The Walking Dead brought Maggie back to the series for the first time since her quiet exit following Episode 9×05 with its Season finale. The return would have aired back in April with a further exploration into Lauren Cohan‘s character gearing up to air later this month if not for delays. However, to compensate for not having eight episodes of The Walking Dead to air this fall, the AMC zombie series is cooking up six additional episodes which are in production right now and will air in early 2021. The episodes, which the cast and crew are calling “bridge” episodes, will explore where Maggie has been and how she arrived back in town just in time to rescue Father Gabriel.
“We’re really going to see an episode with Maggie when she comes back since we just got to see her for a little bit in the finale that just aired,” The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang said during The Walking Dead‘s virtual panel at New York Comic Con. Fans can also expect to see more characters in those six episodes, as well. “A bunch of our cast is featured, you’re gonna see some great stuff,” Kang said. For example, “We’ll find out more about the group that is on the road trip.”
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Cohan chimed in, as well, going all in on getting fans aboard the hype train. “The first episode of the ‘bridge’ is, for me, the most exciting Walking Dead episode I’ve ever read,” Cohan said.
Don’t expect much information from these bridge episodes about Rick Grimes, though. The character still is expected to have at least one movie on the way but the clues about Rick’s journey are being laid out in The Walking Dead: World Beyond. “This show obviously serves as an introduction to the organization, civilization that Rick has gotten tied up in in some way,” Gimple said. “Do we need to worry about him? I don’t know, Rick Grimes kind of takes care of hiimself but it does look like his situation is going to be challenged in some pronounced way.”
The Walking Dead: World Beyond airs Sundays at 10pm ET, following new episodes of Fear the Walking Dead at 9pm ET. The Walking Dead will return for 6 more episodes in Season 10 in the spring. The 11th and final season of The Walking Dead will begin airing in the Fall of 2021.