The Walking Dead Star Joins New Hulu Show as Series Regular

Ryan Hurst, who starred in Sons of Anarchy and Bates Motel before joining The Walking Dead as Whisperer Beta in the ninth and tenth seasons of the zombie drama, is among the stars joining Hulu’s adaptation of author Trenton Lee Stewart’s The Mysterious Benedict Society as a series regular (via Variety). Hurst joins previously announced cast member Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Veep) alongside newly added stars Kristen Schaal (Bob’s Burgers, The Last Man on Earth), MaameYaa Boafo (Iron Fist, Bluff City Law), Gia Sandhu (Kim’s Convenience, Heartland), Emmy DeOliveira (Teachers, Flaked), Seth Carr (Black Panther, Bosch), and Marta Timofeeva and Mystic Inscho.

Hurst will play Milligan, a very tall and always-disguised secret agent whose memories have been erased. Interestingly, Milligan’s memories were “swept” away through the use of a device called The Whisperer. The Mysterious Benedict Society follows four children who respond to a peculiar advertisement seeking gifted children for “special opportunities,” who are put through a series of mind-bending tests before going undercover inside L.I.V.E., or the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened.

The Mysterious Benedict Society is adapted for television by screenwriting partners Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (R.I.P.D., Destroyer), who serve as executive producers. Serving as showrunners and executive producers are creative duo Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer (Smallville, Shadowhunters). Sonar Entertainment, behind Amazon Original Hunters and AMC’s The Son, developed the project under Disney-owned producers 20th Century Fox Television (Hulu’s Devs).

Hurst will first appear in The Walking Dead Season 10 finale originally scheduled to air April 12. The Greg Nicotero-directed season finale was indefinitely postponed by AMC when the coronavirus pandemic prevented work from being completed on the episode, which sees Beta unleash a horde of zombies on his trapped enemies, including Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Daryl (Norman Reedus), and other apocalypse survivors.

“Okay, we know that Beta is maybe not in the best shape, and he’s hell-bent on revenge. His Alpha is dead and he’s still wearing half her face. I think that our people and Beta and the Whisperers, they’re all on a collision course and it’s finally all going to come to an epic head,” The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang told ComicBook.com when previewing the season finale, described as a “big, action-packed adventure.”

After joining in Season 9 of The Walking Dead, Hurst was among the seven stars elevated to series regular ahead of Season 10 in October 2019.

The Walking Dead next airs the Season 10 finale, “A Certain Doom,” as a special episode later this year. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.