Dead City’s Alternate Reality Episode Officially Breaks the Mold for the Franchise

Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3, Episode 6.

In Episode 306 of The Walking Dead: Dead City, entitled “Genesis,” Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) find themselves randomly meeting on the streets of New York City, on a clear but chilly day, without a Walker in sight. The alternate reality episode of the series lets viewers see a different side of the duo without the intertwined but twisted history they’ve had previously. It shows how life could be in non-apocalyptic circumstances and explores whether there are aspects of ourselves that are the same, no matter what the world that we’re living in is.

Collider recently got the opportunity to chat with Cohan about the memorable episode and what it was like to have such a unique experience on the longtime franchise. During the interview, she discussed the exciting opportunity to break the mold, the fun of an alternate reality episode, exploring a different side of Maggie and Negan, how special it was to see Emily Kinney return as Beth, what she hopes fans will take from this episode, and why this was one of her favorite experiences on The Walking Dead.

Lauren Cohan Was Excited To Explore an Alternate Reality in ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Season 3

“Is life better in the apocalypse or in this alternate reality?”

COLLIDER: When you read Episode 6 and learned how everything would play out for Maggie and Negan, how did you react?

LAUREN COHAN: Playing this character for a really long time and then having an opportunity to break the mold in a million ways has been invigorating. I don’t want to say invigorating because I had a great time last season with the dynamic with Hershel that I thought was very real to life. I like when our show echoes real world problems in a different setting. And so, to turn into this whole new territory this year has been really cool because I think we have served that darkness well. (Showrunner) Seth Hoffman came on for Season 3 and he had a handful of these conceptual episode ideas, and this was one that he told Jeff and I really early on that he wanted us to go for. We were very excited because dream sequences or alternate reality is so rare in The Walking Dead to begin with. And then, a relationship that’s as defined as Maggie and Negan’s, you see it very differently this season, but the only way you can see it this differently is if it was literally another dimension or another universe.

Going back to the rigid mind and the rigid life, and the trauma and stress that Maggie has been in for so long, both as an actor and as a gift for Maggie, it’s been incredible to see how many more colors come out when she’s relaxed and how much surprise there is in how you would interact with somebody, let alone that person being someone with whom you have this crazy history. We were really excited to do that episode. We were also excited because it supports the theme and the narrative of the season, not really of second chances, but if you change your point of view or you change just one thing, how different life can be and the different paths that you can take.

For me, it’s been interesting with the dynamic with Maggie and Negan. Just within our normal timeline, I like the fact that Maggie gives this to herself. She’s so much happier because she isn’t holding onto that resentment. It’s obviously hugely complex because it will never be gone or over. But then, in Episode 6, what I thought was really interesting was the idea of, is life better in the apocalypse or in this alternate reality? I see people in our world who actually live more fully. It’s obviously greater extremes, but we wanted to pose that question to the audience because I think it’s a question that’s always maintained for us, during the course of our lives and careers in The Walking Dead. There is something pretty awesome about life this way, albeit it being terrifying. Who are you in the apocalypse? And then, who are you in the real world anymore?

Lauren Cohan Enjoyed Exploring the Maggie and Negan Relationship Without the Threat of Walkers in ‘Dead City’ Season 3

“This is one of my favorite experiences on ‘The Walking Dead’ that I’ve ever had.”

I don’t think I ever would have imagined that we would ever get a Maggie and Negan meet-cute at any point in The Walking Dead. Was it surreal to shoot the scene in the diner, just on a normal day without Walkers, and to share this relationship between these two people in the daytime where they’re having a conversation about their own baggage?

COHAN: Yeah. The first thing that came up for me when we knew that episode was going to happen and then when we were prepping it, not so much once we were shooting it, was that the stakes are so different. I’m here talking about, “Do I sell the farm? Are my husband and I right for each other?” We’re confronting whether to have kids in life. There’s no time for those conversations. It doesn’t make them any less important because it’s all relative. But the stress that Maggie is under, in the beginning of that episode, when Negan says, “Come and have a day with me. Just leave it all,” is very relatable. If you separate real timeline Maggie and Negan from this episode, which we really did because you have to, it was just incredibly fun. On the simplest level, Jeff and I, getting to act with a full range of naturalness was so much fun. This is one of my favorite experiences on The Walking Dead that I’ve ever had, just to have the history with both each other and with the characters, but then let it all go.

What was it like to also revisit and have her spend time with Beth and have Emily Kinney there?

COHAN: I tear up even right now thinking about it because as soon as Seth pitched the idea, I knew he was looking for somebody unexpected and exciting to bring back. As soon as he had the idea for Emily and Beth, it takes almost nothing to feel for that relationship and for her, for me. She was such a unique character in the show. Beth went through depression and struggles, and her death was obviously really dark, but she went out fighting. To bring her back, and to bring her back as a Brooklyn indie singer-songwriter in a bar with all the light and life and hope and creativity and dreams, the first day of shooting was so easy.

We shot the scene at the fountain first, and just watching Emily come around the corner and then having this surreal moment in my mind where I’m Maggie and she’s Beth and we’re in The Walking Dead, it was so moving. It was so incredibly easy just to see her and be with her. The fantasy of bringing people back, because that’s so keystone to the show, and to have second chance and for things not to have gone the way they did and to turn back time, was really amazing. We had such a great time.

Lauren Cohan Hopes ‘The Walking Dead’ Fans Are Moved by the Return of Beth in ‘Dead City’ Season 3

“I hope it helps create a ripple in the real time of the show, for change and healing.”

Image via AMC

What do you hope fans take from this episode?

COHAN: I hope they love seeing Emily. I hope they are moved and they get lost in the alternate reality of it. I hope it helps create a ripple in the real time of the show, for change and healing and a different reality. For me, Negan will always have done what he did, and it will always be really unforgettable and unforgivable. I feel very protective of the fact that forgiving doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt. Having children is the ultimate vote for the future of humanity. Forgiving someone is believing in their possibility to change their potential. They help each other in the episode. It’s the most unlikely alliance in that city in real time, but is it for the betterment of themselves and everyone to actually go through that.

The Walking Dead: Dead City airs on AMC on Sundays.

Release Date

June 15, 2023

Network

AMC

Showrunner

Eli Jorne, Seth Hoffman

Directors

Kevin Dowling, Loren Yaconelli

Writers

Brenna Kouf