When it comes to shows I have watched for a long time, The Walking Dead is definitely one of them. From some of its most heartbreaking deaths to the best villains, I have seen the rise and fall of characters new and old, but one that has stuck around - at least for most of the show - is Maggie Greene, played by Lauren Cohan.
The farmer-turned-survivor was introduced in Season 2 of the show, and has become a fan-favorite and someone who has made it out of some of the worst situations. In honor of the show coming to an end in November 2022 and Dead City wrapping up its first season, here is a timeline of Maggie Greene's life, and the major events that made her the badass she is today, including her story in Dead City.
Maggie Meets Glenn (Season 2)
One of the best relationships in The Walking Dead is, hands down, Maggie and Glenn (played by Steven Yeun), and it’s crazy to think that they met all the way back in Season 2 of the show - and their relationship didn’t even start out strongly for both of them. They had sex once and Maggie didn’t want to do it again, but she couldn’t stay away from Glenn for long.
Now, years later, they are still considered the best relationship on this show. It all started because she caught Glenn looking at a box of condoms. What a time to be alive.
Maggie’s Home Burns Down (Season 2)
The Greene family farm was the main setting for all of Season 2 of The Walking Dead, which was why when it finally burned down in the finale of the season, it was an important catalyst for Maggie becoming a stronger survivor.
We see this later, as she became battle-hardened like everyone else after experiencing winter on the road, and not having the shelter of her home anymore.
Maggie And Glenn Are Captured By The Governor (Season 3)
The Governor was one of the best villains The Walking Dead had to offer, and of course, he had to kidnap two of the people that we cared about the most, Maggie and Glenn. He interrogated them and threatened to sexually abuse Maggie if she didn’t talk, forcing her to take off her shirt and bra, and threatens to harm Glenn, too. But, she keeps her mouth shut, no matter what.
That assault caused what is still one of the biggest fan controversies over the show, but thankfully, Rick mounted a rescue mission to get them out of there.
Glenn Proposes To Maggie (Season 3)
It was so simple; so sweet. Glenn didn’t get down on one knee or anything. All he did was give Maggie a ring he found on a run and asked her that way. The way they kissed after has me squealing even years later despite knowing the inevitable outcome of their relationship.
Damn it, now I’m sad.
Maggie’s Father Is Killed By The Governor (Season 4)
This episode, “Too Far Gone,” is hands down one of the best episodes of The Walking Dead, specifically because Hershel, the long-time moral compass of the group, was killed off by The Governor. Hershel - who was also Maggie’s father. It’s a horrible moment, one that really sticks with you years later.
I can still picture her horrible face as she cries out for her father, shooting at the Governor’s men. She was never quite really the same after that - but I doubt anyone who loses their loving father in such a horrific matter would be.
Maggie Gets Separated From - And Then Reunites With - Glenn (Season 4)
After the prison was destroyed and overrun by walkers, everyone there had to go in different directions, getting separated. For several episodes, we saw Maggie try and survive on the road with Sasha and Bob, while Glenn traveled with Tara (a former member of the Governor’s men), as well as meeting Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene (two of whom are still around on the show today)
But, this show couldn’t keep the couple separate for long, and they did end up reuniting, complete with a passionate kiss - before they ended up stowed away in a train car in Terminus.
Maggie Loses Beth (Season 5)
I’m still not over this death in The Walking Dead. All Maggie had left of her former family was Beth, and then in the Season 5 mid-season finale, she’s taken from her with a single gunshot during Beth’s failed attempt to shoot Dawn.
It’s heartbreaking watching Maggie fall to her knees as Daryl carries Beth’s dead body out of the hospital, with Glenn trying to comfort her from behind. After she lost Beth, it was hard for her to move past that.
Maggie Gets Domestic In Alexandria (Season 6)
However, Maggie does find some peace in the chaos of her life when she and the group wind up at Alexandria, where she starts to slowly domesticate herself with Glenn. She starts to help out with the crops and the planning with Deana, and she and Glenn even anticipate having a child when she becomes pregnant.
But, nothing good lasts forever, right?
Maggie (And Carol) Are Kidnapped By Paula (Season 6)
The Saviors ended up being a huge villain in The Walking Dead, lead by the famous Negan. One of the Saviors at the time, Paula, takes Maggie and Carol (another character that has been around since forever on the show) as hostages after Rick's group attacked the Saviors.
Despite all this, the two badass women find a way out and are able to save themselves, showing just how far both of them have come as survivors.
Maggie Loses Glenn (Season 7)
Remember when I said nothing good lasts forever? This was the prime example of that.
In the premiere of Season 7 of The Walking Dead, where Negan is doing his infamous lineup, he kills Abraham first, and when Daryl snaps and tries to attack Negan, he decides to further punish Rick’s group and take out Glenn, as well.
The sound of Glenn saying that “he’ll find" Maggie as he’s literally dying and his eye is bulging out of his head as she cries is one of the most gut-wrenching moments on television I’ve ever watched. And, I ain’t watching it again, no sir. I’m still upset about it.
Maggie Decides To Stay At Hilltop (Season 7)
It’s no surprise that Maggie ultimately ended up deciding to stay at Hilltop after Glenn’s death. She buries him there, and ends up helping the people of that particular safe zone learn to survive and thrive more - despite the fact that they have a really bad leader named Gregory who is incompetent in every sense of the word.
Don’t worry, we’ll get to Gregory later.
During her time there, she’s able to build Hilltop up and use her position of power to help them take out the Saviors alongside Alexandria.
Maggie Meets Georgie (Season 8)
Georgie is one of the most intriguing characters in The Walking Dead, because we literally only saw her once in Season 8, saying that all she wanted with Maggie and Hilltop were records, and once she got those, she’d trade them plans for certain structures that would help Hilltop thrive.
It’s such a strange moment because again, we don’t hear about her again until Season 9 - and we don’t even see her. Clearly, this moment had a heavy impact on Maggie, as Georgie comes back into her story a season later.
Maggie Has Gregory Executed (Season 9)
Remember how I said Gregory was literally the worst? Maggie, thankfully, agreed with that sentiment.
In Season 9 of The Walking Dead, when Maggie has officially taken over as leader at Hilltop, she is tired of Gregory constantly going against her, and, most importantly, trying to kill her. So, she decides to have him executed so it doesn’t happen again.
While some people are justifiably unnerved about this decision, it had to be done, as Gregory was always betraying everyone at Hilltop.
Maggie Leaves The Communities, With Her Son, To Join Georgie (Season 9)
During the one and a half year time jump between the end of Season 8 and the beginning of Season 9 in The Walking Dead, Maggie had Hershel Jr., Glenn's son, and after Rick’s supposed death (which we all know now is a lie), they left Hilltop to go join Georgie and her group and build a new community together.
Again, we don’t see Georgie physically. We’re just given this explanation that Maggie went off to help her. For the rest of Season 9 and a good part of Season 10, we don’t see Maggie again. And we don’t end up seeing her again at all for the rest of the series. It remains one of my biggest questions – but maybe we’ll get some update in the plethora of spinoffs out there.
Maggie Comes Back To Fight Against The Whisperers (Season 10)
It’s been six years at the end of Season 10, and Maggie returned with some badass buddies to help take down the Whisperers.
Despite being off building communities, Maggie comes back when she reads a letter from Carol, telling her of the horrors that have befallen their community, which spurs Maggie to come and help them. After that, she is back on the show as a main character and fixture of The Walking Dead.
Maggie Would Rather Stick With Negan Than Join The Commonwealth (Season 11)
A big thing with Maggie in The Walking Dead is that she had an obsession with killing Negan in Season 9. Which is understandable - the man killed her husband, so I’d be pretty upset, too. In the same episode as Rick’s departure, she realizes that killing Negan isn’t going to change anything or bring Glenn back - which is what spurred her to leave with Georgie in the first place.
However, in Season 11, we actually see a miracle - these two start to work together in a fragile alliance, but an alliance all the same. By this point in the show, Negan had proven himself valuable by taking out Alpha, the leader of The Whisperers, in Season 10, but Maggie, having just returned after years on the road, still despises him.
Throughout Season 11, Maggie and Negan work together to fight the Commonwealth soldiers. When she sees how Negan protects her son, she even admits to him that she could be beginning to trust him, which means that Maggie would literally rather trust Negan, the man who killed Glenn, than join the Commonwealth.
Maggie Attempts To Move Past Her Anger At Negan (Season 11)
During the last few episodes of The Walking Dead, when it was finally coming to a close, we saw that Maggie was actually attempting to work with Negan more. In their fight against the Commonwealth, it was no longer Maggie vs Negan, but the two of them working alongside the fellow survivors to take down the corrupt system that the Commonwealth had set up.
In the emotional series finale, Maggie has a conversation with Negan, where she openly admits that she can’t ever forgive him – which is justified. The man killed her husband. It would be hard for me to move past that, too.
But, what she did say is that she is willing to try and move past her anger and hatred to work with him, because she can see that there has been a lot of change in him over the years, and that he had earned his place. This is what really sets up Dead City later on.
Maggie Looks To Negan For Help In Rescuing Her Son (The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 1)
The first episode of Dead City drops, and fans finally know why Maggie and Negan are heading all the way to New York City – to help find her son, Hershel Rhee, who was captured by a former Savior named the Croat. This in turn starts their journey together.
Keep in mind that at this point in The Walking Dead timeline, several years have passed, and Hershel Rhee is now a teenager, which means that the franchise has jumped forward by a lot from the series finale. Hilltop is no longer called that, instead renamed Bricks, and there’s a new community called New Babylon that Negan is on the run from. So much has changed – but this strange partnership still brings in plenty of new adventures for Maggie.
Maggie Betrays Negan To The Croat In Exchange For Hershel Rhee (The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 1)
During Dead City, Maggie and Negan work with plenty of different people to try and get her son back – but in the end, it's revealed that Maggie made a deal with the Croat, offering to trade Negan instead, rather than take him down. It was all a ruse.
We see this in an epic fight during the Season 1 finale that the two have before she hands him over – seeing how Negan is understandably disappointed. While he knows that she can never forgive him, he really thought they could take down the Croat together instead of doing this.
But Maggie gets her son back – and deep down, that’s all that really matters… right?
Maggie Realizes That Dama Is Still A Threat To Her Son (The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 1)
Just when Maggie thought that her son was safe, she finds Hershel’s drawings in his bedroom when he’s asleep, seeing that he was drawing Dama. The woman is a close ally of the Croat, and the person who wants Negan to unite several communities in Manhattan to go against the New Babylon Federation.
Maggie recognizes that her son is still under threat, and she just might need to head back to New York City if she realizes what Dama intends to do with Negan. And little does Maggie know that Dama cut off Hershel’s toe as a threat to Negan – that she can still easily get Hershel back and torture him if Negan does not do what she asks.
All of this just makes me want to see Dead City Season 2 even more. One can only wonder what will come next for the series – and what will come next for Maggie Rhee.
