The Walking Dead casts long-awaited character Lydia

The Walking Dead season 9 is getting closer and now it’s official that another highly anticipated comic character has been cast for the show.

The Walking Dead already confirmed that The Whisperers are coming to The Walking Dead world in season 9. They were seen at the very end of The Walking Dead season 9 trailer and it was confirmed that Samantha Morton would be playing the iconic leader of The Whisperers, Alpha.

Now another highly anticipated Whisperer character has officially been cast as well. According to Hollywood Reporter Alpha’s daughter Lydia will be played by Cassady McClincy. In the comic Carl and Lydia become close and eventually have a romantic relationship. With Carl now deceased it looks like Carl’s storyline that involves Lydia and The Whisperers will be taken over by The Kingdom’s Henry. Many fans were looking forward to seeing Carl’s comic storylines both with Negan and The Whisperers brought to the TV show but now that Carl is dead it will be interesting to see how new showrunner Angela Kang adapts those storylines to fit the remaining TV show characters.

Cassady McClincy is no stranger to the darker side of TV having previously been in Ozark and Castle Rock. But even with some experience in genre TV she might find it challenging to play Lydia, whose life as the daughter of The Whisperers leader is pretty bleak. But then again, life for everyone is pretty bleak in the apocalypse. No word yet on who will be playing Beta, Alpha’s second in command and another key character for The Whisperers.

Many New Characters And Expanded Storylines

In many ways Carl’s death last season on The Walking Dead brought the original story to a close. With a new showrunner came many new characters like Magna and her group, and now The Whisperers. There will also be expanded roles for some existing characters whose storylines have languished over the past couple seasons while All Out War consumed the communities. It’s going to be sad to see some storylines, like Rick’s and possibly Maggie’s, comes to a close. But it also will be exciting to see the world of The Walking Dead expand to include new characters, new villains, and new communities.

And with the remixing of storylines and characters there is sure to be a few surprises and expanded roles for some of the most beloved characters on the show like Daryl, Rosita, Carol, and possibly even Negan. Thankfully it won’t be a long wait to find out because The Walking Dead returns in just a couple of months.