AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ Adds [Spoiler] for Season 3

As last night's season finale for AMC's The Walking Dead demonstrated, it's not just the Governor who'll be crossing from the original Robert Kirkman/Tony Moore/Charlie Adlard Image Comics series to the television adaptation with the show's third season. Spoilers for last night's cutting final moments, as well as the new cast member, after the jump.Danai Gurira, best known for her role on HBO's Tréme, has joined the uber-successful zombie drama as Michonne, with the character making her debut (hidden under a hooded cloak) in the final moments of last night's episode, saving Andrea from what looked like certain death thanks to both a well-timed appearance and zombie-slicing sword skills.

Walking Dead co-creator and executive producer of the show, Robert Kirkman, told the Hollywood Reporter that the character's appearance hints at changes lying ahead in the next season of the show: "She saves Andrea and she's carrying a sword. This is a very strange visual for fans of the show... I like to think about how the audience that just watches the show takes that. I think that is such a bizarre and jarring image. It really speaks volumes as to what you're going to be seeing in season three."

Series showrunner Glen Mazzara added that fans of the character's comic book incarnation shouldn't assume that this Michonne is the same as the original version, explaining that "we have some other traits about her that are not in the comic book... There's an interesting process as we start to write this character and bring her to life."

Michonne's appearance provides some level of payoff to the announcement last week that the character's "origin story" appears in the April edition of Playboy, with Mazzara describing her as "a significant character [in the series], not just someone who's in the mix. This is a major addition to the show."