Warning: this story contains spoilers for Sunday’s “Rogue Element” episode of The Walking Dead. “Why do you trust these people?” Hilltop leader Maggie (Lauren Cohan) asks Commonwealth Trooper Daryl (Norman Reedus) in the first look at Season 11 Episode 12, “The Lucky Ones.” Set months before Maggie and Daryl’s future standoff outside the gates of Hilltop, Maggie meets Commonwealth Governor Pamela Milton (Laila Robins) and Deputy Governor Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) on their tour of the allied communities. In a visit to Alexandria, Oceanside, and Hilltop, Hornsby continues to consolidate power after manipulating Eugene (Josh McDermitt) into bringing his group to the Commonwealth.
A six-month flash forward in “No Other Way” revealed Maggie at odds with Daryl and the Commonwealth, the resourceful civilization of 50,000 survivors in Ohio. Hornsby has his own plans for the allied communities outside the Commonwealth walls, but he’ll need a joint agreement from their leaders: Aaron (Ross Marquand) of Alexandria, Rachel (Avianna Mynhier) of Oceanside, and Maggie of Hilltop.
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“There’s not too much I can say, but I think that there’s a lot that comes up for her to do with this, ‘Will we, won’t we play ball with the Commonwealth?’” Cohan told ComicBook about Maggie’s resistance towards the Commonwealth. “It’s difficult to rebuild to begin with, and it’s really difficult to rebuild when you don’t have any food or resources. So we’re gonna see a lot of challenges. The group and Maggie and the people at Hilltop are definitely gonna be hit with a lot of challenges, as far as that.”
After Alpha (Samantha Morton) and her army burned down the Hilltop during The Whisperer War of Season 10, Maggie rejected Hornsby’s offer to join the Commonwealth. A small group of survivors are rebuilding the Hilltop colony, including Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari), Dianne (Kerry Cahill), and Lydia (Cassady McClincy).
“We, as an audience, we’re gonna really get to try to peek under the hood of this Commonwealth, which Maggie obviously finds very suspicious,” Cohan teased. “I think that there’s a dream that maybe they could have something good to offer, and maybe there could be good out there and people that can help you and support you and make your life a bit easier in the apocalypse. But is that itself too good to be true? And I think it’s just very difficult to trust at this point in the game for many of these characters, including Maggie. So we’ll see what happens.”
“The Lucky Ones” is now streaming on AMC+ and premieres Sunday, March 13 on AMC.
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