The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 4 director Michael Slovis has opened up about Rick’s emotional scene and what it was like to film. During the episode, Rick and Michonne are in bed together as she confronts him about his real reasons for not wanting to come home with her. He ends up breaking down, saying he’d learned to live thinking he’d lost her and didn’t want to lose her again, as he doesn’t know if he’d survive.

Speaking with Screen Rant, Slovis explained what it was like to film Rick and Michonne’s The Ones Who Live scene where Rick opens up emotionally. The director reveals the scenes in bed took an entire day to shoot, likening rehearsal for the scene to a stage play. Check out what Slovis had to say below:

We always knew that this episode could not be a linear episode. It had to be pull, release, pull, release, pull, compress, until that moment, because nothing for any human being — especially emotionally— goes in a single line. That scene is all in that bed, right?

I saw an interview with Andy where Andy goes, “We did this one scene, and after we did the scene, Michael Slovis came up to us and said, ‘Andy, that was 17 minutes.’” Because I knew that the scene was that important, we had to do it almost like we were rehearsing a play. We had to get there, and we tried all kinds of things, and Andy tried all kinds of things to make it honest. I think we earned the moment [by] leading up to that moment. I think we earned it, and we worked very hard to do that, but making that moment as revelatory and as honest as [it] could be took some work on the day.

It was not a complicated scene to shoot because they’re in bed, and when he gets out of bed he’s sort of in the same line. So, the coverage that we were doing could all be linear in terms of shot structures, and I designed it to be shot very simply and elegantly. When I design shots — in spite of the fact that I was the director of photography on Breaking Bad— I don’t like it when people notice the shots. I like it when the photography feels integrated and part of the story. To me, a great shot is one that tells the story from the right perspective, honestly. I tried to put together shot structures for that scene that [allowed us to] focus on the performance, and we did. We spent an entire day in that bed together.

How Michonne Brought The Rick She Knows Back

Rick’s emotional moment is the culmination of Michonne trying to convince him they finally have a chance to escape the CRM. It’s revealed earlier that their helicopter – which they jumped out of – crashed into the building they found, making it seem like they died. However, due to his fear of the organization and how he didn’t want to risk losing his wife one more time, Rick didn’t want to risk the CRM finding Alexandria and killing his family.

However, after Michonne gives him a phone portrait of Carl, he realizes there’s still hope for them to escape. The pair of them driving away as the building collapses signals how the old, broken Rick is no more, his wife having repaired him and made him back into who he was. This also sets the stage for their future, as he will no doubt be more determined than ever to get back to his children.

Now that Rick is starting to return to his old self, he’s likely to be more ruthless than ever before if they run into trouble on the road. The teaser The Ones Who Live episode 5 seemingly confirms their escape won’t be as easy as they expect, indicating there’s still more for the pair to endure. But, with their relationship now rekindled, it seems they really will be able to do anything in the show’s final two episodes.