‘Walking Dead’ star Danai Gurira discusses ‘Black Panther’ training

While Wakanda was introduced in Captain America: Civil War with Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa aka Black Panther, the upcoming solo film will dive into the character in more interesting and exciting ways.

Joining Boseman is The Walking Dead star Danai Gurira as Okoye, Now, Gurira discusses the film, crediting her time as Michonne on the AMC series as helping her with the upcoming fighting work she’ll be doing on Black Panther.

“I’m training right now for Black Panther, and, yes, there’s a lot of ways that they’re extremely different,” she tells Comicbook.com, comparing Okoye and Michonne, but may be similar in combat styles.

“There’s a lot of ways that, yes, one helps another. There are things about using combat that help each other. Absolutely. There’s a lot of new things to learn and I’m really enjoying. There’s so much new. She’s a whole ‘nother thing.”

Okoye is the leader of the Dora Milaje, the group of skilled women who are charged with being the Black Panther’s personal bodyguards. Whether it’s fighting with a blade or a firearm, these warriors are extremely adept at neutralizing opponents and keeping their king safe, notes Comic Book.

“So even though Danai Gurira will be exploring new spaces with her Marvel character, her combat experience on The Walking Dead will help with the movie’s big action sequences. T’Challa may be the movie’s main hero, but Okoye will ideally have plenty of opportunities to show why she was recruited to protect Wakanda’s ruler. As a fun tidbit, Gurira also revealed that director Ryan Coogler (Creed) cast her not because of her work on The Walking Dead (he hasn’t even seen the TV series), but because of her performance in an independent movie called Mother of George.”