Maggie Rhee just came closer to romance than she has at any point since Glenn’s death, but The Walking Dead: Dead City stopped short of actually giving her a new relationship.
During an unusually lighthearted road trip with Luis, the doctor played by Raúl Castillo, Maggie dances, laughs and begins imagining what it might feel like to let somebody into her life again. The biggest surprise arrives when she kisses Luis, only for the episode to reveal that the kiss happened entirely in her mind.
She told Entertainment Weekly that even contemplating a kiss felt “monumental” for a character who has spent years defined by survival, grief and protecting the people around her.
It is the first time the television version of Maggie has entertained romantic feelings for someone since Glenn was killed by Negan in the 2016 Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead.
Maggie’s Kiss With Luis Happened Only in Her Head
View this post on Instagram
Season 3’s “Found/Lost” sends Maggie and Luis away from their New York community in search of medical supplies. Along the way, they encounter Gerald before reaching a group living in the woods where people are dancing, celebrating and behaving with a kind of ease Maggie has almost forgotten.
Maggie eventually joins Luis on the dance floor. She admits that she wants to become someone capable of laughing without guilt and living without treating death as the only thing she has left. As the two move closer, Maggie imagines kissing him.
The episode then reveals that she never acted on the impulse. Cohan explained that the scene is less about suddenly putting Maggie into a romance than showing that she is once again capable of experiencing emotions that years of survival have pushed aside.
Her reaction to the imagined kiss brings Glenn directly back into the equation. “It’s like, ‘Do I forget Glenn by moving on?’” Cohan told Entertainment Weekly.
The episode later shows Maggie touching her ring, reinforcing the idea that allowing herself to feel something new does not require erasing the person she lost. Cohan said Maggie has spent roughly 15 years emotionally locked into survival after Glenn’s death. Luis gives her an opportunity to rediscover softer emotions: embarrassment, vulnerability, attraction and simple enjoyment that viewers rarely get to see from her.
Luis Understands Loss, but He Knows Almost Nothing About Glenn
Part of Maggie and Luis’ connection comes from the unresolved losses both characters carry. Luis tells Maggie that his wife, Marisol, left after the outbreak to search for her family and never returned.
Cohan described the characters’ connection in terms of their shared experience of losing their partners, while Castillo told PEOPLE that both Maggie and Luis are guarded and that their closeness develops without either deliberately searching for a relationship.
Castillo also knew that introducing any potential love interest for Maggie would come with unusual expectations because of how important Glenn remains to viewers. “I knew from the get-go that I had huge shoes to fill,” he said.
Castillo said his character knows nothing about Glenn and instead sees Maggie as a mysterious woman he is gradually becoming charmed by. That imbalance gives their connection another complication.
Cohan is also deliberately refusing to define what the imagined kiss means too quickly. The feeling may be specifically about Luis, or he may simply be the person who helps Maggie realize that joy, vulnerability and attraction are still possible for her.
Luis Is Also Becoming Important to Hershel
Luis has already begun forming his own bond with Maggie and Glenn’s son, Hershel. As Hershel develops an interest in medicine, Luis takes him under his wing at the hospital and begins teaching him practical medical skills.
Castillo described Luis as becoming a surrogate father figure for Hershel and said he enjoyed exploring the possibility of Maggie, Hershel and Luis forming a new kind of family unit.
There is also a comic-book comparison waiting in the background. Maggie eventually develops a relationship with Dante in The Walking Dead comics after Glenn’s death, but Castillo said he understands Luis to be an original character rather than a television adaptation of Dante. “I think it’s totally brand new,” he told PEOPLE.
‘Found/Lost’ Marks a Bigger Change for Maggie Than a New Romance
The official AMC episode listing identifies “Found/Lost” as Season 3, Episode 4. The Aug. 16 episode follows Maggie and Luis as they search for valuable resources while Negan and Renata remain behind to protect the city.
The romantic possibility is only one part of what the episode changes for Maggie. Earlier in the season, viewers had already begun seeing cracks in the emotional armor she has carried for years.
Her evolving relationship with Negan, her new friendships and now her time with Luis are increasingly forcing her to consider whether surviving has become different from actually living. Cohan said the season’s approach allows Maggie to explore the possibility that hope does not have to be followed by punishment.