The Walking Dead‘s recent midseason finale introduced a chilling new threat for the survivors to face when the show returns next month. The herd of walkers that seemed to be more evolved than normal zombies were revealed to be the Whisperers, psychotic humans who’ve taken to disguising themselves as the undead so that they can both survive undetected amongst the walkers and also surprise and kill other people, like poor Jesus.
To build the hype for these creepy new villains, AMC’s released a quick teaser for the second half of season 9 which features a new look at the Whisperers. The 30-second long promo opens with four walkers stumbling through the woods. One falls back, though, and slowly turns towards the camera, and behind the moldy skin can be seen a pair of human eyes. Yup, this guy’s a Whisperer.
A similarly-themed teaser for season 9B that hit the web a few weeks back focused on Alpha, the leader of the Whisperers set to be played by Samantha Morton. Without showing her real face, it followed the unhinged woman as she donned her gruesome zombie-skin mask.
If that’s already got you creeped out, then you’d better prepare yourself for the proper arrival of the character. Producer Greg Nicotero’s promised that Morton’s genuinely terrifying in the role and has even said that she could be the greatest villain that The Walking Dead‘s ever had.
Showrunner Angela Kang has also revealed that the writing team have tried to capture much of what made the original comic book storyline that featured the Whisperers so engaging as they adapted it to the screen. We know that the Whisperers effectively have the walkers on their side as well, as they’re able to manipulate the herds from within.
Without a doubt, that’ll prove to be very problematic for our heroes, and we’ll get to see just how the gang deals with their latest threat when The Walking Dead returns to AMC on February 10th.
