The Walking Dead will see Norman Reedus get a piece of the Whisperers as his Daryl Dixon character comes face to face with Alpha.
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Alpha is primed for an introduction in the Mid-Season Nine premiere of AMC‘s zombie drama. Soon after, she will feel the wrath of Daryl Dixon according to Reedus. “There’s a lot of Daryl and Alpha stuff coming up,” Reedus tells EW. “They’re coming from two different places. She’s coming from a place of she’s got it figured out.”
Like all new faces on The Walking Dead which oppose the main group of survivors, the differences between them will quickly put them at odds. “She’s figured out how to survive,” Reedus said. “The way that she’s figured out how to survive is smart, but it’s also so dark. Daryl sort of is put in the middle of this. He’s trying to figure it out, but when push comes to shove, Daryl’s like, ‘Let me go meet this girl.’”
Daryl, however, has often felt himself the outcast of groups through his life which might help him understand the new enemies better than those around him and vice versa. “It gets to a point where there’s a mutual respect between them in some weird way,” Reedus said. “I know you saw from the clips that were put out of future scenes coming up where Lydia’s saying to Daryl, ‘You’re not like these people. You live outside of these walls. You’re a wild animal. You get it more than anyone.’ I think Alpha kind of sees that in Daryl, and Daryl sees that in Alpha. As the story progresses, you’ll get to know that there is a mutual respect between those two characters.”
While no one is more excited for Samantha Morton to step into the role of Alpha than showrunner Angela Kang, Reedus is already singing the actress’ praises. “I gotta say, working with Samantha, she’s so good,” Reedus said. It’s no surprise, considering she is already scaring cast members on set. “She’s so fun,” Reedus said. “She’s coming at it like Axl Rose. She’s squirming in his face, belting out the loudest noise. It’s great. She was fun. Everybody has their own way of being a bad guy. Jeffrey’s is to be confident and smile. The Governor was to be really serious. Samantha, she’s kind of having fun being puffed up. She’s kind of enjoying the mental of being Alpha. She’s getting into it, and she comes at you like a snake with a smile on her face.””
Alpha is not to be underestimated like some villains before her. “A lot of the characters on our show would be affected by that sort of showmanship,” Reedus said. “Daryl’s like, ‘What the f— do you want? The whole snaky f—ing creepy-face-looking thing, I’ve seen it all at this point. What do you want? I’m just cutting to the f—ing chase. You’re not freaking me out. What the f— do you want?’ I think that is kind of breaking the ice with Alpha where she ends up like, ‘Okay, this guy’s the real deal. You can’t intimidate him.’”
The Walking Dead returns for the back half of its ninth season on February 10, 2019 at 9 pm ET. Fear the Walking Dead will return for its fifth season in 2019. For complete coverage and insider info all year long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter and watch ComicBook.com’s After The Dead each Sunday night following new episodes.
