Two major characters from The Walking Dead have reached the end of the road — for now, anyway. The AMC post-apocalyptic drama bid farewell to Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes on the Sunday, November 4, episode. It was also the last of the season for Lauren Cohan’s Maggie Rhee.
Lincoln’s exit was more clear-cut as Rick was mortally wounded and flown away in a helicopter. Cohan’s departure, however, may come as more of a shock to viewers.
“That’s the last of her for this season,” showrunner Angela Kang confirmed during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Sunday. AMC programming president David Madden echoed, “I would hope it’s not the last you’ll see of her for the show, but she is not in any immediately forthcoming episodes.”
Earlier this year, Cohan, 36, joined the cast of ABC’s drama Whiskey Cavalier. She was expected to continue her role on The Walking Dead in a limited capacity in the ninth and current season, but it appears that she is now finished with her character — at least for the time being.
“We’ve been talking to Lauren and hopefully we’ll get to tell more story for her,” Kang told The Hollywood Reporter. “We definitely have some things up our sleeve that we’d love to do. A lot of that is just a scheduling conversation, so hopefully that will all work out, because I think mutually we would like to continue with Maggie’s story, for sure.”
Madden added, “Angela and Lauren talk. They are actually friendly. And we would like to see her come back. A lot of that is going have to do with Whiskey Cavalier and what her availability then becomes, which we obviously don’t control. But creatively, we would love to see her return to some degree. … We did not, as you have seen, kill her off in [the episode]. We established that she is out there somewhere. And that’s something we would like to pay off by having her return, if her schedule permits.”
For his part, Lincoln, 45, will reprise his role in a series of movies centered around The Walking Dead’s universe. The first will explore where his character ends up after the conclusion of Sunday’s episode.
The Walking Dead airs on AMC on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
