The future of The Walking Dead character Maggie Rhee may have become a lot more certain.

Maggie made her quiet exit earlier in season 9 due to Lauren Cohan’s ongoing fight for fair pay, as well as her landing a leading role in the ABC drama Whiskey Cavalier. Cohan has dropped several hints that Maggie’s story wasn’t over yet, but now it seems almost inevitable that she will return after Whiskey Cavalier was recently cancelled by ABC.

It is certainly sad news for Cohan and fans who followed her to the new series, but a lot of Dead viewers are optimistic about her coming back into the story line.

The show is continuing to change rapidly with a string of deaths, as well as Michonne’s impending exit next season, so it will be great to see an OG member of the group back on the screen.

The Walking Dead never made it quite clear when Maggie left with her son Herschel to hang out at Georgie’s mysterious community, but she has certainly missed a lot in her absence. And, it’s going to be interesting to see how she fits back into the current narrative and what happens next at The Hilltop.

The easiest way to bring Maggie back is to simply have her show up from her journey with Herschel in tow. The current actors are already actively filming season 10, so perhaps Maggie can reappear after some big event/cliffhanger with a stunned look on her face.

Or, maybe she will come in during a fight with the Whisperers and bring a crew from the new community. The Sanctuary and Kingdom are basically defunct now, so it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing to have another group come into the fold at this time.

Plus, fans have been waiting for answers about Georgie’s group for some time now, so we need to get that story active again.

And, there are also some issues that need to be addressed when she returns to town. How much does she really know about what has happened since she left?

The Hilltop had been sending her letters (with no response back) through some unknowing mailing system for months, so the show will have to explain why she was either missing the memos altogether or why she chose to not respond.

And, fans will want to know if she is already aware of Jesus, Tara, and Enid’s deaths or if she will be given the heartbreaking news when she gets back.

Why was she gone for so long? Time has always been very weird on The Walking Dead, but it seems that several months have passed from episodes 6-16.

The Whisperer build up was at least a couple of weeks long and the season finale took place a few months after the pike scene based on the Rosita’s visible pregnant belly.

So, Maggie will need to explain why she chose to leave her community for so long. She will presumably resume leadership at The Hilltop and also have to form a relationship with Magna’s crew. Perhaps Yumiko can become her new right-hand woman!

Is Maggie still having some kind of beef with Michonne? Apparently everyone was holding a really long grudge against Michonne for the pettiest reason ever but now they will have to face each other again. It’s not clear how long it’s been since they have seen each other, but there needs to be a resolution between these two before Michonne makes her exit.

There’s also a possible arc for kid Herschel. It remains to be seen if Judith stays in Alexandria when Michonne leaves the show, but Herschel can still take on the gap that has been left with Henry and Carl’s death.

The fandom doesn’t know him at all but it would be interesting to see how skilled he is at survival and what he can possibly do the impact the story in a smart way. After all, we don’t need any more kids (or adults really) making terrible decisions on this show.

Maggie Rhee still has a lot of story left in her and hopefully it will pick back up this season. Her absence and the character’s references to her have felt awkward due to so much ambiguity and fans deserve to either have her back to for some finality to her arc. And, hopefully The Walking Dead has the perfect plan to stage this comeback.