Lauren is promoted to series regular on The Walking Dead's Season 3

Lauren Cohan is heading into The Walking Dead‘s third season with a most rare gift: job security.

The actress — who recurred throughout the AMC smash’s killer second season as Hershel’s eldest daughter, Maggie — has been elevated to a full-fledged series regular, TVLine has learned exclusively.

While the promotion would seem to indicate that Glenn’s sweetheart will figure prominently in the show’s upcoming third season, it by no means guarantees she’ll make it out of the season alive. Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey DeMunn were both full-timers when their characters, Shane and Dale respectively, were whacked.

The Walking Dead‘s 16-episode third season, slated to premiere this fall, will likely be divided into two part (much the same way Season 2 was). “The idea is we will do eight-and-eight,” exec producer Robert Kirkman recently told TVLine. “Getting eight-and-eight will almost be like doing two seasons a year, which is cool.”

Cohan, meanwhile, is keeping busy during her hiatus. The actress is set to be “resurrected” on The Vampire Diaries on April 19.

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