Walkers Will Pose a Different Kind of Threat in ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9

Comic book bad guys the Whisperers are headed to The Walking Dead Season Nine, and with them come new ways to utilize walkers — the reanimated undead who have long posed a threat to apocalypse survivors, but have since taken a back seat to their more dangerous and still-living counterparts.

"What I was so taken by in the comic — because that was being written as I was working on the show and I was reading it in real time and going 'oh my god, what's happening?' — is the sense of unfolding discovery and mystery there, and the sense that walkers can be... a different kind of threat than we've had before, and they can be used in ways that we've never seen," showrunner Angela Kang told IGN.

"It's a story that has a lot of really strange and interesting layers. That's one of the things that's been most exciting to write this season."

Season Nine looks to adapt both Volume 22: A New Beginning — which saw Rick Grimes and a newly-united network of communities in a state of peacetime and rebirth following their defeat of Negan and the Saviors — and Volume 23: Whispers Into Screams, where the newest pack of villains emerged, threatening the newfound civilization sculpted by the survivors.

Kang said previously the television series will remix the famed comic book storyline, as it has so many times before, both because of limitations brought on by the show — characters who played big roles in the comic book story, like Carl Grimes, have since died on the show — and to keep that story fresh and exciting for readers already familiar with creator Robert Kirkman's comic books.

"We'll go into a really great storyline that people are anticipating, called the Whisperers," she said on Talking Dead. "If you're a fan of the comic you know exactly what that means, although the way we do it may not be exactly the way it goes in the comic — we always remix things — and if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's better to learn as you go along," she said on Talking Dead.

While walkers have been weaponized before, the Whisperers up the ante by posing as the undead — skinning walkers and using their flesh as camouflage, both to move freely among the roaming dead and to catch potential prey off guard.

The cult-like Whisperers prove to be the survivors' most vicious and formidable foes yet, who will act as the biggest outside threat to the hopeful future being carefully curated by Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Alexandria co-leader Michonne (Danai Gurira) and other community leaders including the Kingdom's King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and Hilltop's Maggie (Lauren Cohan).

The Walking Dead filled out its cast over the summer, adding Samantha Morton (Minority Report) as cold and unforgiving pack leader Alpha, Ryan Hurst (Sons of Anarchy) as her always-disguised and oversized number two Beta, and Cassady McClincy (Castle Rock) as Alpha's daughter, Lydia, who in the comics forged a relationship with Carl.

The newest season of The Walking Dead launches Sunday, October 7 on AMC.