Why is Maggie reluctant to take over Hilltop?

Maggie doesn’t seem too eager to take over as the leader at Hilltop. What is keeping her from stepping into a leadership role?

There’s a shortage of good leaders in The Walking Dead world. Maggie is the perfect person to take over Hilltop Colony. She’s smart and capable. She’s strong. And she is also a good negotiator.

Maggie already had a lot of skills and expertise that she got from Hershel and growing up on a working farm. Working with Deanna at Alexandria taught her a lot about leading a colony and meeting the needs of the community. So what’s holding Maggie back from leading Hilltop?

Grief is one thing that is holding Maggie back. She is still reeling from Glenn’s death. It’s understandable that she would want time to mourn and to put her life back together without him. After such a huge loss she is focused on keeping Baby Rhee safe and keeping the people she loves around her.

Baby Rhee is another factor keeping her from taking on a leadership role. She’s already had a serious emergency in her pregnancy. Dr. Carson told her to take it easy so that she doesn’t end up having more complications. The stress of leadership could cause her to lose Baby Rhee.

But one thing that is consistent in The Walking Dead world is that people don’t always get to decide what their role will be. Maggie might not think she’s ready to lead, but Hilltop Colony is ready for her to lead.

Gregory Has To Go

Gregory is a terrible leader. He’s selfish and petty. He’s not a good planner. And his only real reason for wanting power seems to be to benefit personally from it. The people of Hilltop didn’t really choose Gregory to be their leader. He just stepped into the role. There was no one who really wanted to lead so no one challenged him.

The people of Hilltop know that Gregory isn’t a strong leader, but so far they have gone along with his leadership because it kept them safe and allowed them to start building a life. But Hilltop is very weak on security. They don’t have a lot of fighters and they don’t have any real weapons except for the ones they have made themselves.

Maggie proved herself to be a strong and capable leader when the Saviors sent a message to Hilltop and dropped a walker herd into their community. Gregory hid from the problem. Maggie, with the help of Sasha and Jesus, solved the problem.

Rick’s Mistakes

Maggie may not blame Rick for Glenn’s death. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t see the mistakes he’s made as a leader. It’s very possible that Maggie doesn’t want to lead Hilltop because she doesn’t want to make the same mistakes that Rick has made. Mistakes that got innocent people killed.

Having Sasha and Jesus to help her will ensure that she isn’t making decisions that will end up hurting people. They will be able to advise her, and to call her out on her mistakes if she’s making bad choices.

She trusts both of them. So she may think it’s better for all three of them to run the Hilltop Colony together. That way she won’t repeat some of the mistakes that Rick has made.

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Revenge

Maggie also is focused on taking down Negan and the Saviors. She needs the help of Hilltop Colony to do that, but she doesn’t seem willing to take over to get access to their resources. There are a lot of dictators in The Walking Dead. Maggie doesn’t want to be one of them.  She would rather get Gregory to cooperate with her plan. But if Gregory stays true to form and won’t play ball she will have to take over in order to destroy Negan.