It's hard to image what The Walking Dead would have looked like without Maggie Rhee. Originally introduced as Maggie Greene in the second season of the long-running AMC series, Lauren Cohan would give life to the character who would go on to become one of the most popular in the entire franchise.
Maggie went through a lot during her time on the show - from her enduring love story with Glenn to her determination to lead a beloved community into the future -and she never waivered in the face of adversity. But she would temporarily depart our screens in the ninth season of the series, taking an extended break from the show. Thankfully, she would return less than two seasons later, kickstarting a new era for her in the TWD Universe.
Taking all of that into account, here's why Cohan exited the series for a temporary, albeit significant length of time.
Lauren Cohan left The Walking Dead over a pay dispute
Back in 2018, Lauren Cohan completed her contract on The Walking Dead at the conclusion of the eighth season. Maggie's journey was far from over so it seemed like it would be obvious that she and AMC would reach an agreement to renew the contract and bring the character back for the ninth. Unfortunately, that was not the case as a widely-publicized pay dispute was reported, which eventually led to Cohan departing the show as a series regular.
According to reports, Cohan had asked AMC for a salary closer to that of her male costars Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus as she was also playing one of the main characters on the ensemble show. Upon the network's refusal, she exited the series. However, the two did manage to reach an agreement to allow the star to return for five episodes of season 9 to wrap up Maggie's arc and write her out of the show in a believable fashion.
Cohan would reflect on the situation in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying that she was "surprised" by the network's response to her request, adding that she thought: "Okay, well that's a sign. This is maybe just not a fit anymore."
"To feel like we weren't lining up in so many ways I just thought, "Okay, well, maybe that means something."
It's understandable that Cohan felt this way after being such a significant part of the show for so long. While Rick remained the focus of TWD during those original years, the show had evolved into an ensemble show and Maggie had become one of its core characters over the years. In seasons 6, 7, and 8, she was one of the central characters due to the fight against Negan and The Saviors (and her determination to kill Negan after his brutal killing of her husband Glenn).
There is no denying that Maggie was one of the main characters by the time that Lauren Cohan decided it was time to leave the show.
She also wanted to explore other opportunities
While Cohan didn't initially plan on leaving The Walking Dead at that particular time, she did see the pay dispute as something of a sign that it was perhaps time to start exploring other opportunities. She acknowledged that "eight years is a long time to spend in one character" while also reiterating that she loved playing Maggie, adding in her EW interview:
"Eight years is a long time to spend in the emotional mash-up that Maggie's in and that Lauren is in by virtue of osmosis. I honestly just was looking at this on a multitude of personal levels, and it just made the most sense for me to do this."
When she reached that crossroads with AMC, she took it upon herself to leave the door open for other opportunities. With that, she filmed a TV pilot for ABC titled Whiskey Cavalier, which was eventually picked up to series. She had also starred in the movie Mile 22, alongside Matt Damon, shortly before that.
Although Whiskey Cavalier proved to be popular with viewers, it was cancelled by ABC after just one season due to declining ratings. It was reported that the network was potentially re-evaluating the cancellation due to the show's final two episodes seeing noticeable increases in delayed viewership but the show remained cancelled.
How Maggie left The Walking Dead in season 9
Lauren Cohan's exit from The Walking Dead as Maggie was built up to in the same five episodes that set the stage for Andrew Lincoln's departure as Rick Grimes. With two long-standing characters leaving, a time jump was necessary to facilitate such a change. So, while it looked like Rick had been killed off in the bridge explosion to his family and friends, Maggie was quietly written out in response to the trauma that the character had faced - with the writers using the subsequent six-year time-jump to allow for that.
In show, Maggie simply left Hilltop with her son Hershel to travel with Georgie in the hopes of finding other communities and building new ones. This was in line with the character that we got to know over the course of the show and it served as a fitting send-off for her, ensuring that it wasn't the end for Maggie's story (just the end of the on-screen chapter).
It also furthered her struggles to get over the fact that Rick had spared the life of Negan - the man who killed Glenn - as she could simply no longer be near any of the communities due to their proximity to him. And with that, she quietly stopped appearing on our screens from season 9 episode 6 onwards.
The fact that we didn't see this departure play out on-screen made it rather easy for the door to be left open for Maggie's return. And well, after the cancellation of Whiskey Cavalier, that became a real possibility.
Maggie returned to The Walking Dead in the season 10 finale
In April 2020, it was officially announced that Lauren Cohan would be returning to The Walking Dead as Maggie, with her comeback set for the season 10 finale. That episode opened with the first scene of her in over a year as she slowly made her way back towards her loved ones. And, fittingly, she arrived in the nick of time to help them stop The Whisperers once and for all.
After appearing in one the bonus episodes of season 10, Cohan officially rejoined the cast as a series regular in the season 11 premiere, with Maggie serving as an authority on new villains The Reapers. And with that, she became a pivotal part of the show's final storyline, helping the survivors defeat the Reapers, rebuild the Hilltop, and save the communities from the Commonwealth. She also buried the hatchet with Negan in the series finale of the show, telling him that - while she could never forgive him for what he had done - she saw the growth in his character and would no longer try to kill him.
As the credits rolled on the series finale, Maggie was excited about the future as she had finally managed to get Hilltop thriving again. She was also looking forward to being able to do the same for other communities in the area now that they had the Commonwealth's resources as their disposal. And with that, the character's arc had been completed.
Or at least it would have been if the TWD Universe had ended there. But no, Maggie's story was just getting started.
Lauren Cohan now stars in spinoff Dead City
We've used the word "fitting" to describe Maggie's status as a major TWD player multiple times in this post, and there is no greater use of it than this one: It's pretty fitting that she continues to be one of the few major players left fronting this franchise even after the final episode of The Walking Dead. Yep, that's right; Lauren Cohan reprises her role as Maggie Rhee on spinoff series The Walking Dead: Dead City, which has produced three seasons thus far.
One of the three spinoffs starring major characters from the original series designed to continue the overall TWD Universe story, Dead City sees Maggie reunite with Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan over six years after they parted ways in The Walking Dead's series finale. This time, the two former enemies now must go to New York City in order to rescue Maggie and Glenn's son Hershel from one of Negan's former friends named The Croat.
The spinoff relies heavily on the shared backstory between the two TWD heavyweights and it keeps viewers on their toes, forcing us to ask the question of whether Negan - even the changed man that he became - can truly be trusted. It's a question that Maggie asks herself all throughout the first season, and the results are surprising.
So, if you're busy watching The Walking Dead for the first time, don't worry: Maggie's departure is only temporary. Not only does she return shortly after that she ends up being one of the last classic TWD characters standing in the TWD Universe. Ironically, the moment that once seemed like it might be the end of Lauren Cohan's journey in the Walking Dead franchise ended up becoming a brief hiatus that paved the way for the significant second chapter.
We're so grateful to still have her awesome portrayal of Maggie Rhee on our screens all these years later.
The Walking Dead: Dead City is streaming on AMC+.
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