‘The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira Calls the Whisperers Threat “Psychological Madness”

The Walking Dead evolves again when its newest danger, the Whisperers, emerge to wage psychological war on the separated communities of veteran survivors.

“Right now, there’s a major threat coming along, called the Whisperers. And they’ve already taken out one of our dearest and nearest. And so it’s a whole new enemy,” Michonne star Danai Gurira told host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.

“I mean, these guys function on a whole other level. It’s like a psychological madness, how they figured out how to get through this apocalypse in a way that we don’t know how to address. So they can come at us any old way, because they look like walkers.”

In a behind-the-scenes video previewing the back half of Season Nine, Gurira said the psychology behind the Whisperers is “actually some of the most complex we’ve ever seen on the show.”

“The Whisperers are this really unique adversary in our world,” added showrunner Angela Kang of the villains, who speak in hushed whispers and disguise themselves with walker flesh to move freely among the dead — and catch their still-living prey off guard.

“They’re a group that’s decided, ‘The world belongs to the walkers now so what we’re gonna do is walk with the walkers.’ The way that they look at the world, the way that they approach making their way through the world is pretty terrifying. It’s hardcore.”

Kang previously promised the psychology and philosophy behind the Whisperers will be delved into as the season moves forward, most closely examining leading newcomer villain Alpha (Samantha Morton).

“They’re a scary group,” she told ComicBook.com.

“In [908], we reveal that these are humans. They’re not like evolved walkers. We really start delving into and showing what the Whisperers’ philosophy is when we get back into the new season and they are unlike any group that we’ve encountered before, just their philosophy to survival is very specific.”

Michonne, now raising daughter Judith (Cailey Fleming) and son RJ (Antony Azor) alone following the disappearance and presumed death of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), has since become a stoic leader hardened by a traumatic past event to be revealed in the coming episodes, also set to explore the unfolding mystery behind the drama that resulted in tensions between Michonne and Hilltop.

The Walking Dead Season Nine returns with new episodes Sunday, February 10 on AMC.