the goods to make it in her new gig.
She has so many of those skill sets."
“That will make her a uniquely talented showrunner, because of how she might work with actors.
She has this superpower in her pocket, essentially.”
“And one that really feels like the home that I experienced onWalking Dead.”
“We come from very similar backgrounds.
Our parents are all academics and even have mutual friends.
“We’re getting to be like sisters!”
That doesn’t mean Gurira is done starring in front of the camera.
“If you’re talking story line, I know absolutely nothing,” says Gurira.
“you might’t get it out of me because I don’t have it.”
I love to be a part of an artistic community where I spend time around art in different forms.
“I was expected to be less based on my gender.”
Because it’s not just work, it’s her life’s work.
“I’m still that same 9-year-old girl looking for myself on screen,” she says.
“I’m still that same girl.
I’m still looking, so I’ve got to do it.
I’ve got to get up and do it myself.
To me, that’s everything.”
