The Walking Dead Sneak Peek Explains How Whisperer Spy Infiltrated Alexandria

The opening minutes from The Walking Dead’s Season 10 midseason finale, “The World Before,” [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

The opening minutes from The Walking Dead's Season 10 midseason finale, "The World Before," reveal how Whisperer Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) infiltrated Alexandria under orders from leader Alpha (Samantha Morton). In the final minutes of the penultimate episode of the first half of the season, Dante murdered his jefe, the community's chief doctor Siddiq (Avi Nash), choking him to death after Siddiq realized Dante was a Whisperer. Not only was the masked Dante present the night of the Whisperer slayings — where Alpha took the heads of Kingdom prince Henry (Matt Lintz) and Enid (Katelyn Nacon) and Tara (Alanna Masterson) of the Hilltop — it was Dante who forced Siddiq to watch the murders, leaving him suffering from insurmountable PTSD.

In the clip, we learn through flashback Dante is a newly inducted member of the Whisperers when Alpha tasks him with acting as her eyes and ears inside Alexandria's walls. "You're the kind of man they'll trust," Alpha tells him. "Practical. Loyal. Smart."

We also learn the newcomer is unknown to Alpha's daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy), who is believed dead by the majority of the Whisperers, making him a prime candidate for the Whisperer mole.

A flashback shows Dante, posing as a straggler, be rescued by a smaller group of survivors who are then welcomed into Alexandria. There Dante meets Siddiq, and we see Dante secretly communicate with his clan through messages left in the woods.

"Make them think you're home," Alpha hisses, "but never forget your real one. Push quietly… against their weaknesses until they crumble."

Dante sabotages Alexandria's water filtration system — exposing the Alexandrians to unsafe water, the cause of the illness spreading throughout the community — and he suffocates Siddiq's elderly patient Cheryl (Rebecca Koon).

"Do all of this, and we will welcome you home when they fall," Alpha tells Dante. "You'll have a special place among us."

When explaining the reasoning behind the Whisperer spy, showrunner Angela Kang noted the reveal originated when the writers zeroed in on the idea to introduce comic book character Dante.

"We just talked about the fact that a lot of times sociopaths can be very high functioning individuals that hide in plain sight because they're accomplished. And so, we were like, 'Well, people just tend to trust doctors. They just do. And it's something they need, and it connects to Siddiq,'" Kang told EW. "And we were wanting to introduce Dante as a character, and we just decided to meld them together and see if we could play a story where like, 'Here's this person who, on the one hand, is incredibly charming and could be a friend and he legitimately actually likes Siddiq, but he's also got a deeper agenda.' So, that's how the genesis of the melding of Dante and this spy character came about."

As shown in the preview for the midseason finale, Dante will be exposed and subsequently interrogated by Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) for his betrayal. "The World Before" premieres Sunday, Nov. 24 at 9/8c on AMC.

For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.

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