After many unexpected deaths, tragedies, and even humorous moments, The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 has come to an end. The latest chapter in Maggie and Negan's story finally saw the two iconic survivors put their differences aside (for good, this time) and join forces without having the impulse to kill each other along the way. This was a very tall order that required a lot of back-and-forth throughout the years. After all, Negan was responsible for killing Maggie's former husband, Glenn.
Warning: This article contains MAJOR spoilers for the ending of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3.
An important plot point in The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 was how Maggie started to let go of Glenn, deciding to put her engagement ring away in a safe place, and starting to grow closer to newcomer Luis DeLeon. But despite the fact that Maggie is finally moving on from such a devastating loss, Glenn still keeps influencing her decisions, and Lauren Cohan revealed how the Dead City season 3 finale made that idea all the more apparent.
Lauren Cohan reveals Glenn was the reason Maggie decided to keep Negan alive in the final episode of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3
The finale of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 saw Negan come into conflict with his former best friend, Mason Dillard, who was seeking revenge for the death of his walker friends. Maggie could've walked the easy path and simply handed Negan to Dillard, which would've kept her, Hershel, and her community out of danger. However, she decided to fight for the life of the same man who once killed her husband.
During an interview with People, Lauren Cohan revealed that Glenn influenced Maggie's decision to keep Negan alive in The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3:
"What was always interesting about their progression is that it's really difficult to stay angry at someone. The person you hurt most is yourself. Glenn wouldn't want her to be in that perpetual pain of resentment. Hershel has lost his mother to it, as we learned in season 2. And it makes her half of herself."
But despite the fact that there's no more bad blood between Maggie and Negan, it doesn't mean the past has been completely forgotten. After all, episode eight of The Walking Dead: Dead City makes it very clear that there's a difference between forgiving and moving past a traumatic event. Furthermore, Cohan echoed this sentiment during the interview:
"Maggie doesn't forgive Negan. She sees the pain that he's experiencing after the loss of Ginny, and the heart in her and the human in her doesn't want anybody to be stuck in their lowest version of themselves and their lowest belief of themselves."
The Walking Dead fans voiced their concerns about Maggie and Negan's relationship getting very repetitive prior to the release of Dead City season 3. After all, the two were trapped in a will-they-won't-they-kill-each-other dynamic that had started to lose its momentum. Fortunately, the latest TWD release finally changed that.
The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 also injected a lot of life and fun into the post-apocalyptic world. Instead of watching these characters be the most moody and seasoned versions of themselves, audiences saw them have fun for once, which was a breath of fresh air. Part of the reason why there was more levity to the latest batch of episodes is that Maggie and Negan were finally allowed to move on, as revealed by Cohan:
"It's like pulling out a splinter, honestly. And that's why we see such a different version of [Maggie] this year. She’s the version I met and I fell in love with, who grabbed life by the reins, literally [and] figuratively. There's every reason that she could have just shut that down, tried to move on."
While The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 hasn't been renewed for a fourth season just yet, the open-ended finale suggests there will be plenty more adventures in Maggie and Negan's future. Furthermore, Cohan also feels optimistic about the franchise's future, even stating that there are "a lot of ideas that are outside the box" for new episodes. Moreover, now that the show has hit its stride, it's very likely that AMC will greenlight a new season. Until that day comes, we still have The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 4 to look forward to, which will act as the ending chapter of the beloved spin-off show.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 4 will be released in 2027.
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