The Walking Dead Gets One of Its “Funniest” Episodes Yet When Negan Meets Beta

After The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang confirmed comic book rivals Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Whisperer Beta (Ryan Hurst) will meet in Season 10, Hurst says the upcoming installment is “one of the funniest episodes of Walking Dead that you’ve ever seen.” It remains to be seen exactly when Negan and Beta will cross paths — and if it events will play out the way they did in the comic books — but with Negan itching to prove himself to Alexandria in the fight against the Whisperers, an encounter with Alpha (Samantha Morton) and her cult of skin-wearing acolytes can’t be far behind.

“Beta and Negan, they couldn’t be more diametrically opposite than anything. It’s this stone-faced immovable person and then you have his mouthpiece who just will not shut up,” Hurst told Insider. “The first episode that you see Beta and Negan together is one of the funniest episodes of Walking Dead that you’ve ever seen. It’s still very bloody, still very Walking Dead, but there’s more levity in that episode than in any that I’ve ever seen of the show.”

In the comics, Negan first meets Beta when he spends time among the Whisperers as part of an effort to prove himself to Alexandria leader Rick Grimes. For Hurst, his scenes with longtime friend Morgan fulfill their shared desire to work together on The Walking Dead.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. We’ve shot a bunch. Some of it’s still left to be shot. But, you know, I love the show too. I’ve been looking forward to this,” Hurst said. “Jeff and I have been great friends for a long time. So the fact that we get to share the screen together is an enormous joy.”

Hurst also confirmed we’ll see more of Beta’s rivalry with Daryl (Norman Reedus), after the two first squared up in a fight that ended with Beta tossed down an elevator shaft in Season 9. “I think it’s fair to say that that’ll happen,” Hurst said of Beta vs. Daryl round two.

Reedus was first to hint TWD Season 10 will hashtag “Unleash the Negan” when he said Daryl’s group of survivors, including Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Carol (Melissa McBride), might need Negan in the fight against Alpha and the Whisperers.

“I like what Jeffrey’s doing with the character this year. It’s a completely different character than we’ve seen before,” Reedus said at San Diego Comic-Con in July. “I think there’s a mutual understanding between those two characters. I think they might need each other at some point. It’s such a weird world, ’cause some of the bad guys are the good guys, and the good guys are the bad guys, and everybody thinks they’re doing the right thing. I mean, we’ve all killed people. We’ve all done crazy things, so maybe there will be a time where we need him.”

New episodes of The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.