Not Everyone Deserves Saving in Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Michonne Mini-Series

Though Telltale Games had its fair share of successes before stepping into the world of The Walking Dead, the first season of that episodic adventure is what sparked the developer's launch into the gaming stratosphere. The first two seasons of Telltale's The Walking Dead focused almost entirely on original characters within the comic book universe, but in 2016, a new mini-series will delve deeper into the story of one of The Walking Dead's most central characters, Michonne.

The first teaser trailer for The Walking Dead: Michonne debuted at the 2015 Game Awards, and thought it was brief, gave a nice glimpse into what Telltale has planned for the fan-favorite character. The mini-series (which will be shorter than Telltale's traditional 5-6 episode seasons) will focus on the two-year gap in time between volumes 21 and 22 of the comic, when Michonne left Alexandria to return to Georgia to learn what happened to her children, and when she finally returns in volume 24.

While Glenn did have a small role in the first season of Telltale's series, that was before he met up with Rick in Atlanta. Michonne getting a starring role in this adventure doesn't mark the first time characters from the book proper have been explored in other formats (the Governor got two novels, which were also prequels), but it is the first time we can recall a video game of any type having a direct narrative impact on an actual ongoing comic series.

The three-episode event will feature Orange is the New Black's Samira Wiley as the voice of Michonne, who just in the brief amount of footage definitely brings the right tone and gravitas to the character. The trailer also offers hints at the boat Michonne seemingly calls home in the comics these days, as well as her "first mate" Pete. If you haven't been keeping up with the comic, you might notice that Michonne's katana blade is nowhere to be seen. That's because she hung her signature blade up back in Alexandria before leaving. Curiously, that hasn't stopped her from finding a new blade for this excursion.

I'm not counting on her running into the game series' protagonist Clementine, but if she does, Clem will be about 14 years old given that the comic timeline is much further along than the game timeline. The outbreak in the comics and game began in the fall of 2003, but while the game series only advanced about two years, the comic is now somewhere around 2007. That means Michonne would be traveling to Georgia sometime during 2005/2006. Probably. Estimating the times and dates in a fictional world where people don't really talk about what day of the year it is isn't an exact science. And don't worry, there's not a chance Clementine will end up being Michonne's kid as Clem is an only child and Michonne had two daughters.

Telltale's The Walking Dead: Michonne will debut in February 2016, and hopefully will be as harrowing and memorable as the developer's previous efforts in the franchise.