Lauren Cohan is officially coming back as Maggie Rhee in The Walking Dead season 10. A lot has changed on the show since the actress left last fall, though. Mostly because the series has jumped forward by several years. When the former Hilltop leader returns to her old neck of the woods, we’d imagine one of the biggest surprises she’ll have is finding out that Negan’s got his freedom back. And as a widow of one of his victims, she surely won’t be best pleased.
In fact, according to Jeffrey Dean Morgan, fans should expect another confrontation – or several – between Negan and Maggie when she returns later this season. He spoke on the topic at Walker Stalker Con in Atlanta and explained that, having been out the loop for so long, she won’t be familiar with how the ex-villain has started on the path to redemption.
“I saw Lauren the other day, we were talking a little bit about it. I would imagine there would be some sort of confrontation, or ten. She hasn’t seen what Negan’s done, or who he’s become, she doesn’t know. The last time she saw him, he was laying on the ground of the jail cell wanting to die. So some stuff has happened since then, but I imagine it’s not going to be hugs and kisses. Damn it.”
When we last saw Maggie in season 9’s fifth episode, she was resolved to kill Negan in his cell over the death of her husband, Glenn. When she found the disheveled man begging her to end his life, however, she decided to let him live. But how will she feel when she comes back and finds out that he’s helping others and has found a new purpose in life? Will she accept it? Like Morgan says, don’t expect lots of “hugs and kisses.”
Maggie was written out of the show off-screen after the time jump, with it explained that she’d left with her son Hershel to help Georgie establish a new community elsewhere. This is not only an open-ended exit but could also mean a whole other community – the Commonwealth? – is introduced into the show when she returns, likely in the second half of season 10.
The Walking Dead continues Sundays on AMC.