‘The Walking Dead’ Executives Address Lauren Cohan’s Potential Return

As you know by now, “What Comes After” wasn’t just the last hurrah for Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead, but it also served as the quiet exit for Lauren Cohan’s Maggie Rhee as well, as the character was revealed to have departed the Hilltop and join Georgie’s community in the six years since Rick’s disappearance. For quite some time now, Lauren Cohan has been involved in a contract dispute with AMC in regards to higher wages. The star has since signed onto another show, Whiskey Cavalier, but Maggie’s story is far from over.

New series showrunner Angela Kang recently stated that she still has frequent conversations with Lauren Cohan, but now we have something more official from both Kang and Scott Gimple as well. This came up on last night’s episode of Talking Dead in the form of a statement that host Chris Hardwick read on air:

“Maggie’s last episode this season was 905. But it isn’t the end of Maggie’s story. We love Lauren Cohan and hope to have her back on the big program and or beyond, and we have built a story to service that.”

So indeed, while Andrew Lincoln and Rick Grimes may be done with the show right now, the door is still open for Lauren Cohan to return to the world of The Walking Dead. In fact, it was revealed that Maggie is still in communication with Jesus, who recently met his end at the hands of the Whisperers in the midseason finale. For the moment, Jesus had been serving as leader of the Hilltop in Maggie’s absence, but with him now dead and Tara possibly filling in the role, perhaps Maggie could return to lead again in Season 10 and beyond.

Either way, for the moment, it is unfortunate that Maggie was relegated to an off-screen exit, but between Kang and Gimple’s words, hopefully this won’t be the last we see of Lauren Cohan on The Walking Dead. Meanwhile, what did you think of how the show handled Maggie’s exit? And what do you think led to her leaving the Hilltop in the six year gap between Rick’s disappearance and the current time? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The Walking Dead will return on Sunday, February 10,2019 on AMC.

Source: Talking Dead (via ComicBook.com)