NEW YORK, June 22 (UPI) -- Lauren Cohan says she thinks Maggie's strained relationship with her teen son Hershel (Logan Kim) in Season 2 of the zombie-apocalypse drama, The Walking Dead: Dead City, resonates with viewers because it is such a common parent-child dynamic.
"That part of the story-line has been really complex and real and sad, and we get to unpack all of this, but mostly because he is a teenage boy and it is his responsibility to NOT do what's best for himself," Cohan told reporters during a recent New York Comic Con press conference.
"No," she laughed. "It just comes with the territory that there's going to be a push and pull between he and I, and I think that's what makes the season really relatable for me. We've all been teenagers, and we've all known that nothing our parents say or do, can ever be right, and the rub for Maggie is that the influences that aren't her -- she's not a perfect parent either -- but the influences that aren't her are particularly dire."
The Walking Dead spin-off, Dead City, shows Maggie teaming up with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), her husband's baseball-bat-wielding murderer, for an unlikely mission in New York to rescue Hershel from the clutches of the Croat (Zelijko Ivanek), a power-hungry mad man who just happens to idolize Negan and to whom Hershel has become devoted.
"The people that he came in contact with in Season 1 are going to have a lot of influence on him," Cohan said about Hersehel.
"You always want to protect your child from danger and the danger here is maybe a little more potent than [what real kids encounter] -- or not, because the dangers of social media and the dangers of mental illness for children are potent. So, I like the fact that we do this on the scale of the apocalypse, but it's issues that are close to the heart."
Playing resourceful and loyal community leader Maggie for two seasons on Dead City and 10 seasons on the flagship series, The Walking Dead, has taught the actress the importance of perseverance and leaving one's comfort zone.
"You could rest on your laurels or not look for a challenge within yourself as a performer or as a teammate," Cohan said.
"I do find myself to be very different from [Maggie] in many ways and I'm always looking for ways that I'm similar," she added. "Knowing the best way to swing a hammer [is one]. One of the things that we, in this world, have more of a luxury to do is self-reflection and there will be more of that in our show and, so, I guess it's just art informing life, informing art."
This season, Cohan also made her directorial debut by helming Episode 6, "Bridge Partners Are Hard to Come By These Days."
"Lauren has been working towards this for years," executive producer Scott M. Gimple said.
"She shadowed on The Walking Dead," he recalled. "Lauren is incredibly hard-working. Actors often make incredible directors and Lauren had all the ingredients. I'll tell you what surprised me. it is really cool to be a director. It is really brutal, especially in television and the amount that Lauren loved it, loved it top to bottom, loved every part of it [surprised me]."
Cohan agreed that she enjoyed every aspect of the fast-paced experience.
The hardest part, she admitted, was directing action scenes in which she also performed.
"The easiest part was that, if you do the prep and you get ready ahead of time, you're on set and you're just having the best freaking time," Cohan said.
"It was honestly like a dream. We understood what we were doing. We have a short-hand," Cohan said, indicating Morgan and Gimple. "It was so much fun."
"It's a terrific episode," Gimple emphasized.
"First-time directors generally don't turn in cuts like Lauren did," he added. "This was a great cut, but it just came from all the work and the years and years and years she's been doing this [franchise]. She just had a head start."
Season 2 wrapped up Sunday on AMC and AMC+.
