A preview look at The Walking Dead 912, ‘Guardians,’ foreshadows a significant comic book plot twist in which numerous survivors are killed by new enemy group the Whisperers.
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The sneak peek look at Sunday’s episode, above, shows Henry (Matt Lintz) captured by Beta (Ryan Hurst) and presented to leader Alpha (Samantha Morton) during his attempted rescue of Lydia (Cassady McClincy).
Brought to a dark clearing in the woods, Henry is just inches away from decapitated heads — belonging to walkers, punished Whisperers, or both — propped up on branches and makeshift pikes.
Comic book readers will recognize the imagery as major foreshadowing for hefty losses expected to arrive before the end of the season, as hinted by episode synopses warning the survivors will soon have to confront and then somehow move forward in the wake of an “overwhelming loss.”
In the general time frame of the books now being adapted for the television show, the unmasked Whisperers infiltrate a gathering of the survivors and lure members belonging to the Alexandria, Hilltop, and Kingdom communities away from the congregation.
In a splash page ending The Walking Dead #144, Rick Grimes is horrified to stumble across the decapitated and reanimated heads of these one dozen victims impaled on pikes, used by Alpha as a dramatic marking of the Whisperers’ territory.
Jesus (Tom Payne) was the first to be killed for unknowingly crossing into somewhere he did not belong, and Alpha again warned of the Whisperers’ territorial nature when confronting Daryl (Norman Reedus) outside Hilltop.
“Your people crossed into our land. There will be no conflict. Your people killed our people. There will be no conflict,” Alpha said, declaring an intention to overlook past transgressions but threatening “consequences” if Lydia was not returned.
But now a concerned Henry has intruded into the Whisperers’ domain, forcing Daryl and Connie (Lauren Ridloff) to venture into that same dangerous enemy territory to retrieve him — a mission that could prove to yield deadly consequences.
The Walking Dead Season Nine next airs 912, ‘Guardians,’ Sunday, March 3 at 9/8c on AMC.
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