*Warning: Contains spoilers for The Walking Dead.*
The Walking Dead’s Rick and Michonne spin-off, The Ones Who Live, ended on Sunday night after an impressive first six episodes.
Starting in February, the series follows Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) after they both left the main series.
Rick and Michonne last appeared in The Walking Dead during the show’s ninth and tenth seasons, but appeared in the final in cameos as viewers prepared for their spin-off.
By all accounts, the spin-off has pleased Walking Dead fans – even those who had stopped watching the main series before it came to its conclusion.
But what has seemingly caught the attention of viewers is the large number of times Rick and Michonne kiss after reuniting in the first episode.
Observers have noticed that the two characters kiss a large 107 times in just six episodes. That’s an average of more than 17 kisses per episode.
And at an average episode runtime of 56 minutes, that’s one kiss every three minutes and around 18 kisses per episode. That’s quite a lot of kissing for Andrew and Danai.
A dedicated Walking Dead fan even took the time to compile all 107 kisses into a video that lasts longer than two minutes – this means that 0.7% of the entire first season has been taken up by kissing.
On Twitter, fans thanked the producers and writers behind The Ones Who Live for ‘making up for’ Rick and Michonne’s lack of screentime in the last few seasons of The Walking Dead.
‘They really made up for the main show depriving us,’ Donnie said, while Dione commented, ‘[They] did this for Team Richonne because they knew [the main show] was being a stingy with the intimacy.’
Another viewer, TWDJenn, then reminded us that only 107 kisses made it into the final cut of the show, which means that rehearsals the total might have been anywhere above 500 kisses for actors Andrew and Danai.
Will there be a season 2 of The Ones Who Live?
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As of Monday, April 1, there are no concrete plans in place for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live to come back for season two. However, those behind the show are keen to keep it going.
Showrunner Scott Gimple told Entertainment Weekly: ‘It’s definitely going to go somewhere. But it might just be in my brain. It might just be my fan fiction.’
When asked about how his ideas would make it to the screen for a second season, he added: ‘You never know, but right now there’s nothing on the table, except my little fan fictions I write in the evening for myself.’
What might increase the chances of season two coming to Disney Plus is if the actors are on board, and if recent comments are anything to go by, Andrew would be delighted to play Rick Grimes again.
'I mean, the person is a much-loved character, and also to act alongside Danai and to bring these people back together as the Grimes family was very exciting.'
He added: 'I won't rule it out completely… But it's a tough situation. It would need to be a really gripping story.'
The movie The Ones Who Live is not accessible for viewing in the UK.
