What Happens to Beta in The Walking Dead Comics?

The Walking Dead is getting closer and closer to fully revealing the identity of Ryan Hurst's Beta character, the second in command to Alpha among the villainous group. The identity of the character has been teased throughout his time on the post-apocalyptic show, with a reference to him appearing on Fear the Walking Dead. Late in Fear the Walking Dead's fourth season, a record cover seemed to feature Hurst as a country music singer. This will be a big change from Beta''s origins in Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comics but it falls in line with his overall theme -- as his ultimate fate also approaches.

Spoilers for The Walking Dead comics follow. Major spoilers!

In the comics, Beta was first introduced in issue #154. His identity was concealed until his final appearance. As it turned out, Beta had been a professional basketball player prior to the fall of the world when the zombie virus began to spread (the cause of which was recently revealed by Kirkman). Beta was quite a good basketball player, by the way. His athleticism earned him enough notoriety that when his mask came off, people were able to recognize him from pre-apocalyptic experiences having watched him play.

In that same issue where his identity beneath the mask was revealed, Beta was killed off. It was issue #173, a book which came beyond the conclusion of the Whisperer War, when Beta stumbled upon Aaron and Jesus in the woods at night. Aaron and Jesus had formed a romantic relationship and Beta thought he was going to be able to kill them but Aaron shoots him in the chest while he is fighting Jesus. Although it was the last time Beta was seen, it is likely the character became a walker because Jesus and Aaron did not damage his brain.

The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang promised that there is "more to come" from Beta as the show goes on. However, it seems unlikely that the character will suffer the same fate as his rivalry with Daryl will more likely have a payoff and Jesus is no longer on the series.

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The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm ET on AMC.