The Walking Dead Will Be Unrecognizable When Maggie Returns

Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan) will return to The Walking Dead in season 11, but things are going to look very different to when she was last around.

Maggie (Lauren Cohan) is returning to The Walking Dead in season 11, but the AMC series won't be the same as it was when she was left. Maggie hasn't been on the show since The Walking Dead season 9, episode 5. By the time Maggie comes back, she'll have been gone from the show for almost two seasons.

Maggie leaving was big news, considering that she had been a major character since she joined The Walking Dead in season 2. Maggie, like Daryl, Carol, and others, had become a fixture of the show. She was one of only a few characters from the early seasons that was still standing. The character's departure happened as a result of Lauren Cohan's decision to leave Walking Dead, reportedly over a contract dispute. It was said that Cohan was dissatisfied with the pay gap between her and the two leads, Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus.

However, since The Walking Dead never killed Maggie, the door was left open for her return. The chances of this happening grew stronger when Lauren Cohan's new ABC show, Whisker Cavalier, was cancelled after one season. Later, it was officially confirmed by AMC that Lauren Cohan would return as Maggie in season 11 of The Walking Dead. But by the time Maggie finally rejoins The Walking Dead, the series will be unrecognizable, compared to what it looked like in the first few episodes of season 9.

Maggie Left During The Walking Dead's Time Jump

Maggie's final The Walking Dead episode coincided with Rick's, and it was the last episode before the six year time jump. Maggie received a few big moments in the episode, which gave her an opportunity to finally confront Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). After Negan murdered Glenn and Abraham, Maggie, Rick, and so many others were determined to get revenge. Rick let go of his vendetta against Negan in the season 8 finale, but Maggie was much less forgiving. After going into Negan's cell, Maggie gave up her plan to kill Negan after seeing that he was already broken. Though the end of this story amounted to some degree of closure for Maggie, it wasn't a proper end.

That was part of what made Maggie's exit so strange for The Walking Dead. The episode didn't even indicate that Maggie was leaving. Instead, The Walking Dead wrote her off the show in the following episode, after the time jump had happened. It was revealed that during the time skip, Maggie and her child left the Hilltop to stay with Georgie, the mysterious and resourceful woman Maggie had encountered in season 8. It's not made clear exactly when she left. Apparently, Maggie and Georgie are looking to start a new community. The Walking Dead hasn't offered any updates on Maggie and Georgie's progress, leaving the status of both characters unknown.

Everything That's Happened Since Maggie Left

Things haven't been boring for Alexandria and the Hilltop since Maggie disappeared from The Walking Dead. The rise of Alpha (Samantha Morton) and the Whisperers have decimated a portion of the supporting cast of the series by killing off several characters across seasons 9 and 10. The Whisperers made their grand entrance on The Walking Dead by killing off Jesus (Tom Payne). At the fair, the Whisperers killed ten more characters, including Enid (Katelyn Nacon) and Tara (Alanna Masterson). Season 10 killed off several more characters, though to be fair, Siddiq (Avi Nash) and many of the other season 10 causalities were new additions to the cast who either weren't introduced or not yet important when Maggie was last on the show.

Jesus, Enid, and Tara, on the other hand, were important to The Walking Dead prior to her departure. Also, all three were characters who had plenty of interaction with Maggie, so their absences will be clearly felt when Maggie returns. Not only that, but The Walking Dead will have parted ways with Michonne (Danai Gurira) before the end of season 10. The loss of not one, but four series regulars is perhaps the biggest change that the series has gone through since Maggie's exit. Furthermore, many new characters have taken the place of the ones who have exited the show. The arrival of Magna's group added five new survivors who have received a great deal of screen time.

Characters leaving, dying, and joining the show aren't the only things that will be different, though. In season 10, episode 12, titled "Walk With Us", Hilltop fell to the Whisperers. Maggie's former home is now gone, which could mean that she'll have to transition to Alexandria in season 11. Also, there's the developments that are currently taking place with Eugene (Josh McDermitt), which seem to be leading to the introduction of the Commonwealth, and it's hard to say how exactly this new community will impact the series even further. The war with the Whisperers may be over by season 11, but even so, The Walking Dead won't be the same when it welcomes Maggie back to the show.

What Maggie's Role Could Be In Walking Dead's Future

What will The Walking Dead do with Maggie when she does come back to the show? That may depend on various factors, such as the outcome of the Whisperer War, what happens when Eugene finally meets Stephanie, and most importantly, Maggie's reasons for returning. Georgie was originally believed to be a representative of the Commonwealth, but it's possible that Georgie's people and the group that Eugene made contact with are two separate communities. Either way, Maggie could have an instrumental role in moving the show forward, given her connection to Georgie. It could be that whatever she and Georgie were building during her absence will be the future of The Walking Dead. With the Hilltop gone, many of the characters may look for a new place to call home.

In the comics, Alexandria is eventually assimilated into the Commonwealth, which is actually a large network of settlements that accounts for thousands of survivors. In the comics, the communities' association with the Commonwealth becomes a major plot point when the conflict with the Whisperers nears its end. If The Walking Dead moves in the direction of the Commonwealth, Maggie could play some sort of role in that story.