Lauren Ridloff cast in The Walking Dead season 9 to play Connie
By Adam Carlson
News of Lauren Ridloff being cast as Connie means that a familiar group of comic book characters could be coming to AMC’s The Walking Dead in season 9.
There were rumors swirling that season 9 would bring several new faces from The Walking Dead comics to the popular AMC zombie survival drama series and a new casting announcement has added more steam to those rumblings.
Entertainment Weekly recently confirmed that Tony-nominated actress Lauren Ridloff will be playing the role of Connie in upcoming episodes, adding even more talent to the already-amazing cast of the apocalyptic program.
Ridloff was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play in the Broadway show Children of a Lesser God and is also known for her role in movies such as Wonderstruck and If You Could Hear My Own Tune.
EW reports that Ridloff has signed on for a multi-episode deal where she will play Connie, a character who is “a seasoned survivor deft at using her senses to read people, situations, and trouble. Her character is deaf and uses American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate.”
Lauren Ridloff is a hearing-impaired actress who was named Miss Deaf America in 2000 who was discovered as an actress when she substituted for a table read when she was working as an American Sign Language interpreter.
As for her character Connie, speculation is that her character will be an adaptation from the popular comic book series.
In the comics, Connie is part of a group including Magna, Yumiko, and Kelly who meet up with Rick’s group but don’t quite see eye-to-eye with what is going on there and struggle with the concept of being a part of their team.
While it hasn’t been confirmed that Ridloff’s character will be this character from comics, it would be surprising to see the show bring in a character by that name at this point who would be a new, unique character by that name to confuse viewers who read the comics.
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You can watch for Lauren Ridloff as Connie when The Walking Dead returns to AMC for season 9. If she is the AMC version of the comic book character, you can expect her to be a sassy and bold addition to the show’s already stellar cast.