‘The Walking Dead’s Lauren Cohan To Return For Season 9 Arc – Update

UPDATED: The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan, whose future on the hit zombie apocalypse drama series has been in question, will be back for Season 9, AMC has confirmed.

We hear Cohan has closed a deal to appear in six episodes from TWD‘s eight-episode fall half-season. Cohan plays the female lead opposite Scott Foley in Whiskey Cavalier, ABC’s hourlong action-dramedy pilot from Bill Lawrence, Dave Hemingson and Warner Bros TV. If the pilot goes to series, we hear she has been cleared to film TWD during her hiatus from the ABC show, though she would still need to negotiate a deal for that. If Whiskey Cavalier does not go to series, AMC can negotiate a full-time return for Cohan.

Cohan revealed the news of her TWD return Tuesday night to Entertainment Weekly at CinemaCon where she was promoting her upcoming movie Mile 22 with Mark Wahlberg. “I’m going back,” she told EW. “There’s a lot more Maggie story to tell.”

TWD stars Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus had previously closed deals for Season 9.

A pivotal figure on the series based on Robert Kirkman’s comics, Cohan has been seeking a pay increase for a new TWD contract with AMC to succeed her current one, which was up at the end of the current eighth season of the zombie drama. As talks hit an impasse, the sought-out actress entertained broadcast pilot orders and picked Whiskey Cavalier. 

In March, fellow TWD regular Khary Payton spoke out for the actress when he bluntly posted “pay the woman” on his Instagram account.

Season 9 begins filming next week.