The Walking Dead: Greg Nicotero Shares Details of Lauren Cohan Return as Maggie

The Walking Dead brought Maggie back into the story for the first time since she quietly disappeared following Episode 9x05. The Season 10 finale, A Certain Doom, saw Lauren Cohan getting back into the character which she first played in 2011, coming to the rescue at a crucial moment for another key character. Cohan's absence was felt not only by the fans but also by the cast and crew of The Walking Dead -- so much so that executive producer Greg Nicotero, who also directed Sunday night's Season 10 finale episode admitted to having a bit of nerves when it comes to bringing Cohan back on to the set and into the story.

Spoilers for The Walking Dead Episode 10x16 follow!

"First and foremost, I didn't want people to feel like she had been gone," Nicotero explained to ComicBook.com. "I wanted it to feel like as soon as she came back, it was like no time had passed." Mission: accomplished. Cohan stepped right back into Maggie's shoes with a bow and arrow to save Father Gabriel's life and the series immediately made it feel like the character belonged.

"I'll be honest, the first day that she shot, I went to work early and I knocked on her trailer door and I went and I sat in a trailer with her for about 20 minutes," Nicotero remembers. "We both kind of had butterflies, just this weird sort of inexplicable excitement about being able to do it again and to be together again. Her wardrobe was there and she looked at me and she was so sweet. She was like, 'I think I'm a little nervous.' And I thought that was so amazing and so sweet that she's like, 'I've been away from Maggie for a little while.' I guess I sensed that with her because Lauren and I are very close, but that was the reason why I wanted to go to her trailer that morning because I was kind of a little giddy and had little butterflies about seeing Maggie's return. We both had the exact same emotion about it that morning and it was really exciting and once we started rolling, it was like she never left."

As for the mysterious masked character who accompanied Maggie, Nicotero can say "nothing" about their identity, despite popular theories suggesting it might be Morgan Jones returning from Fear the Walking Dead.

"I feel like Angela [Kang] and the writers have done a great job of really keeping The Walking Dead fresh and invigorated," Nicotero says about the show's future. When Samantha [Morton] and Ryan [Hurst] joined and we introduced the Whisperers, I really just felt like the show really got some of its momentum rolling. I know that that's paramount this deep in the thing, which it really keep the momentum, especially now that we know where it's going. I think the audience can feel that we're going to have a clear place that the show wants to land. I think that also means that all bets are off and we can really focus on on that the last bunch of episodes being really just be about servicing the characters and getting us to a great place that people feel is a satisfying ending."

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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.