We’ve already had a peek at our first image from the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead, together with a synopsis that teases the horrors that the remaining survivors will face in the back half of season 9. It seems their primary foe will be the mysterious, dangerous and honestly pretty damn gross Whisperers, who’ve proven their deadliness by dispatching Jesus in the midseason finale. We’ve also heard that British actor Samantha Morton was set to be playing their leader – known as Alpha – and now, we’ve got our first look at her.
You’d be forgiven for assuming that the character was some kind of intelligent variant of a walker, but that’s exactly what she wants you to think! You see, the Whisperers are a group of survivors who’ve come to the conclusion that the apocalypse is a commandment for humanity to revert to a feral and animalistic state. To achieve this, the group hunts, skins and wears walker pelts – meaning they’re able to disguise themselves amongst a pack of walkers and strike when their prey least suspects it.
It’s easy to see why they’re so successful if this image is anything to go by, with Morton almost unrecognizable under the mask she’s fashioned out of some poor walker’s face. See for yourself below:
Originally seen in the comics, the Whisperers seem like a great way to shake things up for the show. Nine seasons in, we’ve seen the characters become acclimatized to walkers, treating them more as an obstacle rather than as something to be terrified of. Introducing the Whisperers seems like a neat way of amping up the threat level again, not to mention that they’re a neat parable for mankind losing its morality as society crumbles.
The second half of The Walking Dead season 9 begins airing on AMC at 9pm ET on February 10th, and I’d imagine Samantha Morton’s Alpha will be playing a big part in it.
