We’ve been waiting a long time for The Walking Dead season 10’s finale to get here, but at least some sneak peeks and special looks have kept us hyped. One of the biggest revelations to come from these clips is the promise that Lauren Cohan will be back as Maggie Rhee in the episode, after leaving the series temporarily in the early part of season 9. The actress has confirmed, though, that Maggie’s young son Hershel is not going to appear in the finale alongside her.
While speaking on the TWD virtual panel at Comic-Con@Home, Cohan said she couldn’t wait to see what young actor gets to play Hershel on the show when the idea of Judith and the boy getting to know each other came up. “I want to meet little Hershel,” Cohan said. “But I’m so excited!”
Maggie was written out of the series off-screen, with the six-year time jump providing the perfect cover. In a later episode, it was established that she had left with Hershel for some place far away to help Georgie set up a new, unknown community. One of the recent promos for episode 10×16, “A Certain Doom,” revealed Maggie on her own, finding an old letter from Carol which updates her on the threat of the Whisperers. Presumably, this is why she decides to head home, to help out in the final battle against the villains.
A friendship between Judith and Hershel, who’s one year older, would be fun to explore, to be sure. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has previously said that he’d like to see Negan form a bond with the young boy, given that the ex-Savior tends to like kids and it would be interesting for that to happen considering that Negan’s the one who killed his father, Glenn. Presumably, we’ll get to meet Hershel again in the six new episodes that are coming in early 2021.
The Walking Dead season 10 finale, meanwhile, arrives on AMC on October 4th.