‘The Walking Dead’ Whisperers Teaser Reveals Best Look Yet at Alpha and Beta

The Whisperers are taking over as the villains of The Walking Dead when the AMC series returns next month, and the newest teaser for the upcoming installment features the best look yet at these horrifying antagonists. In particular, the new footage shows off the leaders of the organization, Alpha and Beta.

The teaser, which you can watch in the video above, features nothing but footage of either The Whisperers, or The Whisperers watching the other characters on the show. In the final seconds however, we’re treated to some great shots of Samantha Morton‘s Alpha, and her right hand man, Beta, played by Sons of Anarchy star Ryan Hurst.

If you’re not familiar, The Whisperers are a group of nomadic people who reverted to the ways of previous civilizations when the world collapsed. They’re much more primal in nature than the characters who have been featured on The Walking Dead to this point. In order to be more one with the world around them, and effectively move from one place to another, The Whisperers wear the skin of the dead as masks and suits, allowing themselves to blend in to herds. Their whispers are used to lead groups of walkers in whichever way they choose, making them even more dangerous.

Alpha is the leader of course, but Beta is perhaps the most dangerous of the two. In the comics, Alpha is a terrifying ruler, but there is some semblance of order in how she does things. Beta is a lot more reactionary, and he doesn’t exactly have any lines or boundaries. He’s capable of doing anything at any time.

Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang recently opened up about the role of The Whisperers in the back half of Season 9, and just how these two characters will affect the lives of the survivors.

“Well, the second half of season 9, we really dive deeper into the story of the Whisperers,” Kang said. “At the end of the first half, obviously, we get this reveal that these zombies are not evolving, that they are some sort of strange human threat. We’ll get to know more about this group and their brutal survival of the fittest philosophy and how that really plays out in horrifying ways.

“We will get to meet the amazing Samantha Morton as Alpha and Ryan Hurst as Beta, as our heroes are really grappling with how to deal with a threat that’s unlike anything they’ve ever faced with people with such a different philosophy. They’re also just trying to figure out how they need to interact with each other in this world as they face more and more problems and challenges related to both this new threat and some of the other obstacles that they face in this world. We’ll continue to see the effects that nature has on our people, as things start to break down and they deal with the problems that come up as a result of these things.”

The Walking Dead returns to AMC with new episodes on February 10th.