'The Walking Dead' Renewed for Season 11 — with Lauren Cohan Set to Return!

The Walking Dead will rise again!

The AMC zombie drama has been renewed for a season 11, executive producers Scott M. Gimple and Angela Kang announced at New York Comic-Con on Saturday.

Even more, returning next season as a series regular will be Lauren Cohan, who plays the fan-favorite character, Maggie Greene.

Cohan’s return came as a surprise at the show’s annual NYCC panel as she joined the producers and cast on stage wearing a mask, before revealing the exciting news to the audience.

The crowd erupted in applause as this will be Cohan’s first time back on the show since season 6. (She left the franchise to headline ABC’s Whiskey Cavalier, which was canceled in May.)

The announcement of the show’s renewal comes one day before The Walking Dead‘s season 10 premiere on Sunday.

Showrunner Kang shared with the Comic-Con crowd how the new season will start, and what fans can expect to see from the Whisperers in the upcoming episodes, Entertainment Weekly reported.

“I’m really excited for people to see what the Whisperers are up to,” Kang said on stage. “It’s such a strange and interesting set of villains.”

“The Walking Dead burst out of the gate ten years ago as a genre show that had all the character depth of a top-tier prestige drama,” Sarah Barnett, President of AMC Networks Entertainment Group & AMC Studios, said in a statement.

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“And now ten years later — led by the brilliant Angela Kang and fueled by one of the most consistently talented casts in television — this phenomenon is flourishing creatively, with critics and audiences embracing its reset,” the statement added. “We’re delighted to welcome back Lauren Cohan, she has meant so much to this show and its passionate, global fanbase, who are in for a fantastic ride over the coming months.”

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.