The Walking Dead showrunner reveals more about Alpha and Beta

The Walking Dead’s Angela Kang talked about the terrifying leaders of The Whisperers in a new interview.

The Walking Dead may not be coming back for about a month but fans are already buzzing about the new villains that the survivors will face in season 9B. Alpha and Beta are the first and second in command of the terrifying Whisperers. The Whisperers are a huge group of survivors who wear masks made from the skin of walkers so that they can move freely among the walkers.

Their disguises make them indistinguishable from walkers until it’s too late and they’re attacking. Alpha, the cunning leader of The Whisperers and Beta, her second in command, are characters that TWD fans have been anxious waiting to see and in a new interview with EW showrunner Angela Kang revealed new information about these horrifying villains.

Alpha is played by distinguished actress Samantha Morton and her performance was called “terrifying” by Andrew Lincoln.  When talking about Samantha Morton’s portrayal of Alpha,Angela Kang said:

"She’s fantastic. I’m so surprised by the things that she does, in a way where I’m like, “That’s so much better than what I imagined this woman could be.” She’s just such an interesting and deep actor. We’ve really loved having her. She’s so nice, too. Could not be a nicer person. The entire cast just loves her. The crew loves her. She’s been absolutely wonderful and such a good presence to have and very serious about what she does, in the best way. She deep-dives, man. She’s awesome."

The Next Phase Of Humanity

In The Whisperer’s philosophy the apocalypse is a chance for society to reset and they think that the cultural values that place an emphasis on the worth of the individual are now obsolete. The pack is what matters.

The Whisperers even give up their names, because they think that names are a remnant of the old world and aren’t necessary except for those in charge. That’s why Alpha and Beta have generic names that are descriptive of their status within the group rather than a reflection of who they are as individuals. And yet Alpha has a daughter, Lydia, that she still care about in her own unique way.

Kang said about Alpha and Beta’s unique world view:

"It’s this amazing idea from the comics and we really delve deep into what that means. It really takes a pretty brutal philosophy to believe that it’s not even worth trying to be something that approximates human in the way that we think of it. I think that really brings them right up against the things that our people are thinking about as they’re trying to rebuild something that’s like a civilization, and just the fact that this group just doesn’t even think any of that is worth preserving. It’s something that’s really dangerous for our people to grapple with."

She also promised that season 9B would take a deep dive into the culture that The Whisperers have built and their theory that the walkers represent a stage of human evolution and their pack like mentality.  As more information and teasers are released about The Whisperers and The Walking Dead season 9B fans are counting down the days until the show returns on February 10th.