The Walking Dead Promotes Seven Stars to Series Regulars for Season 10

The Walking Dead stars Cailey Fleming (Judith Grimes), Cassady McClincy (Lydia), Ryan Hurst (Beta), Lauren Ridloff (Connie), Eleanor Matsuura (Yumiko), Nadia Hilker (Magna) and Cooper Andrews (Jerry) have been promoted to series regulars for Season 10, Skybound reports. Hurst is now named in the animated opening credits sequence, joining Norman Reedus (Daryl), Danai Gurira (Michonne), Melissa McBride (Carol), Christian Serratos (Rosita), Josh McDermitt (Eugene), Seth Gilliam (Father Gabriel), Ross Marquand (Aaron), Khary Payton (King Ezekiel), Samantha Morton (Alpha) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan).

All new series regulars but Andrews, whose axe-swinging Kingdom adviser Jerry first appeared in TWD in Season 7, made their debut in Season 9 under showrunner Angela Kang. In Season 10, picking up months after the snowy Season 9 finale, the survivors are struggling to adjust to a new status quo imposed by Alpha and the Whisperers — walker skin-wearing enemies who have threatened death to anyone who dares cross their borders.

"Obviously, we know that our people have crossed the border before. The border continues to be an issue, and as with borders in our world and in life, what is a border?" Kang previously told EW. "It's something where one group has said, 'Hey, this is the border. Don't cross.' Our people are dealing with, 'Do we live with that? Can we live with that? What does that mean?' When they crossed the border at the end of last season, they discovered that the Whisperers weren't there, or at least they think they're not."

The survivors are now entrenched in what Kang has called a cold war as they confront the fear and paranoia that, if left unchecked, threatens to once again drive the communities apart.

"There are some pretty strange and interesting things that happen around that story having to do with those lines, and whether you can cross them, and what happens when you're caught," Kang said. "And of course, Samantha Morton as Alpha, and Ryan Hurst as Beta — they are so great. We love them as people, and as performers I think they bring so much to those roles. So I'm really, really excited for the audience to see what they're bringing to this season because there's much more to explore with them."

Audiences can expect more Whisperer backstory to be divulged when TWD examines the relationship between Alpha and Beta. The origin of that bond will be revealed as early as episode 10x02, "We Are the End of the World."

The Walking Dead Season 10 premieres Sunday, Oct. 6 at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD Season 10 intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.