The Walking Dead’s Maggie actress breaks silence on ‘bittersweet’ show axe and confirms role in extended season 10

THE Walking Dead's Lauren Cohan has addressed the long-running AMC drama coming to an end.

The actress, who plays Maggie Rhee on the zombie series, took an extended break to front comedy series Whisky Cavalier, only for the show to get cancelled after one series.

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Fortunately she was welcomed back to The Walking Dead and is set to return when season 10 resumes, hot on the heels of news the season will be extended by six episodes.

AMC revealed that the beloved show would end with a supersized 24-episode eleventh series, to be aired over the span of the next two years - with 12 released in 2021, and the rest in 2022.

Cohan admitted she had mixed feelings over the 'bittersweet' end of the main series, which will be succeeded by a range of spin-off shows.

"We have two calendar years' worth of stuff to shoot, so it's still going to be on television for a significant period, but I feel two ways about it," she explained during an interview on Live with Kelly and Ryan.

"I kind of got excited when we first announced [it was ending], just because fans and everybody who's watched all this time and been part of our invested family is… We're so lucky we've been going so long and it's so exciting to say, 'Okay, let's all key in for this final season and watch it together', and it makes me appreciate it," she went on.

"And then, people are so hungry for our whole universe still that it's exciting because there will be spin-off possibilities."

In the meantime though, Cohan confirmed that she would be working hard on the remainder of season 10.

"I'm in Georgia now getting ready to shoot - which is now going to be part of the still season 10," she added.

"We're doing this big chunk of episodes, and then next year we come back and do 24 more."

Earlier this month AMC confirmed that the saga will continue in the form of two new shows.

One focuses on the characters Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride), both long-serving characters beloved by fans.

The second, Tales of the Walking Dead, is an anthology series that the network said may or may not shed new light on the backstories of familiar characters.

This is on top of the likes of Fear The Walking Dead and the upcoming The Walking Dead: World Beyond.

The news comes after the trailer for the season 10 finale hinted at a prominent character's death.

The Walking Dead's season 10 finale will air as a special episode on Monday, October 5 on FOX in the UK and previous episodes are available to stream on NOW TV.

In the US, the season 10 finale will air on Sunday, October 4 at 9pm on AMC.

Fear the Walking Dead will return later this year on AMC in the US and on AMC UK in the UK.