Two Major Walking Dead Characters Haven't Been On Set Much, What Does That Mean

Negan

Warning: spoilers from the set of The Walking Dead are ahead.

Season 6 of The Walking Dead came to an end back in early April, but the finale closed on such a doozy of a cliffhanger that plenty of us are still talking about it. The final moments of the episode featured new bad guy Negan bashing somebody to death with his barbed wire baseball bat Lucille. The Walking Dead didn't actually show who was bashed to death, so we've had to wait and wonder ever since. Shooting has begun for Season 7, and two major characters have been conspicuously absent. Steven Yeun and Lauren Cohan haven't been around much, which could spell doom for Glenn and/or Maggie come fall.

According to a spoilerific report from Celeb Dirty Laundry, Steven Yeun hasn't been seen on set in Georgia despite the reality that filming for Season 7 has already reached beyond the third episode. In fact, Yeun is currently out of the country, filming in South Korea for his upcoming film Okja. He's been firing up a storm of Walking Dead-related tweets, but pics from his Instagram give away the fact that he's not on set. Yeun's absence could well mean that Glenn fulfilled his comic destiny and got the face full of Lucille in the Season 6 finale.

Of course, Steven Yeun's absence could also just mean that Glenn doesn't have much of a role in the first few episodes of Season 7. The Walking Dead has a massive cast, and past seasons have pushed certain characters to the background for long stretches of episodes to shine the spotlight on others. Given how much focus Glenn got in Season 6 with his frequent fake-out deaths, maybe The Walking Dead is just highlighting other characters. Yeun could easily just have found a way to fit Okja into his schedule due to a smaller role in the beginning of Season 7.

Lauren Cohan has been scarce from set as well. She was nowhere near set as of the ending of filming for Episode 3, according to a Facebook post from The Spoiling Dead Fans. A huge portion of the rest of the cast seemed to be present for the big scene, so Cohan's absence could mean that Maggie was bashed off to hang with Beth and Hershel in heaven in the Season 6 finale. Cohan has also been busy filming a non-Walking Dead role thanks to her big part in the upcoming Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez On Me. Poor Maggie already looked on death's door thanks to pregnancy complications; even if she didn't die courtesy of Negan and Lucille, her illness might have been enough to end her life. Who knows? Maybe Glenn was murdered and Maggie just gave up on trying to survive her pregnancy without her husband. It would be a little bit Revenge of the Sith for her to lose the will to live, but it could work.

Or, Maggie could be off-screen hanging out with her husband while other characters enjoy the spotlight. She looked bad enough from her pregnancy complications in the cliffhanger that she would certainly need some recuperation time, and she could just be lying low to regain her health. Glenn could even be with her.

Spoilers from the set of The Walking Dead aren't exactly encouraging for the survival odds of Glenn or Maggie, but we shouldn't start mourning either or both of them just yet. There are still plenty of variables at play that could mean that Steven Yeun and Lauren Cohan have had time off without their characters meeting a grisly end. Only time will tell. To see what you can watch to pass the time before The Walking Dead returns, check out our summer TV premiere schedule. Don't forget to take a look at our breakdown of what we know so far about Season 7.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).