The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan confirms she shares a scene with the older Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming) in the Season 10 finale, where Cohan’s Maggie reunites with her old friends after several years away. The reunion coming at the close of The Whisperer War, pitting Judith and the other survivors against Beta (Ryan Hurst) and a sprawling zombie horde, is years in the making: it was Maggie who delivered Judith via emergency C-section in third season episode “Killer Within.” After Carl (Chandler Riggs) shot Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) to prevent his mother from reanimating, Maggie cradled the newborn when taking Judith to meet de facto dad Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln).
“I think they’re gonna have years of heart-to-heart talks,” Cohan said of Maggie’s relationship with Judith during the Walking Dead Universe Preview Special. “I was excited because Judith has a sense of who Maggie is, and Maggie’s gonna get to come back and develop this friendship [with someone] who — as the audience already knows — has a lot more wisdom than you’d expect for her years.”
Maggie is someone that Judith “can learn from and rely on,” Cohan said, noting that she sees a “meaningful connection with these two.”
“It was really nice to work with Cailey in this so-far final episode we did for Season 10,” Cohan added of “A Certain Doom,” which will be followed by six all-new episodes extending Season 10 into early 2021. Cohan is already back in Georgia for filming on at least one episode that will resolve certain mysteries about Maggie’s years-long absence.
Judith’s mother, Michonne (Danai Gurira), recently headed north in search of Rick after discovering evidence he did not die in a bridge explosion as once believed. So far, this revelation is a secret shared only by Judith and Michonne, who left Judith and little brother RJ (Antony Azor) in the care of Uncle Daryl (Norman Reedus).
Rick’s apparent death occurred in the ninth season episode “What Comes After,” which ended with a six-year time skip introducing Fleming as an aged-up Judith. Cohan quietly exited The Walking Dead in this same episode — with plans to return down the line — and she will appear as a special guest in the Season 10 finale before Cohan is added back as a series regular for Season 11.
The Walking Dead Season 10 finale, “A Certain Doom,” premieres Sunday, October 4 on AMC, followed by the series premiere of new spinoff The Walking Dead: World Beyond. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.