The Walking Dead: Will Maggie’s style of leading Hilltop become like Negan’s

Maggie’s dark decision in the final moments of The Walking Dead’s season 9 premiere may not be her last.

Maggie spared no time on Sunday’s The Walking Dead episode to enact a swift justice after finding out that Gregory had encouraged Earl to try to kill her. Prior to Gregory’s public hanging, Rick visited Hilltop to discuss whether the community could provide more help for the Saviors. Maggie took advantage of Rick’s attendance to show him that at Hilltop they will not allow guilty parties to get away with their crimes.

This was meant as a slap in the face to Rick since he was the one who imprisoned Negan and didn’t kill him — a decision that has never sat right with Maggie. Maggie’s message was clear but what was left in the air unresolved was how it would affect Maggie and her relationships with Hilltop and Rick.

Although Maggie has experienced her share of killing in this post-apocalyptic world, her kills have all mostly been walkers. She has never been someone that fit the category of being vicious or worse, a murderer. Granted, Maggie killed Gregory albeit with good reason, but will she have to bear the weight of having taken the life of a man? Some things in this dystopian existence become more comfortable with time but killing for the sake of survival still has its consequences, even if the reasoning behind it is justified.

If Gregory’s death doesn’t effect Maggie, will she become more comfortable with execution and punishment? As the leader of Hilltop, her new responsibilities include being judge and juror. With this call, she has spelled out what Hilltop will and will not tolerate, and we have to consider that Maggie could become comfortable dishing out punishments. This becomes more relevant when you factor in that actress Lauren Cohen will be exiting at the end of the season. If Maggie turns into someone that resembles Negan even in the slightest, she may give up her post as a leader to find herself again (perhaps with a Morgan-like journey).

Then there’s Earl and Tammy Rose who were spared after plotting against Maggie due to their grief over their son. Will they now look at Maggie as a dictator, after killing Gregory for his crime without no true trial? Never mind the fact that Gregory got them both drunk to inspire Earl to carry out the murderous deed — some people can look past the negative. Since the couple is deeply grieving the death of their son, they may not like Maggie any better for killing Gregory. So, we also have to wonder if they will try to rise up against Maggie in the future. We’ve discussed before how these two characters may pose a threat to both Maggie and Rick, based off their storyline from the comics.

Earl and Tammy Rose can very well go into a quiet hibernation period while secretly plotting and recruiting Hilltop members to band against her. But who’s to say that Maggie is done with Tammy Rose and Earl? She may punish them for their willingness to conspire with Gregory, but we would have to find that out in the next episode.

The tension between Rick and Maggie has been hinted at since the end of season 8, and it is in the premiere that we see Maggie take a soft yet sturdy stand against Rick. Rick’s face reflected nothing but disgust after watching Gregory swing from a noose.

Mostly, he was pissed that Maggie ignored Michonne’s warning call and allowed Gregory to be hanged with children as witnesses. There is no doubt in my mind that Rick will not stay silent about Maggie’s unyielding determination and lack of concern and that, of course, will lead to another argument.

Will this be Maggie’s one-and-done leadership conflict or will more come for her, possibly tarnishing her legacy? There’s not much we can predict without seeing what Maggie’s next move is but here’s hoping that her ultimate exit is a decision she makes versus a forced move because she’s sent away as an outcast.

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