It’s been a while since we’ve seen Lauren Cohan on The Walking Dead, after she quietly slipped off the show in the early part of season 9. The intention was always to have the actress come back at some point, though, and sure enough, she’s about to return to the series in the much-anticipated season 10 finale. As per the original plan, we would’ve been settling down to watch that last night, but unfortunately, it’s been indefinitely delayed due to a hold-up on post-production.
While we wait for it to arrive, then, showrunner Angela Kang has offered up a few words to tease how Maggie’s return will impact the storyline and the characters. Obviously, she wouldn’t say much, but the EP did promise ComicBook.com that it’ll mean a lot for her old friends when she shows up to help them.
“We’ll see Maggie come into the show, and… there’s not much I can say without being spoiler-y,” Kang said. “But Maggie is part of the heart of these people’s lives. There’s so much love for her within our communities, and she was a leader at a time when so much of the leadership at Hilltop had been lost.”
Cohan is serving as a guest star for the season 10 finale, titled “A Certain Doom,” but she’ll then be back full-time as a regular once again for season 11. Work on the next run has been somewhat delayed as well due to the current lockdown, but we know that scripts are still being worked on remotely and Kang teased that there’s some “great stuff” in the works for Maggie.
“Even as we’re working on Season 11, we’ve got so much great stuff planned for her,” Kang added. “So I’m just excited for her to be back in the family and for us to do more great stuff with Maggie.”
You can catch your first look at Maggie’s comeback in a sneak peek at the episode above. It shows the former Hilltop leader discovering an old letter Carol sent her towards the beginning of season 10, describing the horrors the Whisperers have committed. And we can presumably infer from her determined look that she’s going to make her way back home to lend a hand.
The Walking Dead 10×16 “A Certain Doom” will air on AMC at some point later this year.