The Walking Dead Season 10c Theory That Has Fans Taking Another Look At Maggie

Some spoilers for The Walking Dead below!

When Rick Grimes' (Andrew Lincoln) group of survivors met Maggie (Lauren Cohan) on the Greene family farm in season two of The Walking Dead, fans of the comic book series generally knew what to expect, but TV-only viewers did not. She quickly became a fan favorite, because through all the muck and mire of the walker-infested world, she finds love, she finds family, and she finds purpose. That she lasts long enough to do so is not only a post-apocalyptic miracle, but a blessing for fans of the character.

Then, in season nine, Maggie leaves the show.

No, she doesn't go the way of so many before her and become walker food. She just ... leaves. She has her reasons for doing so — understandable reasons — but she'd been a staple of the show for such a long time that a void opened in her wake.

One season and a time skip later, though, Maggie returns, to the delight of characters and viewers alike. Some fans, however, aren't so optimistic. In a discussion thread on Reddit, user TheShowLover posed a theory as to what Maggie may have been up to while she was away.

Maggie's hatred for Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is one of the worst-kept secrets on The Walking Dead. Not that any of the good guys (insofar as "good" has any meaning in a world in which it's killed or be killed) like him, but she has more reason to despise him than almost anyone. After all, her husband Glenn (Steven Yeun) found himself on the receiving end of Negan's barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat Lucille. That's not something so easily — if ever — forgiven.

That's why TheShowLover's theory is so heartbreaking (and hopefully not true): "I think Maggie became a Negan-level villain while she was away." It may seem out of left field, but the Redditor backs it up by explaining that it could be the reason "why the Reapers have been following her for years," and "why she does not want to talk about it.... [with] her old friends." The Reapers are original to the TV show, so suffice to say, anything goes with them and with those involved in their affairs — Maggie included.

As much as Maggie fans may not want to believe it, it's certainly a possibility. Think back to season two, as far as what Shane (Jon Bernthal) ends up being and doing. Jealousy and pressure from all sides warp him into a lone wolf, and then a cornered wolf — willing to wave a gun at Rick, his former best friend. What makes it so sad isn't that their history ceases to matter as they hold each other at gunpoint, but that their history is at the forefront of the confrontation. The line between friend and foe blurs, yet the circumstances between them are never clearer.

So, in the years that she's gone, Maggie could've gone through any number of changes, for better, or — in TheShowLover's approximation — worse. The truth will be revealed as more comes to light about the Reapers, Maggie's relationship with them, and Maggie herself.