A trailer for the upcoming ninth season of AMC's The Walking Dead was recently unveiled at the San Diego Comic-Con and can now be seen below. Judging by this trailer, it looks like the new season is going to be dealing with some interesting subjects, like the survivor communities struggling to live in peace with each other after participating in an "all-out war", a continuing banter between community leader Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and the now-imprisoned villain Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and how to make it in a world that's crumbling, where things like gasoline and electricity are running out.
And this trailer doesn't even reveal the very important character Samantha Morton is going to be playing.
In the comic book source material, the war against Negan was followed by the arrival of a new group of villainous characters, the Whisperers, who wear the skin of zombies so they can blend in with the walking dead. The end of the trailer teases that group – and a casting announcement has let us know that Morton will be playing the leader of the Whisperers, a character called Alpha.
Alpha is
a ruthless woman who is bald beneath her zombie mask, charged with presiding over the rest of her people. … Alpha's interactions with characters outside her group are notable. She's very quickly at odds with Rick Grimes, with the two leaders fully opposed to each other's way of life. Indeed, Alpha makes the full extent of her threat level known in a grand gesture to Rick that involves the deaths of several members of his society.
Morton will be a series regular in season 9. Her fellow new additions to the show include Brett Butler, Nadia Hilker, John Finn, Rhys Coiro, Dan Fogler, Zach McGowen, Angel Theory, Lauren Ridloff, and Eleanor Matsuura, who will be playing the roles of Tammy, Magna, Earl, Jed, Luke, Justin, Kelly, Connie, and Yumiko, respectively.
It has not been announced who will be playing Alpha's second in command Beta or her daughter Lydia. In the comics, Lydia was a love interest for Rick's son Carl… Obviously that's not going to happen on the show.
The Walking Dead returns to AMC airwaves on October 7th.