‘The Walking Dead’s’ Lauren Cohan Finally Spills Details About Her Character’s Fate

The past days have been shocking for Walking Dead fans. At the San Diego Comic-Con last week, Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln confirmed that season 9 would be his last outing as the zombie apocalypse leader. Before that, Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman gave a subtle confirmation of Lincoln’s exit. Aside from the actor, however, there’s also one character whose fate hangs in the balance—Lauren Cohan’s Maggie Rhee.

Maggie has been through a lot, especially after the Season 7 premiere where her husband, Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) died brutally at the hands of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan. But Maggie rose from that and became one of the leaders of the communities under Rick’s command. The Walking Dead Season 8 finale then teased conflict within Rick’s own team, led by Maggie herself. She wanted Negan dead, but Rick chose to spare him and make him see how they build a new world without violence—prompting Maggie to organize a small “rebellion” with Jesus (Tom Payne) and Daryl (Norman Reedus).

When Season 9 was announced, however, fans were left wondering whether or not Maggie stays when Rick goes. This is because Cohan has another show on ABC, called Whiskey Cavalier. Not only that, but it was also revealed that Cohan would only appear in a few episodes. Today, the actress finally broke her silence and explained her contract dispute with AMC.

In an interview with SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen (via Variety), Cohan said that she isn’t actually leaving The Walking Dead. In fact, she is negotiating a pay increase to come with her contract with the show. “It wasn’t actually that I was asking for it, it was that my contract had finished, so that’s pretty standard renegotiation,” Cohan said.

Cohan also reassured fans that just because she is disputing her salary and contract doesn’t mean she’s leaving the show altogether.  “My ‘Walking Dead’ story is open; it’s not finished,” the actress said. “You don’t break up with someone and forget about them and delete them from your life, no, things transition into different places.”

The Walking Dead Season 9 premieres Sunday, October 7th, at 8/9c on AMC.