Lauren Cohan has played Maggie in The Walking Dead Universe since season 2 of the original show aired way back in 2011. She's played Maggie ever since, although she took a short break in the middle.
Since the end of the original Walking Dead series, Cohan has continued to play Maggie in the sequel spinoff Dead City alongside costar Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan). The spinoff has allowed her to expand her résumé beyond acting, as she's listed as an executive producer and even directed an episode of the new season.
Cohan's experience on The Walking Dead has lasted way over a decade at this point. She's become one of the franchise's most important, recurring faces. The role very much put her on the industry's radar. It's hard to visualize the future of The Walking Dead franchise without her involvement. However, if we track back a few years to when the main series was in its ninth season — a time when ratings for the show were steadily declining — Cohan decided to take a break from the role.
In a recent interview with Collider, Cohan looked back on the time she stepped back from the series, citing contractual issues as the main reason for her exit:
"It’s weird because there’s sometimes ways I let things slide or I’ll laugh along with something, even now, and I’m like, ‘Why’d you do that? That wasn’t cool.’ It’s not even that I don’t wanna rock the boat, it’s just I don’t want to fucking give it the time of day. I think a lot of the time it’s picking your battles in moments that are not consequential. But for some reason, I was not afraid and not uncomfortable in that at all, because I knew what I had given to the show, and I was at a point where I was like, ‘This is absurd.’ And I left. My contract was up, and I think everybody just said, ‘Oh, no, it’s fine. She’ll come back, or she’ll stay or whatever.’ And I thought, ‘No. I’m going to go and see what happens.’"
Cohan's final episode before stepping away was season 9, episode 5, titled "What Comes After." She appeared in only the first five episodes of season 9, going on to miss most of season 10 before returning in the episode, "A Certain Doom." At one point, the show jumped forward in time, and when it picked up, Maggie wasn't there; the show justified this by saying she was off helping another community. In total, she was absent from 19 consecutive episodes. During that time, Cohan pursued other projects, notably landing a role in the show Whiskey Cavalier.
"When I left the show, because we were at an impasse, I got 13 offers to lead my own show. And I don’t say that to gloat, I just say that because it gave me faith. There will always be undulations in popularity or reasons that you do and don’t get jobs, and I experience that all the time. But it was a great moment because I went and I met so many amazing creators and producers and writers that I was so excited to go do stuff with, and I felt so invigorated. It was twofold, too, because I knew I’d done the show for a long time, and I knew it was healthy for me to go do something else."
The time away from The Walking Dead seemed to do Cohan good. She'd ultimately mark her return to the series during the season 10 finale, becoming a series regular once more. Right now, Maggie's story continues in Dead City season 2, which is focusEd on her relationship as a mother to her rebellious teenage son, Hershel.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.