Returning The Walking Dead Star Lauren Cohan Teases Maggie’s Unfinished Business with Negan

The Walking Dead will address the unfinished business between Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), killer of her husband Glenn (Steven Yeun), when Cohan makes her return to the series.

“Just like in life, it might be one of those things she doesn’t know until she faces it,” Cohan told the AMC blog when asked what happens when Maggie sees Negan again. “She definitely decided not to kill him on that day when Michonne discouraged her. She did go that way. Forgiveness is liberating. I suppose we’ll get to see to what degree she has decided to liberate herself.”

In Season 9, Maggie confronted and planned to execute a jailed Negan against the wishes of then-Alexandria leader Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), who made the unilateral decision to spare Negan when ending the war against the Saviors. When Negan begged for death to end his 18-month solitary confinement, Maggie told him he was “already worse than dead” and left him to rot.

More than six years later, a changed Negan is trying to prove to distrustful Alexandrians that he’s reformed, in part through the efforts of Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and friend Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming).

“I think Negan starts the season in a really interesting place,” showrunner Angela Kang recently told EW ahead of Season 10. “We saw at the end of last season that he had earned a little bit of trust. So, when we start off this year, we’ll see that he’s almost a part of the future that is kind of like what Carl had envisioned.”

Because Negan risked his life to save Judith amid a dangerous blizzard, he’s allowed work release under supervision from sometimes begrudging Alexandrians. One such doubter is Aaron (Ross Marquand), who was present the night Negan used barbwire-wrapped baseball bat Lucille to murder Glenn and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz).

In Season 10, things “really take some strange and hopefully interesting and exciting turns,” Kang teased. “I always say Negan is always thinking. Negan always has an edge. There’s an element of him that’s a little unpredictable. He knows what he needs to do to get what he needs in the moment. He’s very smart, he’s very wily, he’s very strong. So, we’re going to see a full range of stuff from Negan this year that hopefully will be as fun for the fans as it’s been for the writers to write it for Jeffrey to play.”

The Walking Dead Season 10 premieres Sunday, Oct. 6 at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.