Is Lauren Cohan Leaving ‘The Walking Dead’ After Season 8?

Should The Walking Dead fans be gearing up to say goodbye to Maggie? Lauren Cohan, who has played Maggie Greene/Rhee on the AMC drama since season 2, just booked the lead role in ABC’s pilot Whiskey Cavalier. She will play CIA operative Francesca “Frankie” Trowbridge, opposite Scott Foley’s Will Chase.

TV's Most Shocking Deaths

However, this immediately has Walking Dead fans wondering what that means for the show. Her contract expires at the end of the eighth season, which returns on Sunday, February 24. She’s been a top contender for multiple pilots. However, TVLine reported earlier this month that she was working on season 9 negotiations with AMC. Additionally, she could still do both — season 9 does not begin filming until May 2018 — and Whiskey Cavalier hasn’t yet been picked up.

“I’m incredibly hopeful about” a season 9 deal, showrunner Scott Gimple told TVLine two days before the pilot news broke. However, he knows that in this business, it’s always a possibility. “These things do happen in TV … but we’re talking,” he said. “Lauren is an actor who has such intuition and such power. So yeah, hopefully, it all works out.”

The Walking Dead Stars: Before They Were Famous Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene Gene Page/AMC

The Walking Dead fans are already preparing for a big departure in the season 8 midseason finale when Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) sends his final goodbyes. He was bitten by a walker during the midseason finale. After the episode, Riggs’ father shared his disappointment with the show killing off his son.

“Watching Gimple fire my son 2 weeks before his 18th birthday after telling him they wanted him for the next 3 years was disappointing,” William Riggs wrote on Facebook at the time. “I never trusted Gimple or AMC but Chandler did. I know how much it hurt him. But we do absolutely know how lucky we have been to be a part of it all and appreciate all the love from fans all these years!”

The Walking Dead's Most Shocking Deaths Ever

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, February 24, at 9 p.m. ET.

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