The Walking Dead Confirms Whisperer Beta's Secret Identity Was a Celebrity

The Walking Dead confirmed the secret identity of Whisperer Beta (Ryan Hurst) in Sunday's "Walk With Us," following teases the always masked killer was a recognizable singer before the apocalypse. Beta's true face was first revealed in a Season 5 episode of spinoff Fear the Walking Dead — spotted on a vinyl record album showing what appeared to be a bearded Hurst wearing a cowboy hat, indicating Beta was a country singer pre-apocalypse — a profession that seemed to be confirmed by an Easter egg in an earlier episode of The Walking Dead Season 10, "What It Always Is," where Magna (Nadia Hilker) was shown listening to a record performed by Hurst.

In "Walk With Us," Beta has his mask torn during a confrontation with Mary (Thora Birch), the defector Whisperer known as Gamma, who exposes his face to one of Alpha's (Samantha Morton) unnamed underlings.

"It's you," the Whisperer says. "Your voice sounded familiar, but —" Before he can finish the sentence, the Whisperer is cut down by Beta's blade.

The Walking Dead earlier hinted Beta, real name unknown, was a country music singer in the second episode of Season 10, "We Are the End of the World," which revealed the first meeting between Alpha and Beta inside a rehab medical facility. There the masked Beta displayed aggravation over music hummed by Alpha, who recognized Beta's face when she peeked beneath his balaclava.

"I can't say too much," Hurst said on a past episode of Talking Dead. "All I can say at this point is maybe Beta was a large personality in the world before the apocalypse, and that sort of letting go of that might have been tragic to his psyche. I can't say much more than that."

In the comic books, Beta was a famous basketball player who also appeared in a notable line of car commercials. His secret identity was famous enough that he was instantly recognized by Aaron and Jesus after they defeated Beta in battle.

"[The three Walking Dead shows] do share a universe, so where there are opportunities, we want to take them. Even with that album cover [on Fear], it was so funny," executive producer Scott Gimple previously told EW of the Easter egg. "I mean just by virtue of the fact that there was a scene with all these records in it, and we knew this shared aspect, we didn't even want to make that big a deal of it. We just wanted it to exist in there so that people might, deep cut-wise, we were hoping one or two people might notice into the future."

Gimple added the filmmakers "didn't want to make as big a deal" about the "cameo" in the form of an album cover.

"It's just nice, even unto ourselves, between the shows to feel that it's one world," he noted. "That said, unlike reality today, these worlds are so isolated from each other because of a lack of mass communications, mass transportation. In some ways, they are on little islands from each other, so when they can have those crosses, it's kind of wonderful."

New episodes of The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere Sundays on AMC. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.