The Walking Dead Star Shares Gruesome Behind-the-Scenes Photo of Whisperer Murders Aftermath

The Walking Dead star Matt Mangum, who played ex-Savior DJ, shared a behind-the-scenes look at DJ’s decapitated corpse after returning for episode 10×07, “Open Your Eyes.” There Mangum briefly reprised his role in a flashback set during the events of Season 9 episode “The Calm Before,” where Siddiq (Avi Nash) was forced by Whisperer spy Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) to watch Alpha (Samantha Morton) execute nearly a dozen victims by decapitation, including Enid (Katelyn Nacon), Tara (Alanna Masterson) and Henry (Matt Lintz). DJ and Highwaymen Ozzy (Angus Sampson) and Alek (Jason Kirkpatrick) were slain after they were overpowered during a rescue attempt, and their decapitated heads were displayed on spikes marking a newly erected Whisperer border.

The gruesome prop, which shows DJ’s headless corpse and a pool of blood, was shared by Mangum on his Instagram story.

“You know, there were so many conversations about it, because it’s really hard to decide who dies, and any time there is death on the show, sometimes it’s just story-related, sometimes, as with Andy [Lincoln], it’s because there’s a personal factor,” showrunner Angela Kang previously told EW when explaining how the writers’ room determined the lineup of Whisperer victims. “There are contractual things. There are all kinds of things that go on. In this case, we love all of our actors. Some of the people who are on those pikes, we knew from the time we cast them that they were gonna be on the pikes. We specifically cast Brett Butler as Tammy knowing that she would wind up in that array. And we told her that at the time we cast her.”

Alpha’s “act of terrorism” also claimed the lives of the Sanctuary’s Frankie (Elyse Nicole DuFour) and the Hilltop’s Tammy Rose (Butler), Rodney (Joe Ando Hirsh) and Addy (Kelley Mack).

“There are other characters that have been with us for a while,” Kang said. “And it felt like, for the various characters who were on there, for example, Tara, as the leader of Hilltop, who Alpha really has a beef with, there’s some sort of sense and a feeling of retribution specifically with that death. And then there are people that almost feel random. And then you learn that there are people that just wound up in harm’s way by virtue of trying to be heroic, like DJ and those Highwaymen.”

The Walking Dead airs its Season 10 midseason finale, “The World Before,” Sunday, Nov. 24 at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.