Lauren Cohan Recalls Leaving “Walking Dead” Because ‘I Knew My Value’: ‘Taking the Stand Was Worth It’ (Exclusive)

Kirsten AcunaThu, August 13, 2026 at 5:28 PM UTC

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Lauren Cohan (left, on July 25, 2026) recalls leaving ‘TWD’ in 2018 (right).Credit: Katie Jones/Variety via Getty; Jackson Lee Davis/AMC -

Lauren Cohan explained her decision to leave The Walking Dead in 2018 to pursue another show after contract disputes at the time

“I advocated for myself through action. And I am really happy that it worked out,” Cohan tells PEOPLE

She returned nearly two years later, and now stars in and executive produces the spinoff The Walking Dead: Dead City

Lauren Cohan has played Maggie in The Walking Deaduniverse for nearly 15 years, but it’s a role she could have said goodbye to eight years ago.

“I’d been on the show for a while, my contract was ending, and there were opportunities,” Cohan, 44, says of AMC’s hit apocalyptic franchise. “It was an interesting time for me.”

Cohan walked away from the zombie series in 2018 after she and her agents were reportedly “not happy with the offers” she was receiving during contract negotiations for season 9, according to The Hollywood Reporter. At the time, fellow Walking Dead cast member Khary Payton shared a cryptic Instagram post featuring Maggie’s photo with the caption: “Pay the woman.”

As season 9 of The Walking Dead began airing that October, Varietyreported that her costar Norman Reedus, 57, was making $1 million per episode as fan-favorite Daryl Dixon.

Cohan’s original final episode of TWDin November 2018 coincided with that of star Andrew Lincoln, 52, who played the series’ lead protagonist Rick Grimes. As the network promoted the episode solely as Grimes’ last episode, fans learned of Cohan’s exit only after it aired.

Lauren Cohan (with Kerry Cahill, left) in her original final appearance on ‘The Walking Dead’ season 9, episode 5.Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

“[Showrunner Angela Kang] really didn’t want me to leave,” the When I’m Ready actress recalls of stepping away from the series, saying that the two kept in touch.

As a result, Cohan went on to co-lead ABC’s short-lived spy series Whiskey Cavalier in 2019 opposite Scott Foley, fulfilling a bucket-list item. “I have always wanted to do comedy,” Cohan says of her time on the show, which was canceled after one season. “I started out my career wanting to do comedy.”

Lauren Cohan and Scott Foley on “Whiskey Cavalier.”Credit: Nick Ray/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Still, Cohan says TWD remained on her mind. “Angela and I had always discussed trying to bring Maggie back in when the schedule permitted it,” says Cohan, adding that Kang “always had a plan to bring Maggie back or send her off properly.”

Cohan eventually returned nearly two years later on the season 10 finale before rejoining the show as a series regular for its 11th and final season.

Lauren Cohan’s first appearance back on “TWD” season 10 finale after leaving the show in 2018.Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

Now, she leads one of the spinoffs, The Walking Dead: Dead City, serving as an executive producer alongside costar Jeffrey Dean Morgan, 60. He plays the charming yet unpredictable Negan, who killed off Maggie’s husband Glenn (Steven Yeun) during his controversial entry onto TWD back in 2016.

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The spinoff follows Maggie and Negan’s evolving, complicated relationship from adversaries to frenemies in New York City.

“Jeff and I know these characters more than anybody,”Cohan says of working with Morgan. “When I come away from these last couple of years, and especially from this season, I feel that this series is just so much better than I could have imagined.”

Looking back on her journey to this point, Cohan has no regrets. “I advocated for myself through action,” she says. “I am really happy that it worked out.”

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan on season three of ‘TWD: Dead City.’Credit: Robert Clark/AMC

“I feel like taking the stand was worth it,” she continues of her role as an executive producer on the series. “I encourage women to always do it because I knew my value at the time, and I got to go and do a show that was really creatively satisfying and in a different world.”

She adds: “And I had the support of an incredible female showrunner [in Kang]. I’m very proud of that moment.”

Cohan adds that the network has “been so supportive” with her also stepping into the director’s chair on the second season of TWD: Dead City.

“Being involved as a director, not just the actual directing, but getting to collaborate with everybody so closely, I just come away so proud and with such a deeper trust of my colleagues,” Cohan says.

The star plans to use those skills as she turns her attention toward her next big project: filmmaking.

“My end goal is to write and direct my own films,” says Cohan, who is currently plugging away on one script that’s been on her mind for a long time. “I’m producing another feature and then writing a feature, which I would direct. In between acting it’s very much my priority. It’s fun.”

The Walking Dead: Dead City airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC.

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