Lauren Cohan set to return to The Walking Dead, Maggie's future still undecided
It's a good day for 'Walking Dead' fans. Lauren Cohan, the face of Maggie Greene, is all set to return for six episodes in the first half of the AMC zombie drama's ninth season. Granted, it means two Maggie-less episodes considering each season is 16-episode long, but the series' habit of focusing on various characters promises much scope for the character.
The situation still offers scope for much speculation as Cohan is also involved with ABC's whiskey Cavalier — leaving doubts hovering over the fat of Maggie in the latter half of the season. Deadline reported that Cohan is clear to shoot for AMC as long as her ABC show is on hiatus, but further negotiations are supposed to be carried out in case she's required to return for more episodes.
Cohan picked up her pilot with ABC after her pay-rise negotiations with AMC stalled, even though her role expanded significantly through the past few seasons. This raises the possibility of AMC borrowing her from ABC to shoot episodes while Whiskey Cavalier is off-season. But it's also possible that AMC might try to cut her loose.
But there's no denying that the current situations in the season demands the character of Maggie to stick around. Towards the end of Season 8, Maggie's role had turned pivotal, with her being quite the element in Rick and the allied communities' victory over Negan and the Saviours.
The character even has an ongoing vendetta against Negan especially after what he did to her husband Glenn and there seem to be several other people on board with her agenda.
This requires a closure for the character's prospects, but at the same time, Season 9 has already begun filming. Luckily, exiting showrunner Scott Gimple himself had shared on the Talking Dead, post the eighth season's finale that Maggie's return has been confirmed, hinting at the possibility of Maggie turning into a villain herself eventually.
“Lauren [Cohan] is so amazing in that scene,” he opined of the scene where Maggie meets with Jesus and Daryl to reveal her agenda. “She’s full Maggie Corleone. And Jesus, you know, he would not have killed the surrendering Saviors, but he’s not Morgan. Like, he could kill Negan. That certainly isn't off the menu for Jesus.”
So it's also quite possible that if at all Maggie must leave, Jesus could carry on with their plan in her name.
Yet new showrunner Angela Kang taking over could also mean something absolutely different from what fans are expecting.
High chances of her absolutely shaking things up are on the clouds, but would she go ahead with them? The series has gone on much longer than its prequel, and the success of the show means that showrunners might not opt for extreme changes.
Yet, the recent dip in ratings leaves scope for them looking to tweak their formula here and there; meaning, certain significant changes might be on the way for their fans. For now, all they can do is stick around and see what's in store for Cohan.