It appears Andrew Lincoln won’t be the only major star to leave The Walking Dead in Season 9. It has long been rumored that Lauren Cohan, who has played Maggie since Season 2, will also depart the show after a few episodes this Fall. That’s due in part to Cohan’s loaded slate of other projects, notably her starring role on ABC’s spy dramedy Whiskey Cavalier. As with any pilot we’ll have to wait and see if it gets picked up, but the show will take Cohan out of The Walking Dead for at least a little while.
During the SDCC panel Andrew Lincoln dropped vague hints about Rick’s fate. “My relationship with Mr. Grimes is far from over,” Lincoln said, possibly indicating Rick could leave the show instead of being killed off. Although Cohan is also leaving the show, she made sure to clarify that her character would not be getting killed off. “Maggie’s story is open-ended,” Cohan told Entertainment Weekly Radio. She also discussed the matter on Andy Cohen Live and said, “My Walking Dead story is open, it’s not finished. You don’t break up with someone and forget about them and delete them from your life, no, things transition into different places.”
Cohan also addressed her rumored contract disputes with AMC. “It wasn’t actually that I was asking for (a raise), it was that my contract had finished,” Cohan said on Andy Cohen Live. “So that’s pretty standard renegotiation.” Along with squashing rumors about Maggie getting killed off or leaving forever, Cohan made sure to pay tribute to her co-star Andrew Lincoln.
“I remember coming in and being with Steven (Yeun), and both of us sharing that gratitude of having someone like (Lincoln) to guide us,” she told EW. “Because before Walking Dead, I had only done recurring roles in different shows. And to come in and to get the opportunity to be so long on a show that was led so well has set me up as an individual to go forward in my life and my career and my art incredibly well because of you and because of what I learned on the show.”
We may not know how long Maggie will be gone from The Walking Dead, but Cohan expressed gratitude for her time on the show. “I’m so grateful that this has been my stomping ground for so long…and my family here is never gone.” Along with The Walking Dead and Whiskey Cavalier, Cohan will also star alongside Mark Wahlberg in the movie Mile 22, coming out August 2018.
The Walking Dead Season 9 returns Sunday, October 7th on AMC. Check out the rest of the interviews over at Entertainment Weekly and Andy Cohen Live.
Well, now I know she’s not getting killed off. So much for unpredictability and delightful suspense.
So her and Rick fly away in the helicopter? That’s my guess