The world of The Walking Dead has changed quite a bit since Lauren Cohan's Maggie made her exit in Season 9. For one, there's been that whole Whisperers issue for the protagonists to contend with. More to the point where Maggie is concerned, Negan went from being Public Enemy Monster #1 to being a free man with a conscience. Now, does anyone think that information is going to go over well when Maggie shows up in the Thrones-esque Season 10 finale, or when Season 11 arrives next year?
I cannot imagine Lauren Cohan will be given a lot of happy and comforting scenes when Maggie gets fully settled back into the story in Season 11, and showrunner Angela Kang implied as much during The Walking Dead's Comic-Con@Home panel. Here's how she put it when asked about Maggie and Negan's relationship by moderator Chris Hardwick.
Look, Negan killed Maggie’s husband and burned down her house, so it’s not gonna be an easy road, I think, for either of them. And Negan’s been on this whole other journey while she’s been gone, but it’s sort of like Maggie’s coming in and she hasn’t seen any of that. What she knows is she comes back and Hilltop is destroyed, and the guy she thought she’d left to rot in prison is out walking around with everybody else. I think these two have to figure out how to occupy the same space. It will hopefully be really fun. These two amazing actors; we’ll try to write to their amazing abilities and see what happens.
For all intents and purposes, Maggie would be well within the realm of understandable behavior if she flipped out and killed Negan (or at least maimed him) after seeing that he's no longer imprisoned. After all, he and the Saviors made their lives hell ahead of and during the All Out War, with the tip of that misery iceberg being Glenn and Abraham's brutal murders. And she isn't aware of it yet, but Negan also took part in helping the Whisperers destroy Hilltop, even though it was all a long con to kill off Alpha. Maggie probably won't buy into those kinds of semantics, though.
So it definitely sounds like Maggie and Negan are going to have some seriously strained conversations and situations when The Walking Dead returns to AMC for Season 11. Those who are familiar with the comic book are aware of how Maggie and Negan's (presumed) final confrontation went, with the protagonist sparing the villain's life while also taking pleasure in Negan's suffering. Something tells me Maggie will find ways to keep making Negan feel like a deadly outsider, despite his efforts to continue acclimating himself.
Many characters will likely be dealing with the clean up process after dealing with the massive walker herd that Beta has amassed and is using to target the temporary haven at that abandoned hospital. Hopefully for Negan's sake, that distraction will be enough to keep Maggie from immediately jumping down his throat and reminding everyone what a deadly asshole he used to be. During the Comic-Con@Home panel, Jeffrey Dean Morgan half-jokingly defended Negan by pointing out the more heroic deeds that Maggie isn't aware of yet.
I have saved a lot of her friends while she’s been away. I’m hoping some people stick up for me a little bit with her.
How weird is it going to be if viewers have to watch a scene where Daryl tries to quell Maggie's anger by extolling Negan's virtues and presenting him as a worthwhile community member? Maggie might just want to take out the entire population if it comes to that.
The Walking Dead is set to finally air its long-delayed Season 10 quasi-finale on AMC on Sunday, October 4, at 9:00 p.m., though fans will get to see another six Season 10 installments at some point in early 2021, with Season 11 set to get a traditional October premiere in Fall 2021. In the meantime, though, AMC will be offering up the first season of The Walking Dead: World Beyond on October 4 after the finale, and then Fear the Walking Dead will finally provide answers about Morgan's fate when Season 6 kicks off on Sunday, October 11.
