‘The Walking Dead’ Set Up Carol vs. Alpha

The Walking Dead foreshadowed a clash between Carol (Melissa McBride) and Whisperer leader Alpha (Samantha Morton).

In Sunday’s ‘Omega,’ Carol’s adopted son Henry (Matt Lintz) opens up to captured Whisperer Lydia (Cassady McClincy) from behind the bars of his Hilltop jail cell.

“She’s tough. Not somebody you wanna mess with,” Henry warns of Carol after Lydia mistakes Daryl (Norman Reeuds) for one of Henry’s “a—hole” parents.

“My dad was a stupid man. My mom though, she kept me alive, kept me safe. She’s a lot like your mom,” Lydia says. “You don’t mess with her, either.”

Asked on Talking Dead if a Carol versus Alpha battle lies ahead, longtime Walking Dead executive producer Gale Anne Hurd said she’d “certainly love to see one.”

“They are both incredibly resourceful and Carol will do anything for her group, as we’ve seen in the past,” Hurd said before pointing to Carol’s Season Five confrontation with Terminus cannibal Mary (Denise Crosby).

“Remember Mary from Terminus? I think this is a match up that would put that one to shame.”

Carol and Alpha are teed up for a showdown through their children, who are already fostering a romance.

In the comic books, a blossoming relationship between Carl Grimes and Lydia brought parents Rick Grimes and Alpha face-to-face in the pages of The Walking Dead #144.

After Alpha marches on the Hilltop demanding they return Lydia to the Whisperers, leader Maggie agrees to orchestrate the safe return of captured Hilltop members Luke and Dante. Carl then sneaks away after Lydia and is hosted by the Whisperers until Alpha facilitates a meeting with Rick.

Alpha escorts Rick to the top of a building, where she shows him a massive herd of walkers before explaining the Whisperers’ animalistic way of life.

Returned to the Whisperer camp, Carl tells Rick Lydia isn’t safe with her people and he won’t leave without her. Rick is horrified to learn Lydia’s rape is allowed by Alpha, who calls the act “a part of nature far older than that terrifying word.”

A tearful Lydia, having been exposed to true humanity by Carl’s people and the Hilltop, turns on Alpha. The villainess then disowns her daughter, accusing Rick and his people of being “weak” before breaking down.

Through tears, Alpha pulls Rick close and tells him she can’t protect her daughter. Declaring Lydia as weak, Alpha sends her daughter away and tells Rick he’ll recognize a border marking the Whisperers’ territory.

“If you cross onto our land,” she warns, “my horde will cross onto yours.”

When those lines are crossed, the result is a devastating declaration of war.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.