The Walking Dead’s current showrunner, Angela Kang, has revealed an abandoned romantic subplot between Maggie and former Savior turned ally, Alden. In an interview with TV Line, Kang was asked if Alden had been considered for a role as a love interest to Maggie, post-Glenn since her husband was killed by Negan at the start of Season 7.
According to Kang, Alden was initially outlined to step in as Maggie’s new beau after Glenn, adapted from Dante’s character in the comic book source material. As we know, Dante would go on to appear as a spy for the Whisperers hidden within Alexandria.
“He was originally cast as a Dante-like character. Not Dante himself — we obviously used him in a different sort of context, as we do sometimes.” Kang says. Alden’s first appearance dates back to the third episode of Season 8, “Monsters”, as a Savior captured from an outpost and taken back to Hilltop. Despite many of the Saviors escaping captivity later in the season, Alden elected to stay and fight with Maggie, later becoming a trusted ally and second-in-command to Glenn’s widow.
However, fast-forwarding to the beginning of Season 9, Lauren Cohan exited The Walking Dead to work on NBC’s short-lived Whiskey Cavalier. According to Kang, after Cohan had returned from her brief stint away, “the characters had sort of evolved along different tracks than they would have if she’d been there the whole time.”
So there we have it. The seeds of a romance were sown into the story from the start, but ultimately, it never came to pass. In the latter half of Season 9, Alden developed a romance with Hilltopper Enid, who was later killed by Alpha and her Whisperers. It’s a larger shame since Alden was killed off during last week’s mid-season premiere episode to Season 11. For more The Walking Dead content, check out Flickluster’s review for “No Other Way”.
