A television era is ending with the series finale of Supernatural after 15 seasons, and the last batch of episodes brought back several familiar faces for a swan song. Not among those familiar faces has been Lauren Cohan, who played Bela Talbot well before she broke into the zombie apocalypse scene as Maggie on The Walking Dead. Like so many characters on Supernatural, Bela died a gruesome death. Unlike many others, however, Bela stayed dead, and Cohan didn't return after her departure back in Season 3. The actress has explained why.
Lauren Cohan spoke with CinemaBlend's Nick Venable ahead of Supernatural's final episodes, and she revealed that the AMC hit is part of why Bela remained off-screen following her untimely demise at the end of the third season. When asked if there were any conversations about her possibly returning to Supernatural, Cohan shared:
We did [have talks]. It wasn’t for the final episodes, but a couple of years ago, there was a small thing they wanted to do, and it was like at the exact same time as something really heavy on The Walking Dead. And no, it just didn’t happen. This is years ago, but no. . . . They should have. They could have had me and [Jeffrey Dean Morgan] in some random moment. They didn’t know each other, or wouldn’t have met, but then that would be three things that he and I have played across from each other. So that was an untapped opportunity, if you ask me. [Laughs.]
Bela didn't remain off-screen and dead because of a lack of interest in Lauren Cohan returning to Supernatural. The actress was simply too busy with The Walking Dead to have time to reprise her role on Supernatural when there was an opening. While that's a shame for Supernatural fans who might have wanted to see what happened to Bela since her soul was sent to Hell, Cohan has been part of huge arcs on The Walking Dead that couldn't have spared Maggie.
Of course, Lauren Cohan's Walking Dead co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan is also a Supernatural alum, and he did actually reprise his role as John Winchester after a long absence back in Season 14 for the milestone 300th episode. Morgan was even interested in returning again before the end of the series, although the Supernatural showrunner confirmed ahead of the finale that neither John nor Mary Winchester would appear.
As Lauren Cohan noted, Bela and John Winchester had no reason to know each other (and John was long dead by the time Bela debuted), but it definitely could have been fun to add Supernatural to the list of projects they've shared scenes in, after The Walking Dead and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Cohan had also previously mentioned that she would have been up for appearing in the final season, as Supernatural was her first TV experience and first job in the United States.
There was no way of knowing during Supernatural Season 3 back in 2007-2008 that Lauren Cohan would go on to join another major genre series with a passionate fanbase, with her debut as Maggie on The Walking Dead Season 2 still a few years off at that point. Maggie has managed to live a lot longer than Bela did, although certainly not without more than her fair share of heartbreak.
Maggie has returned to the zombie apocalypse action, and fans can expect to see her in the rest of Walking Dead Season 10 and Season 11. So, even if Bela won't be back on TV, Cohan will be back as Maggie. Supernatural fans can also relive Bela's run as a Supernatural antagonist with the third season streaming on Netflix now, along with plenty of other options on the streamer. For more of what you can watch with Supernatural ending and The Walking Dead on hiatus, check out our 2020 fall TV premiere schedule and our 2021 winter and spring premiere guide.
