Lauren Cohan Opens Up About Leaving 'The Walking Dead'

Andrew Lincoln's exit from The Walking Dead has a lot of people losing focus on the fact that Lauren Cohan is also walking away from the series.

The actress, who plays Maggie on the AMC show, is facing her final episode (at least for a while) on Sunday night with the door open for a return in a future season. "So much of it is really simple because eight years is a long time to spend in one character," Cohan told EW. "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."

Cohan shifted her workload from The Walking Dead over to ABC's Whiskey Cavalier. The journey, however, most certainly might not be over. "I love Maggie and I'll always love Maggie, and we had a really good time so far," Cohan said. "And I do say so far, because the beautiful thing I get to experience right now — which I think is such a cherished thing for me in life — is to live in the not knowing, and to embrace it. And I just feel in life generally a sense of that more than I ever have on a personal level. So naturally that was going to bleed over into that, and just taking the information at hand and making a decision based upon the facts in front of me."

Still, the inconclusive nature of Cohan's exit from The Walking Dead made for an interesting last day on set. "I think that we like finality, and it's almost because of how much I like finality that I'm forcing myself not to have it and I'm forcing myself not to give it, because it wouldn't be sincere," Cohan said. "Any kind of guarantee that I could give could not be sincere to the fans, to my Walking Dead family, to myself. And I just have to believe that that's gonna lead me to a new, hopefully spiritual breakthrough in how life can be. And it was like that on set. It was, 'I love you guys, I'm gonna come visit.' But everyone's really supportive."

In fact, Cohan shared a "farewell dinner" with Andrew Lincoln, who also bows out in Sunday night's episode. Lincoln's exit, however, is permanent. "Andy and I did our farewell dinner at the same time," Cohan said. "It just sort of was what it was. The facts just sit there and we will just take it for what it is, and try to take it for what it is in the moment. I know I keep talking about this 'in the moment' stuff, but it's really been the theme of this year."

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 pm ET. Fear the Walking Dead will return for its fifth season in 2019. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter and watch ComicBook.com's After The Dead each Sunday night following new episodes.