'The Walking Dead' Planning on Lauren Cohan Return After Season 9

Though Lauren Cohan will be one of two major The Walking Dead cast members guaranteed to leave in Season Nine, she is the only exiting star which the crew are acknowledging plans to return.

It is unclear how many episodes Cohan will be a part of in the show's upcoming ninth season. The actress joined the show in Season Two and appears in each of the first three episodes, taking on a bigger role than in recent years as her Hilltop leader Maggie becomes adamant about certain rules, regulations, and processes for the communities. While visiting the set of the show's Episode 9x12, ComicBook.com learned there are serious plans to bring Cohan and her Maggie character back.

"I'll say first of all that we've still planned some more story with Maggie, Lauren wants to, it will be a little subject to her schedule but hopefully we have her back next season," Kang said. "We have always planned to have this greaty story with Maggie this season and I think we promised something. We wanted to pay off that promise. We definitely have a very strong Maggie arc."

Though it could be her final season, she she moves on to Whiskey Cavalier with ABC, Cohan delivered nothing short of her effort from previous years through her Season Nine work. "Lauren has always been such a great actress for us, has done some spectacular work this season, as you've seen in the episodes but also in the episodes that are upcoming," Kang said. "There's just some stuff that just blew me away. I'm just a pure fan. I think that's been, again, it's just something we wanted to do right by that character, but again it also opens up some interesting opportunities for other characters when that character is gone for reasons that will be explained in the story. That's part of the story going forward, is what's happening at Hilltop? How do people with Maggie not being there?"

Meanwhile, the AMC show is prepping to say a permanent farewell to Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln in the upcoming episodes.

Fear the Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. The Walking Dead returns for its ninth season on Oct. 7, 2018. For more updates and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter!