The Walking Dead star Samantha Morton, who plays Whisperer leader Alpha, says you “just never know” if the villainess’ story will play out as it did in creator Robert Kirkman’s comic books. Alpha in Season 10 is targeted by a vengeful Carol (Melissa McBride), out to avenge murdered son Henry (Matt Lintz), a vendetta that did not exist in the source material. Because Alexandria fugitive Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is now embedded within the Whisperers, where he swore his supposed allegiance to Alpha, Season 10 seems to be closing in on a comic book plot twist — but Morton warns not to get ahead of the story.
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“Is it coming to an end? That’s what you assume,” Morton told Red Carpet News TV with a smile and a laugh when asked about fears Alpha’s time on The Walking Dead might be ending.
Because the series frequently deviates from the source material — Carol’s ex, King Ezekiel (Khary Payton), survived Alpha’s attack on the Kingdom, unlike his comic book counterpart — you “never know” which direction the story might head.
“This is the thing about AMC and that world, and the comic book world. It’s like, you just don’t know what they have in store, and you don’t know how people’s stories [are going to go],” she said. “‘Cause I just had, [“We Are the End of the World”] was a flashback episode, that I didn’t know was coming up. And I was like, ‘Oh, wow, we get to go back to the past.’ So you just never know.”
In the books — spoilers — Alpha is introduced in issue #132 and survives until issue #156, where she’s murdered by a fugitive Negan. After a troublemaker accomplice breaks the ex-Savior leader out of jail, Negan infiltrates the Whisperers and gets close to Alpha, who lets her guard down in a rare showing of vulnerability.
Negan then decapitates Alpha and gifts her head to Rick Grimes to arrange his release from prison, a deal contingent upon Negan fighting in the front lines of the Whisperer war — a conflict commanded by an enraged Beta, Alpha’s most loyal follower.
Despite Morton’s denial, TV show Negan might still have this kill in the bag — especially if the so far unidentified culprit who released him from jail turns out to be Carol or Daryl (Norman Reedus).
“We’re all so inspired by the comics,” showrunner Angela Kang said during last year’s PaleyFest when explaining comic book changes. “Kirkman is such a master of the page-turner. You read it and it’s like a juicy, juicy, just fun comic book to read. There’s so many wonderful, iconic moments in the comics. Moments you get to and just say, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe he just did that. I have to see this on screen!’ As writers, as with any fans of the comics, we have those same responses. But with the show we have such a different array of characters and such different circumstances that it’s never going to be exactly the comic, nor should it be. It’s a different medium.”
Instead of adapting material page-for-page and word-for-word, Kang explained, “What’s really fun is to go, here’s that amazing moment in the comic and here’s how it made us feel. Now, how do we capture that feeling, even if the way you get to it is not literally the same way that the comic book got to it?”
The Walking Dead Season 10 returns with new episodes Feb. 23 on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.
