Whoa, baby! While The Walking Dead still has not revealed whether walkers really devoured Glenn (Steven Yeun), the show did drop a bombshell on Sunday’s episode: Maggie (Lauren Cohan) is pregnant with his baby.
The big news came as Maggie and Aaron (Ross Marquand) were trying to leave Alexandria via the sewers to find Glenn, but ended up turning back. So why tell Aaron first? It’s because the former farmer’s daughter has trusted him since they met, Marquand tells Us Weekly.
“I think when Maggie unveils this secret, I think she’s doing it because she needs to tell someone because her and Glenn had only had that conversation in private, and in the moment when we’re about to break through the gate, Maggie realizes it’s not only about her and Glenn, it’s about their unborn child,” the 34-year-old actor explains. “I think that moment is so beautiful because in this dark world, she still has that maternal instinct. She realizes maybe going out and taking on these Wolves isn’t great for me right now because I need to take care of this baby.”
And after all the death that has happened in recent episodes, Marquand says he believes this news will help strengthen the Alexandrians.
Comparing how Judith’s birth and Lori’s death in Season 3 brought the central group of survivors even closer, Marquand says with a new baby in the picture, the community will see “we’re not just fighting for a bunch of adults right now. We have a newborn, we have kids, a new generation, and we have all these kids running around Alexandria that are without parents now.” In other words, it takes a village, and the Alexandrians will hopefully rise up and learn to protect their community.
Though there’s been plenty of death and destruction this season, the episode did offer a bit of love to go with the hope of new life. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge) finally shared a kiss, as did Tara (Alanna Masterson) and Denise (Merritt Wever).
“We rarely get to see a lot of relationships happen … but it’s lovely that they find time for love and they find the meaning in that courtship,” Marquand says. “Both of the kisses were pretty amazing and pretty rare for the show.”
The blossoming love may offer some light to the gruesome tale that is The Walking Dead, but Marquand warns that the season is hurtling toward something seriously intense to wrap up the year.
“We’re about to shoot the finale, and it’s maybe the darkest bit of writing I’ve ever read,” he reveals to Us. “It genuinely is one of the craziest, most gut-wrenching episodes I’ve ever read in my life.”
Consider yourself warned.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
