To coincide with the new season of Dead City, BHC thought it would be a good idea to tie in and analyze one of the most important characters in the Walking Dead franchise: Maggie Rhee. Since the writing of part 1, an official trailer has also dropped for the new season and solidified itself as a must watch show. This blog post is a continuation, with part 1 being released on September 22, 2026. That post covered the introduction of Maggie’s character in season 2 and ended with her in the Savior lineup at the end of season 6. This post will catch viewers up on seasons 7-11 of the main show, along with the first two seasons of Dead City. As such, certain points from part 1 may be revisited in the diagnosis and treatment plan sections. Spoilers ahead for the main show and the first two seasons of Dead City. Season 7 starts with the lineup, where tragedy once again befalls Maggie. Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), leader of the Saviors, brutally kills friend and ally Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz) with a baseball bat. Daryl (Norman Reedus), one of Maggie’s longtime friends, lashes out. In consequence, Negan picks another victim: Glenn (Steven Yeun), Maggie’s husband and the father of their unborn child. She is forced to watch as he is bludgeoned to death. She is later taken to Hilltop and left there to be close in case of pregnancy complications, accompanied by her friend, Sasha Williams (Sonequa Martin-Green). They slowly get acclimated with the Hilltop colony and even save them when Saviors let the walkers in as an intimidation tactic. Enid (Katelyn Nacon), a friend and seemingly adopted daughter to Maggie, ends up braving the outside world to reunite with her and help with the pregnancy. The season shows Maggie slowly taking over Hilltop from Gregory (Xander Berkley), who the people see as a coward. Late in the season, she, Sasha, and Enid train the people of Hilltop for battle as they prepare to go to war with Negan. Despite Gregory’s best efforts, Maggie inspires them to fight back in the climactic battle at Alexandria. It is here that she loses Sasha and is forced to put her reanimated body down. The season ends with Maggie giving a speech in honor of Glenn, stating that he was the glue that once held the group together, and is the inspiration for the communities banding together now.
Season 8 begins with Maggie co-leading the militia with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) of Alexandria and Ezekiel Sutton (Khary Payton) of the Kingdom. She participates in the plan to lead a horde to the Sanctuary (Negan’s base). She is forced to confront the realities of war when Paul Rovia (Tom Payne) brings in POW’s that need food and shelter. Maggie is affronted and refuses, but later reconsiders and accommodates as best she can without compromising the community. When the horde plan ends up failing, the Saviors ambush the community on the road. Maggie is forced to “surrender” and, in a fit of rage, later murders a Savior POW in cold blood. She sends the body back to Negan as a warning. The next day, she learns of Carl Grimes’s (Chandler Riggs) death and is shown to be devastated by the loss. Hilltop gets a message from somebody offering to trade records for supplies. Maggie plans to rob them on the road and initially goes through with it but later changes her mind and makes amends. The woman, Georgie (Jayne Atkinson), offers her a manual to make Hilltop self-sufficient. Maggie lets them leave in good faith and they declare their intent to return at a later date. Later, the Saviors attack Hilltop in retaliation and use walker gut-covered weapons to infect members of the various communities. Maggie is forced to put down some of her people and again declares Negan a dead man. She begins an uneasy friendship with a Savior named Alden (Callan McAuliffe), with a romance being hinted at. In the finale, she is nearly killed in the Savior ambush but is saved due to Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt) tampering with the handmade bullets, leading to a mass execution of the Saviors. Negan is spared by Rick and imprisoned, angering Maggie, who declares revenge.
Season 9 introduces a two year time jump. Maggie is still the leader of Hilltop and has given birth to her son, Hershel Rhee (Peyton Lockridge). Hilltop ended up having an official election, with her winning the title over Gregory. On a supply run, one of her younger charges is killed in an accident. Gregory uses this to convince the young man’s father to kill her. The attempt fails and Gregory outs himself quickly, attempting to finish the job himself. Maggie overpowers him and declares capital punishment, ordering him hanged for all of Hilltop to see. Rick asks her to send supplies to Sanctuary to help them rebuild, but Maggie lacks sympathy for them. Her attempted killer, Earl Sutton (John Finn), is released when she compares his drinking to her dad’s old habits. When Saviors start to disappear from the bridge construction site, Maggie is a prime suspect. She later finds who committed the murders and has an opportunity to save a captured Savior, but instead turns her back on them and allows them to be killed. This inspires Maggie to kill Negan and she later confronts him in his cell at Alexandria. He begs for death, miserable with being imprisoned. Seeing his despair, she spares him. Her last appearance in the season is witnessing Rick’s “death” in the bridge explosion, with her being distraught over her longtime friend’s “demise”. It is explained after another time jump that Maggie is building new communities with Georgie and took her son with her.
Maggie returns at the end of season 10, set seven years later, getting a letter from Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) about the Whisperers and the damage they’ve caused. It is here that she learns about the deaths of Paul Rovia, Enid, and Tara Chambler (Alanna Masterson). Angered, she and her people “the Wardens” help the communities defeat the Whisperers. Maggie saves longtime friend Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam) and reunites with Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming). Not long after, she is forced to confront that Negan is free from his cell and is on a “probation” of sorts after he killed the Whisperer leader, Alpha (Samantha Morton). She and the Wardens are stalked by a mystery man with a rifle, who kills himself before he can be questioned about his group. With the Kingdom abandoned and Hilltop burned down in the war, she decides to stay in Alexandria. She remains wary of Negan and the season closes with her giving him a death stare.
The final season of the main show picks up with the communities electing Maggie to lead a supply run to Meridian, a former community that was killed off by a group called the Reapers. Negan leaves her for dead at one point, ending in her nearly killing him. Most of the Wardens are killed by the Reapers in the battle for supplies and Maggie loses friends Duncan (Marcus Lewis) and Agatha (Laurie Fortier) in the skirmish. The Reapers are mostly killed off in the end and Maggie loses love interest Alden due to wounds sustained during the journey. Returning to Alexandria, she is present for when Eugene and others return with help from a community called the Commonwealth. Months later, she is seen trying to rebuild Hilltop and failing. The Commonwealth offers to help rebuild but Maggie is suspicious of their motives and refuses. This decision alienates her from members of her community, with many abandoning the project to officially join the Commonwealth. Not long after, a dead messenger appears at Hilltop. Maggie and others investigate and find an apartment community nearby. It is quickly revealed that the Commonwealth is killing them over missing supplies. Maggie and the others save the community and are forced to hide their involvement. Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton), the representative of the Commonwealth, pieces together what happened and asks the sole surviving Reaper, Leah Shaw (Lynn Collins), to assassinate Maggie. Despite Leah’s best efforts, Maggie survives due to the intervention of Daryl.
They soon after ambush Hornsby’s squad and take him hostage. He is later imprisoned when Commonwealth leader, Pamela Milton (Laila Robins), is informed of his treasonous actions. An uneasy alliance builds but is quickly shattered when Pamela’s son, Sebastian (Teo Rapp-Olsson), is killed in a terrorist act. Pamela declares the communities enemies of the state and most of the survivors are imprisoned and sent to camps. Maggie escapes but is unable to find her son. She and some others infiltrate Alexandria, now a prison camp, and rescue their people. Deciding to take out Pamela, Maggie and the prominent members of the community head to the Commonwealth. When evolved walkers cause the outside gate to open, a horde infiltrates the community. The horde interrupts the battle between the communities. Pamela and the rich pull back and leave the poor to fend for themselves. The communities come up with a plan to eradicate the horde and save the people. Maggie debates killing Pamela, but decides to spare and imprison her. The last major scene with Maggie in the show is her acknowledging Negan’s growth but deciding that she can’t forgive him. Negan understands and leaves to start a new life with his wife. After a one year time jump, the series ends with Maggie continuing to work on rebuilding Hilltop with her son and most of her community members having returned. She hints that she may leave in the future to see what else is out in the world.
Part 3 Coming Soon!
