‘The Walking Dead’ Stars Excited for the Whisperers

Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are excited infamous comic book bad guys the Whisperers are headed to The Walking Dead season 9.

“[It’s] exciting. I was excited it was in the trailer, because we didn’t know it was going to be revealed [at Comic-Con],” Cohan told ET during San Diego Comic-Con. “And we know everybody’s been losing their mind, because people have been waiting for a long time — not for a long time, but knowing from the comics they’re coming.”

“The Whisperers are badass, we’re excited. That’s a formidable foe,” added Morgan, whose jailed Negan went on to clash with the villains in the comic books.

“They’re definitely, I think, more screwed up than Negan. Negan’s a bit of a mess, but these guys take it to a whole ‘nother level, the Whisperers, so I think it’s kind of exciting.”

The comic book foes were confirmed by the Comic-Con trailer when they were spotted pursuing Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt), who cover themselves in mud as a makeshift disguise to hide from a pack of walkers, who can be heard hissing, “Where are they?”

In the books, the Whisperers were introduced similarly with two as-of-yet introduced characters: the talking walkers are revealed to be the Whisperers, a large group of the still-living who use walkers’ fleshy outsides as an extreme form of camouflage to move freely among the undead.

Comic-Con brought word Samantha Morton (Minority Report, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) will play their leader, Alpha, a vicious bald-headed woman who emerges as the next big human threat after Negan’s defeat and capture.

“Well, listen, we’re super proud of the trailer. I watched it as we were cutting it together numerous times, and we really wanted to come out of the gate this year showing you guys that the show has been reinvented,” executive producer and director Greg Nicotero told press during Comic-Con.

“We get to see Washington, D.C. and that great shot of Rick on horseback riding through and bashing the head in of a walker. So, with the new characters that we saw in the trailer and just that little tease [of the Whisperers] at the end, for me personally, I think it’s one of the most exciting times that has been on the show in a long time because we have this new threat. It was really well-introduced in the comic book and it was something really exciting. Knowing that we did that little bit of a tease, I love that that’s where the show is headed. It’s just different. It’s something we’ve never done before.”

The Walking Dead returns with its season 9 premiere Sunday, October 7 on AMC.