Things are looking grim for Maggie Rhee on The Walking Dead.
TVLine is reporting that ABC has picked up a full order of Lauren Cohan and Scott Foley’s action series, Whiskey Cavalier. This is obviously great news for Cohan, and pairing her and Foley (Scandal, Felicity) along with creator Bill Lawrence (Scrubs) puts a lot of veteran TV talent on a show that seemed poised to succeed.
But it spells almost certain doom for Maggie on The Walking Dead. After AMC didn’t meet her salary demands earlier this year, Cohan put herself on the open market, which is how she landed on the ABC action drama. However, she eventually did agree to return to The Walking Dead and Cohan herself confirms that she will be in six of the first eight episodes of the season. But don’t count on Maggie making it into the second half of the season.
Indeed, no one on The Walking Dead has ever done full-time double duty on two television shows, and it seems unlikely that the demanding The Walking Dead shooting schedule — which films between April and November — would allow for it. Chances are, Cohan will have to start production on her new series in July or August, which means that she wouldn’t be available to film the second half of the season.
The series, however, seems prepared to send Maggie off with a bang, setting up a showdown between her and Rick in the eighth season finale. Expect that rivalry to come to a head in the ninth season with Cohan departing the series after the midseason finale.
It’s possible that Cohan will simply be banished from The Hilltop, which might allow her to return to the series should ABC cancel Whiskey Cavalier after its first season. However, I wouldn’t count on it. Rivalries on The Walking Dead beget casualties and the future of Maggie’s character beyond her series-created conflict with Rick in the comics doesn’t leave a lot of challenges for her, so killing her off in the midseason finale may actually be the best thing for Cohan’s character. She should receive a very memorable send-off.
