“I knew from the get-go that I had huge shoes to fill,” Raúl Castillo tells PEOPLE of playing Maggie’s new love interest in ‘The Walking Dead’ universe
Credit: Robert Clark/AMC
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City.
NEED TO KNOW
- Maggie considers opening herself up to love again on The Walking Dead: Dead City, nearly 10 years after Glenn’s death on the flagship series
- Maggie (Lauren Cohan) daydreams about kissing Luis (Raúl Castillo) in a vulnerable moment after the two open up to one another
- Castillo tells PEOPLE he knows he has “huge shoes to fill” and that fans are “going to feel strongly one way or the other” about a potential Luis and Maggie relationship
Maggie may be opening herself up to the idea of love again in The Walking Dead universe.
The Sunday, Aug. 16 episode of The Walking Dead: Dead City showed Maggie (Lauren Cohan) daydreaming about kissing this season’s newcomer Luis (Raúl Castillo), a doctor she goes on a road trip with in search of medical supplies to bring back to their New York City settlement.
It’s the first time Maggie has thought about anyone in a romantic way since her husband, Glenn (Steven Yeun), was brutally murdered on 2016’s season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead at the hands of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).
While the kiss itself didn’t happen, Maggie did find herself more carefree than she has been in years — smiling, laughing and even dancing hand-in-hand with Luis before letting her guard down for a few moments to tell the doctor that she “forgot what this feels like.”
Credit: Robert Clark/AMC
“We toyed with the idea of Maggie having a new romance, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ Even getting into it and thinking about it felt monumental,” Cohan, 44, tells PEOPLE of the surprise kiss. “It was so lovely.”
In a separate interview, Castillo, 48, says he’s prepared for big reactions from fans in response to Sunday’s episode.
“I knew from the get-go that I had huge shoes to fill,” says Castillo, who shares that he’s been a fan of The Walking Dead since its first season. “Glenn is such an iconic character, and we fell in love with him as an audience. … I know that Maggie hadn’t tapped into that side of herself since Glenn was killed. So I knew that the fans were going to feel strongly one way or the other.”
Credit: Gene Page/AMC
“Luis knows nothing about Glenn,” he continues. “Maggie is a huge mystery to him, and we see in this episode he’s just really charmed by her. In that moment, we see a side of the two of them that I hope the fans will appreciate, but I understand that people are going to feel strongly.”
When asked if he or Cohan has considered any potential ‘ship names for Maggie and Luis—Maguis, perhaps?—Castillo laughs. “We did not,” he says, “But I look forward to any and all of them. I can’t wait.”
Cohan says part of Luis and Maggie’s “connection” lies in their mutual “experience [of] being widowed” and shared grief over losing their significant others.
Early in Sunday’s episode, Luis tells Maggie that his wife, Marisol, heartbreakingly left him shortly after the outbreak to find her family and never returned. It’s unclear whether she’s alive.
“They’re both very guarded,” Castillo says of similarities between Luis and Maggie when they first meet. “It’s a very unintentional coming together of characters.”
One of the ways Maggie is able to let her guard down around Luis is by seeing how easily he bonds with and mentors her and Glenn’s teen son, Hershel (Logan Kim). Luis takes him under his wing at the New York City hospital to learn life-saving techniques as the teen gains an interest in the medical field.
Credit: Robert Clark/AMC
Luis’ presence serves as a positive male role model that Hershel hasn’t had yet on the series.
“I love the way that Luis becomes a sort of surrogate father figure for Hershel,” says Castillo. “I love working with Logan so much and exploring that whole storyline and then forming that trio of that new potential family with Maggie.”
In The Walking Dead comics, Maggie eventually finds another love interest in Dante, a member of the Hilltop community. As far as Castillo knows, Luis isn’t an adaptation or remix of Dante’s character.
“I think it’s totally brand new,” he says. “But I’m sure the writers have been pulling from any and all sources that they have. That’s interesting to know.”
Credit: Robert Clark/AMC
When asked what the future may hold for Luis and Maggie, Castillo says, “I think their relationship continues to be challenged in new ways and really interesting ways. … The writers continue to put Luis and Maggie through it.”
“We’ll see what the future holds in terms of this relationship,” says Cohan. “I like what Seth [Hoffman], our showrunner, has done with this season, in saying you don’t have to be punished for being hopeful.”
The Walking Dead: Dead City airs new episodes Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and AMC+.
Read the full article here
