‘The Walking Dead’ season 3: Lauren Cohan thrilled about Maggie’s new role

“The Walking Dead” season 3 brought a number of changes to the screen in between a new setting and some new faces, but behind the scenes one of the biggest changes came for Lauren Cohan, who saw herself being promoted from a recurring guest star as Maggie to a series regular. She’s now a regular part of Rick’s group, and in addition to her romance with Glenn, she is working as hard as anyone to both survive and helps others survive the zombie horde.

So what does Cohan have to say about this increased role? Based on the actress’ own comments in an interview with IGN, it appears as though joining up with Rick was in her mind the big break her character had been hoping for her entire life:

“I think Maggie was looking for a way to step in and help before this group even arrived — a way to step into life, I suppose. So when the group arrives at her farm in Season 2, we see the beginning of this journey, which culminates in a realization that, wow, things are really not what they seemed. Now in Season 3, it’s her chance to rise to that. She’s a very strong person. She’s emotionally and physically strong. That doesn’t mean she’s not sometimes doubtful, sometimes vulnerable, sometimes terrified by any of this. But we see her fight with the guys because she is one of the physically stronger people of the group. We have a pregnant woman, we have my younger sister, we have my dad. We see her enter in and, for example, clear the yard for them to make their way into the prison. And then we get to see this journey again of ‘We fought, we fought, we fought,’ and you have it broken down again. You don’t know that it’s entirely worth it, and you have these fleeting doubts. But it’s seeing everybody get up and continue, despite those doubts, is what I think is really exciting about our group.”

It is still difficult to say precisely what the future holds for Maggie, though the sneak peek for Sunday’s new episode does show she and Glenn engaging in some watch-tower fun while other people perversely watch from below. What we can say with at least some confidence here is that we are probably going to see Maggie and her team collide with The Governor eventually, and the fear that these survivors feel now will only pale in comparison to what they will have in their heads then.

Will Maggie stay safe through the rest of “The Walking Dead” season 3? There’s always a cause for concern with this show, but for the time being, we’re doing our best to stay hopeful.