We would have gotten a lot less Michonne.

The Walking Dead boss Scott M Gimple has spoken about some of the plans for the movies that turned into the series The Ones Who Live.

The zombie franchise’s latest spin-off brought back Rick Grimes and Michonne for further adventures set after the end of the main series, but it was first intended for Rick’s story to be told across three movies.

Speaking to TVLine, Gimple said that the movie trilogy was “a very, very different thing that actually was going through a lot of iterations unto itself.”

Related: The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live ending explained

One of the biggest changes would have been that Michonne wouldn’t be part of the story at first, as Gimple explained that: “When we started [developing] the films, Danai [Gurira] was still on [The Walking Dead], so she was not in that first movie, and thus it was just enormously different.”

The couple would have reunited “in the second film, because I knew [Danai] would be available by then, and I knew she was unbelievably critical.

“But that made for a very different movie, even though Rick’s circumstances were very much the same, and the relationship with CRM and the city was very much the same.”

With Gurira and Andrew Lincoln on board for the series, not just as actor, but as executive producers, Gimple explained that things came together quickly and with “a comfortable vibe.”

When it comes to season 2 of The Ones Who Live, Gimple did not confirm if it was definitely happening. He simply said: “That’s possible.”

“It was a wild ride to make The Ones Who Live. It was like six years of a lot of hoping and pivoting and working,” he concluded. “It didn’t eventuate the way I thought it would; it eventuated so much better.”

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live aired on AMC in the US but doesn’t have an air date yet in the UK.