The Walking Dead: Alpha and Negan’s “Formidable Twosome” Flips the Show on Its Ass

Move over, Beta (Ryan Hurst): the pairing of Whisperer Alpha (Samantha Morton) and the newly inducted Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) means this "formidable twosome" is flipping The Walking Dead "on its ass," according to Morgan. A fugitive Negan entered into Whisperer territory in 10x05, "What It Always Is," before winning Alpha's approval in 10x06, "Bonds." To the surprise of Beta, who left Negan to die by walkers, Negan returned with a pledge made to an impressed Alpha: "I'm all in. Whatever you want, whatever I got, it's yours." We'll find out how true that is when Alpha sniffs out a traitor within her camp as the flipped Gamma (Thora Birch) provides Alpha's enemies with inside information.

"This year has been a lot about playing off of paranoia and what side are people on, and I think Negan and Alpha together are a formidable twosome," Morgan said on Talking Dead following TWD's Season 10 midseason finale. "It's bad news for our heroes. And what it means for the show is we're gonna flip it on its ass."

It remains to be seen if the Alpha-Negan pairing will play out as it did in creator Robert Kirkman's comic books, but showrunner Angela Kang previously remarked the story will escalate "very, very fast" when the conflict between the survivors and the Whisperers comes to a head in the back half of the season.

"We've trapped a bunch of people in a cave full of walkers, so we have to tell that story. So, that's definitely going to be a big part of when we pick back up," Kang told EW. "Obviously, we have Negan embedded with the Whisperers, so we'll continue to kind of tell the story that's involved there. And then, not necessarily specific to the episode back, but just as a whole, at this point now some lines have been crossed, right? The border has been crossed by both sides. There have been these acts of war and so things are now escalating very, very fast. And we kind of get to the big conflict between the Whisperers and our people."

Alpha sent Whisperer spy Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) to infiltrate Alexandria and sabotage it from the inside, but the Alexandrians now have their own insider: Gamma is feeding the Alexandrians information that could prove pivotal in the rescue of the trapped Aaron (Ross Marquand), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Carol (Melissa McBride) and Hilltop group Connie (Lauren Ridloff), Kelly (Angel Theory), Jerry (Cooper Andrews) and Magna (Nadia Hilker).

Also in the mix is Alpha's currently missing daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy), who was last seen crossing the Whisperer border following a betrayal from Carol. Could she run into Negan, who previously saved her from a vicious attack that ultimately resulted in Negan's escape from jail?

Answers will come after The Walking Dead returns with its midseason premiere Sunday, Feb. 23 at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.