Lauren Cohan: Brutal Scene Made Her Want To Quit ‘The Walking Dead’

Lauren Cohan revealed that one particularly intense scene of AMC’s The Walking Dead made her want to quit the series. If you haven’t seen the show, you should know that the world of The Walking Dead can be a disgusting, savage, and cruel place. In that world, Lauren Cohan plays no-nonsense, tough girl Maggie Greene, a farm girl with a strong personality that has no problem taking care of herself.

Fans of The Walking Dead are no stranger to jaw dropping events and moments that leave them sick to their stomachs. Each season brings more death and even more brutality. But what kind of toll does that take on the cast?

In an episode of Inside the Actors Studio Lauren Cohan sat down with James Lipton to reflect on the experience for actors and actresses from the show who film shocking scenes, which, quite frankly make great entertainment.

Apparently Lauren Cohan got a little emotional when sitting down with James Lipton, telling him during the interview,

“I’m trying to do all of these breathing exercises because when I found out we were going to come on your show, the first thing I promised myself was I wasn’t gonna cry because everybody cries and I already cry so easily so… (crying) oh shoot!”

In this episode, set to air on Bravo on Thursday, February 11, Lipton and Lauren Cohan discuss further.

Lauren Cohan said she read the script and knocked on Steven [Yeun]’s door.

“I have to leave the show. I don’t think I can do it”

Cohan went on to discuss how it affected her so deeply and that’s when she realized that’s why she had to do it.

The scene Lauren Cohan is referring to comes from the Season 3 episode “Killer Within.” In this episode, the heavily pregnant Lori goes into labor while on the run at the prison. Lori’s blood loss forces Maggie’s hand to deliver the baby via a caesarean section.

“Don’t let the world spoil you,” Lori tearfully says to Carl. “You’re the best thing I ever did.”

After the goodbyes, Lauren Cohan’s character Maggie slices Lori’s belly open and scoops the baby out. As baby Judith enters the world, Lori is on the ground lifeless. Carl then takes it upon himself to shoot her corpse, thus guaranteeing she wouldn’t return as a walker and pose a threat to the rest of the group

Here’s the scene from Season 3, Episode 4.

However you choose to look at it, it’s a dark and depressing set of scenes. iDigital Times reported that Lauren Cohan left the set feeling defeated, emotionally drained and ready to quit the show.

Unfortunately for Lauren Cohan, the heavy storylines don’t slow in the near future. Maggie is currently pregnant and the series is introducing a new villain, Negan. It is rumored that Negan might kill someone important in Rick’s crew. So Lauren Cohan could have to deal with the loss of someone close within the group or is she going to be the one axed next?

Call it paranoia, but when Lauren Cohan showed up to an event recently, as reported by Vanity Fair, she sported a shorter do that made fans wonder if this is a sign of a change for the actress’ career.

Over the six seasons of the show, Lauren Cohan isn’t the only cast member to be written into mentally and physically exhausting scenes. According to Undead Walking filming some of these scenes in The Walking Dead can take hours at a time. For example, the scene with Dan of The Claimers and Carl or Enid eating the turtle are both intense from a viewer’s point of view and must be mentally hard on the actors.

You can catch Lauren Cohan and the rest of the cast of The Walking Dead when the show returns for the second half of Season 6 at 9 p.m. on February 14, 2016.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]