Lauren Cohan will return to The Walking Dead as Maggie Greene for the show's upcoming Season 10.
The announcement came at the end of the TWD panel at New York Comic-Con. Cohan took to the stage in a Jason mask and Negan cosplay to take a selfie with the panel, which included the executive producers and the cast for the tenth season. Before taking the picture, Cohan whipped off her mask to reveal her identity, surprising the audience of fans that packed Madison Square Garden.
Maggie returns to the post-apocalyptic series after disappearing during the ten-year time jump that occurred over Season 9. The characters who stayed in the Alexandria Safe-Zone explained her absence by declaring that she had gone off to recruit other survivors, and also alluding to an unseen disagreement between her and Michonne (Danai Gurira).
After reported disagreements over salary, Cohan left The Walking Dead to star in the short-lived ABC drama Whiskey Cavalier. Upon the show's cancellation, she decided to return back "home" to TWD, though it remains to be seen if her compensation reached her ideal amount.
Cohan's return to the series comes in light of the departure of several high-profile cast members. Andrew Lincoln left the series to appear in a series of spin-off The Walking Dead films as Rick Grimes, andf Danai Gurira, who portrays Michonne, has also announced her departure from the series.
On stage, Cohan was choked up discussing getting to come back as Maggie, flanked by the rest of the cast.
"We always knew we were going to try to find a re-entry," she explained, "the right time to continue the story. I'm really interested in what we're going to be able to say. We've had such passages of time and such life adventures for Maggie."
AMC's The Walking Dead stars Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Nadia Hilker, Dan Fogler, Angel Theory, Lauren Ridloff and Eleanor Matsuura. The series returns for Season 10 on Oct. 6.