The Walking Dead New Season 10B Trailer Teases the Whisperer War

A new trailer for the second half of The Walking Dead Season 10 teases a march towards war. Daryl (Norman Reedus) is seen rallying the militia-style fighting force assembled to ward off the mask-wearing Whisperers commanded by Alpha (Samantha Morton), who threatens to unleash a walker horde upon the vulnerable Alexandria and Hilltop communities. While Michonne (Danai Gurira) is off on a risky mission fetching firepower needed to destroy the Whisperers’ greatest weapon, Daryl, Carol (Melissa McBride), Aaron (Ross Marquand), Kelly (Angel Theory), Connie (Lauren Ridloff), Magna (Nadia Hilker) and Jerry (Cooper Andrews) will first have to survive and escape a trap sprung by Alpha when we next see the cornered heroes in the midseason premiere, “Squeeze.”

For showrunner Angela Kang, ending the first half of the season with a cliffhanger was the right landing point because “we’ve been playing this conflict between the Whisperers and our people, and it wasn’t in the exact same way as ‘All Out War,’” Kang previously told The Hollywood Reporter of the past conflict between the survivors and the now disbanded Saviors.

Alexandria medic Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) was revealed as a Whisperer spy when he murdered jefe Siddiq (Avi Nash) — under orders from Alpha to infiltrate the walled off community — and other secrets were exposed when Whisperer acolyte Gamma (Thora Birch), real name Mary, learned Alpha lied about killing defector daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy), last seen wandering into her mother’s territory alone.

“We found out [the Whisperers] were spying. We found out that there are these border conflicts,” Kang said. “But it felt like by the half-season, we wanted to show that all of the factors are now crashing together. Some of our people have been looking for this herd, which they consider the Whisperers’ nuclear weapon. For Alpha, things are coming to a head on her side, too. What better way than to put our people face to face with the herd in what feels like an impossible situation? That’s when our people have to get clever and figure out what to do next.”

Season 10 Episode 9, “Squeeze,” is inspired by a horror movie and is penned by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who scripted Season 9 episodes “Evolution” and “Chokepoint” as well as horror hits Orphan and The Conjuring 2.

TWD Season 10 returns with new episodes Feb. 23 on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.