‘The Walking Dead’: Daryl Targets Beta in 913 Preview

AMC has released the preview for The Walking Dead 913, ‘Chokepoint.’ Per its official synopsis:

Daryl’s daring rescue mission forces Alpha to unleash a group of her own to retrieve what belongs to her, even if the price is paid in blood; the Kingdom’s plans to reunite the communities are put in jeopardy.

Daryl (Norman Reedus), Connie (Lauren Ridloff) and Dog rescued Henry (Matt Lintz) from the Whisperers after the teen’s attempt to retrieve Lydia (Cassady McClincy) resulted in his capture and almost death.

Now Alpha (Samantha Morton) has unleashed a pack of Whisperers to reclaim Lydia at any cost, tasking second-in-command Beta (Ryan Hurst) with hunting down the Hilltop group.

“Obviously, Beta is a fan favorite in the comics and it’s such a weird role, like this guy never takes his mask off. Our excellent casting directors made a list of different people, and Ryan was on that list,” showrunner Angela Kang told EW of the former Sons of Anarchy star.

“And we were like, ‘Wow, we all love Ryan Hurst. He’s such an interesting guy and also so, so nice.’ And I had such a great call and conversation with him about the role, and we were all just excited, and I’m glad that he was able to come and play with us. He even helped put together a costume for it. He’s so creative and it’s been so much fun. Can’t wait for people to see more. He’s such a lovely, lovely person, and just brings so much badassery to the role, so it’s super-cool for us.”

Unlike the other Whisperers, who remove their fleshy masks when not moving among the dead, Beta refuses to be seen without his disguise to the point of killing to protect his identity. And as Alpha’s loyal number two, Beta is ferociously protective of the pack leader.

“It’s really interesting with these Whisperers, they typically don’t have names, really. They kind of point at each other. They don’t refer to each other by their name. There’s Alpha and there’s Beta, and what I think is really cool about that relationship is it’s such a screwed-up dynamic that they have, but at the same time, Beta really respects Alpha and he’s loyal to her,” Kang said.

“And that was a conversation that I had with [Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman], about ‘What are the important things to preserve about this role?’

“And he was like, ‘You know, it’s actually like a lot of times when you are dealing with these male-female dynamics it becomes like this sexual thing, or there’s like these weird things that go into it.’ And he’s like, ‘It’s just like he legitimately thinks she’s a great leader, and he legitimately believes in her, no matter how screwed up their philosophy in life might be.’ They are like a leadership pair made in heaven, or hell or whatever. They belong together. So we will continue to delve into that relationship over time, but it’s been really fun to see those two playing together, because I think Samantha and Ryan just really have an interesting chemistry together as those roles.”

As Daryl schemes to eliminate Beta, the Kingdom must confront its own threat as King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and queen Carol (Melissa McBride) discover a new enemy group whose arrival puts their entire community at risk of collapsing.

The Walking Dead airs ‘Chokepoint’ Sunday, March 10 at 9/8c on AMC.

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