With the most recent announcement of Dead City season 3’s premiere date of July 26th, 2026, BHC thought we should go back to the world of the Walking Dead and explore one of the longest surviving characters of the universe: Maggie Rhee. A battle hardened survivor, she rose from simple farm girl to one of the leaders of the new world. Her character evolution, while sometimes stagnant, offered a compelling case on how the apocalypse can change people for the better. Today, we’re going to look at the major events that helped shape her into who she ended up being at the end of the original series and develop a treatment plan and mental health diagnosis to get Maggie the help she needs. Quite frankly, most of the main surviving cast could use some therapy, but that’s for another time. Spoilers ahead for the main show and the first two seasons of Dead City.
We first meet Maggie at the beginning of season 2. She is hiding out on the family farm and has been mostly isolated from the events happening across the world. After Carl Grimes is shot, the group ends up staying on the farm for a time. Early on, we learn that she has lost her mother before the apocalypse even started. After the onset, her step-brother Shawn and her step-mother Annette were infected and isolated from everyone else in the barn. A couple episodes after her introduction, Maggie loses family friend Otis, who was devoured while getting medical supplies for Carl. She is quickly drawn to Glenn Rhee and the two quickly form a friends-with-benefits situation. This dynamic quickly transforms into a loving relationship, with the two cementing their relationship by the end of the season. In the last episode, the farm is overrun by the dead. Maggie manages to escape with her father, Hershel, and half-sister, Beth, but Otis’ wife Patricia perishes and a good chunk of the farm is burned down. Season 3 picks up ten months after the previous season, with Maggie a more capable fighter. She is the only woman who joins in clearing the prison when hand-to-hand combat becomes a necessity. While clearing the prison, her father is bitten on the leg by a walker. She is forced to come to terms with the fact that her father might die, though he ends up pulling through. Not long after, Lori goes into labor. Without Hershel or Carol present due to outside circumstances, Maggie is forced to perform a cesarean to save the baby. Lori dies from her wounds and Maggie ends up being one of the steadfast caregivers for baby Judith. She and Glenn later go on a supply run, where they are captured by Merle Dixon and tortured by Philip “The Governor” Blake, who wants to know where they are living. During interrogation, the Governor threatens to rape her. She doesn’t give in and he relents, but she is visibly shaken by the encounter. She is later rescued by the group but ends up in conflict with Glenn over his own reaction to her assault. The two eventually reconcile after a heart-to-heart conversation. A couple of episodes later, Glenn finds a ring and proposes to Maggie, who accepts. They later manage to repel Woodbury’s forces with a coordinated defense and help take in the survivors after the Governor’s massacre.
Roughly 6 months later, season 4 sees a peaceful time for the group. The prison has become a safe haven for many and there have been no deaths or accidents in a month. Glenn and Maggie are happily married. There is a pregnancy scare, with each debating their side of the argument for or against kids. A sickness overtakes the prison, infecting Glenn. The sick are isolated and Hershel goes in to help treat them, despite the danger it poses to himself. Maggie is forced to cope with her husband and father possibly dying and she turns to Beth for comfort. When tensions reach a head and the sick start dying,
Maggie disobeys her father and forces herself into the cellblock, wiping out the dead to get to her family. A supply group gets the medication and both Glenn and Hershel survive. Peace again falls over the prison, but it is dashed by the Governor’s return. An assault on the prison kicks off when Hershel, captured while disposing of the sick bodies, is decapitated in front of everyone. A firefight ensues and the prison’s defenses are destroyed, forcing them to flee. Everyone is separated from each other and Maggie ends up with Sasha Williams and Bob Stookey. Maggie is devastated by her father’s death and copes with it by hyperfixating on finding Glenn. They eventually reunite in the penultimate episode and reach a new safe haven, Terminus, where they are captured and held as livestock.
The group (mostly reunited) manages to escape the cannibals in the season 5 premiere. Maggie learns that Tara Chambler, one of the people who helped Glenn after the prison, was on the Governor’s side the day her dad died. Maggie forgives Tara and they start a friendship. Not long after, Bob is bitten. Maggie stays with Bob and honors her friend until he passes away peacefully. She has a crisis of faith when she realizes that Eugene Porter was lying about being a scientist and that there is no cure to the walker virus. She ends up turning her pain into a healing moment and helps Abraham Ford find meaning again. In the midseason finale, they find out Beth is alive. They race to the hospital, where they find Daryl Dixon carrying Beth’s body. Maggie falls to the ground and begins to wail at the loss of her sister. She then struggles with wanting to die, falling into a depression, and debates killing herself with a walker in a trunk. Daryl and Sasha, also depressed by recent losses, form a triangle of sorts and boost each other out of their depressive episodes. The group reaches Alexandria thanks to the help of its scout: Aaron. Alexandria’s leader, Deanna, sees Maggie as a potential leader and takes her under her wing. At the end of the season, Maggie becomes more confident and spends her time defending Rick against the Alexandrians during a trial to determine his fate. She unites preacher Gabriel Stokes and Sasha, leading them in a prayer session that helps put an end to their animosity.
Season 6 begins with a bang. While most of the fighters are off trying to contain a horde of walkers nearby, Alexandria is attacked by a group called the Wolves. Many Alexandrians are killed, though she holds her own in the assault. Maggie spends much of her time trying to help a depressed Deanna, whose husband just passed. Rick returns not long after and half the horde follows, trapping the community. With Glenn missing, Maggie tries to sneak out and find him. Aaron accompanies her, where he learns that she is pregnant. Deciding that the baby comes first, Maggie decides to stay in Alexandria and trust that Glenn will return on his own. This wish comes true in the midseason premiere, where the two are reunited. Two months later, Maggie begins bonding with an orphan girl named Enid. She participates in the negotiations with the Hilltop community, sealing a deal with its leader: Gregory. She is captured by the Saviors during the outpost mission to eliminate the Saviors. She and Carol are forced to become feral to escape, brutally murdering a handful of survivors. Everyone reunites and Alexandria prepares for retaliation. Maggie begins suffering from pregnancy complications and the group leaves to take her to Hilltop’s doctor, Harlan Carson. They are ambushed on the road by the Saviors and encounter their leader: Negan Smith. He threatens to kill someone, though the viewer isn’t aware of who until the season 7 premiere.
