‘The Walking Dead’ Drops New Look at the Whisperers’ Alpha

Ahead of next Sunday’s mid-season premiere return, The Walking Dead brings a new peek at its [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

Ahead of next Sunday's mid-season premiere return, The Walking Dead brings a new peek at its soon-to-arrive leading villain: Whisperer leader Alpha (Samantha Morton).

Director-producer and makeup effects artist Greg Nicotero — who compares the new villains to masked murderer Michael Myers of Halloween fame — previously warned Morton wields a "chilling" presence as the cruel and unforgiving commander of the Whisperers, a cult-like enemy group clad in the skinned flesh of the dead.

The sentiment is shared by series newcomer Nadia Hilker, whose Magna was among the group to first encounter a legion of Whisperers in the fog-covered graveyard where Jesus (Tom Payne) was struck down and killed.

"When [Morton] goes into character you just want to leave. You want to run away as fast as you can and as far away as you can," Hilker told Express.

"There's something about her, there's a button. She just becomes a very different person and her energy – you feel like you can't breathe and that's very powerful."

When The Walking Dead returns, the zombie drama will peer into the culture behind its newest threat, which showrunner Angela Kang calls a "scary group."

"We really start delving into and showing what the Whisperers' philosophy is when we get back into the new season and they are unlike any group that we've encountered before, just their philosophy to survival is very specific," Kang told ComicBook.com.

"I'm really excited about the cast we have. Samantha Morton and Ryan Hurst as Alpha and Beta.

"I just think they brought so much energy and intensity already to the process, like in such a great way. And I think we get to tell a bit of a story that is sort of a mystery. I think in many ways they're the most formidable group that we've come across because they have the power of zombies behind them. So that's something that I'm really excited for people to see."

The Walking Dead returns with the back half of Season Nine Sunday, February 10 on AMC.

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