Lauren Cohan shocked the world when she left The Walking Dead in season 9 to star in Whiskey Cavalier in 2018. While things seemed great for all the stars of the series, things weren't as simple behind the scenes.
Nearly a decade later, Cohan, who starred as Maggie Rhee, defended her decision to leave The Walking Dead and explained why it was worth it in a new interview with People during The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3.
“I feel like taking the stand was worth it,” Cohan said. “I encourage women to always do it because I knew my value at the time, and I got to go and do a show that was really creatively satisfying and in a different world.”
The stand Cohan is referring to is a pay dispute between the network/studio, AMC, and Cohan's team. As the People interview mentioned, Cohan's contract on The Walking Dead was up, and instead of signing a below-value deal, which is what sounds like what continued to happen through the negotiation process, Cohan found another gig, Whiskey Cavalier on ABC with Scott Foley, and left to pursue that project.
It's obviously unfortunate that it came to Cohan actually walking away from the series for everyone to understand what Cohan's Maggie meant to The Walking Dead. Maggie was one of the most important characters in the series, and Cohan deserved to be paid fairly.
At the time, there were reports that Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln were making $1 million or more per episode. We don't know how much Cohan was making at the time, but we do know that the cast, including Khary Payton, who played Ezekiel, Seth Gilliam, who played Gabriel, and Lincoln, spoke out in support of Cohan.
Cohan returned as Maggie in The Walking Dead in season 10
Cohan is far from the only star of The Walking Dead to exit the series, but she's one of the few stars who actually got to return to the series. Clearly, AMC realized Cohan's value and importance to this story and beyond.
After Whiskey Cavalier got canceled, Cohan returned in The Walking Dead season 10 and then became a series regular again in the final season before starring in her own spinoff, The Walking Dead: Dead City, which is in the middle of season 3 right now.
Even though Cohan returned, it's such a shame that it all came to that. Of course, other actors left around that time, too. There were so many important characters who had been killed off by that point, including almost everyone close to Maggie, like Hershel (season 4), Beth (season 5), and Glenn (end of season 6 and beginning of season 7). We also so Carl get killed off in season 8 before Maggie and Rick left in the same episode, "What Comes After," season 9, episode 5.
It's all water under the bridge now, but it just shows how difficult it is for shows like The Walking Dead, which reach the peak of TV and become so popular, to retain top talent and stay at the top of the game. Obviously, Cohan didn't hold too big of a grudge because she was willing to work with AMC again after the messy negotiation. Now, they seem to have a great partnership, and Dead City is one of two current Walking Dead spinoffs still on the air. The other, Daryl Dixon, is coming to an end in 2027.
We don't know what's going to happen next, but I would not be surprised if Cohan is involved in the rumored Walking Dead reunion series, where all the original survivors like Rick, Carol, Daryl, and Maggie come back together for one last mission.
We'll keep you posted on that, but I know I really hope that it happens eventually. Stay tuned for more news about that, and don't forget to watch Dead City season 3 on Sundays on AMC and AMC+.
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