The last few episodes of the first half of The Walking Dead season 9 introduced the Whisperers, which at first appeared to be evolved walkers that had learned to speak and hunt more efficiently. However, the final moments of the mid-season finale revealed the truth, which is that the Whisperers are actually humans who’ve taken to wearing walker skins to blend into the zombie hordes. Their true intentions are not yet known, but it’s clear that they mean to cause our heroes, and their way of life, harm.
As you may have heard, season 9B will give the Whisperers a leader in the shape of Alpha, as played by Fantastic Beasts star Samantha Morton. And before the show returns in February and we get to see her in action, this short teaser gives us a flavor of what we can expect from TWD‘s latest villain. The creepy promo shows Alpha putting on her walker mask, hiding her real face before revealing the hideous skin she wears.
We’ve heard lots of good things about Alpha so far. Producer/director Greg Nicotero, in particular, is really hyping her up, teasing that Morton gives a “chilling” performance as the Whisperer which even creeped out the crew during the shoot. What’s more, he also went so far as to say that Alpha could be the series’ greatest ever villain. That seems a tall order, what with the likes of Shane, the Governor and Negan coming before her, but the bold claim’s definitely got us excited to see what the actress brings to The Walking Dead.
It’s also worth mentioning that this new promo follows on from the first look image of Alpha that was released earlier in the week. The design of the character hues closely to the comics but, knowing the show, there are bound to be a few major twists on the source material to keep things fresh. For instance, Jesus’ death in the mid-season finale.
Be sure to catch The Walking Dead season 9 when it returns to AMC on February 10th.