The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 – What is Maggie’s plan for Negan?

Maggie Rhee (née Greene) has endured much since her introduction in season 2 of The Walking Dead. Apart from her son Hershel (Logan Kim), she is the only surviving member of her family, having lost all of them after the outbreak. Her most significant loss was at the hands of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a man she vows to end things with during The Walking Dead: Dead City’s season 1 final episode.

Since the beginning of Dead City, Maggie has made it clear that she has one goal, rescue her son
from The Croat  (Željko Ivanek), a former member of Negan’s Saviors. She has nothing but bad memories where the Saviors are concerned, so her distress over Hershel’s abduction is warranted.

Throughout the early episodes of his season of Dead City, Maggie’s story never altered. The Croat and his Burazi raided her new home, The Bricks, and took the grain and her son, vowing he would return for more.

Dead City would reveal that this is a lie told by Maggie to get Negan into Manhattan and make a trade for her son. But things don’t end up how Maggie imagines when reuniting with Herhsel and makes a vow to end things with Negan for good. What will that look like in season 2? Will she head back to the island to rescue Negan?

The Walking Dead: Dead City Maggie’s lie

During episode 1, The Croat revealed that he had kept tabs on Negan all these years. When talking to Hershel, he asked him if he had ever met the man who killed his father and added that this man had lived among his mother’s people for years. He knew of Maggie and Glenn (Steven Yeun) and what Negan did. This led to the possibility that Maggie had made a deal with The Croat, and exchanged Hershel for Negan. In the finale, viewers would learn that The Croat learned about Negan from a former Savior named Jerome. 

The second time questions arose concerning Maggie’s story of The Croat’s raid was when Ginny (Mahina Napoleon) was at The Bricks and saw a man inspecting the grain bin. What would be the point of checking an empty bin if the grain was stolen? Ginny opened the bin before fleeing The Bricks to head to Manhattan, which was full of grain. She knew then that Maggie’s story was false and Negan was in trouble.

All would be revealed in the penultimate episode. The Croat did make a deal with Maggie, Negan, for Hershel, and that is when she went in search of her long-time enemy.

In the season finale, Maggie would make the exchange, and she and Hershel would make their way back to The Bricks. But things didn’t end up in a joyous reunion. Hershel would explain to his mother that her mission to exact revenge on Negan has overtaken her to the point that he feels he doesn’t matter to her. Maggie is shocked to learn how Hershel feels. And by the end of the episode, she vows to finish the thing with Negan so she can let it go.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cohan reveals that while she knows its meaning, she is hesitant to share.

"Because I know what it means, and I don’t want people to be directed because I have heard so many different perceptions of that moment. And I love seeing how differently people take it. So I certainly know what it is, and it makes me more excited to do a second season. It makes me really interested to put all that down on paper and on film, because the best part of this character yet is this place that she can go now. And it was not what I ever imagined."

The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2

The next installment of episodes has been set up nicely for another season. The Dama (Lisa Emery) has big plans for Negan, and New Babylon wants the methane produced by The Croat. Maggie will set her plan into motion regarding Negan. She will likely head to Manhattan on a rescue mission, believing that will redeem her for making the trade.

Another interesting topic that must be addressed in season 2 is The Dama’s hold over Hershel. He told Maggie he felt safer in Manhattan because he is always waiting for the next bad thing to happen. Does The Dama still have a hold on Hershel? The Croat obviously tortured him, as revealed by The Dama’s token of Hershel’s toe. Who knows what other forms of physical and psychological torture they put him through?

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