The Walking Dead Showrunner Reveals Negan Was "Always" Going to Kill That Victim

It was "always" the plan for Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to infiltrate the Whisperers and murder Alpha (Samantha Morton) in a remixed version of the comic books, says The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang. Few characters on the television show receive a fate matching their comic book counterpart, but for Alpha, who was lured into a trap and murdered by Negan before she could kill daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy), the writers wanted to adhere to the "iconic storyline" from creator Robert Kirkman's comic books with a twist. Alpha's death in "Walk With Us" comes after Negan and Alpha shared an intimate encounter in the midseason 10 premiere, "Squeeze," a departure from the comic.

"We often remix moments from the comics, but I came into the room to break the season feeling very steadfast that we needed to do the Negan [kills] Alpha storyline," Kang told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's such an iconic storyline. But we needed to have our own twist on it, which is why we have Carol."

Another key difference from the comic: it was revealed it was Carol (Melissa McBride) who broke Negan out of jail, setting him loose against Alpha to win her revenge for murdered son Henry (Matt Lintz).

"The emotional aspect of that story is so strong, the idea that they were in it together in this very particular way, but Negan takes his own path toward getting there," Kang said. "But yeah, we were always going to do Negan [killing] Alpha."

Morton's Alpha lasted considerably longer than her comic book counterpart — who never waged war against the survivors at Hilltop as she did in the show, having already died at that point — but Morton, who joined in Season 9, joined The Walking Dead knowing Alpha was a dead woman.

"They explained everything to me that would happen," Morton said. "When you're playing a character like Alpha, it's about supporting the vision of the arc of the show, rather than the individual need of me as an actor who wanted to play Alpha. It would make you sad as an actor who wants to do more with your character, but you're part of a bigger thing in The Walking Dead. The show is bigger than any one character. It's all about the show. It was an amazing feeling to have."

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