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The Walking Dead: Who Are the Whisperers?

Let's look beyond Negan and get ready for these sickos!

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Tim Surette

If you've ever watched The Walking Dead before (and really, who hasn't?), then you know that zombies aren't the real problem... people are! Whoa. You probably also know that the show loves to tease the next threat before they become an immediate problem for Rick (Andrew Lincoln); the series did that with the cannibals from Terminus, the Saviors and the Wolves, just to name a few.

That means, based on the timeline of the comics, we can expect the next weirdos who become a pain in the survivors' butts to pop up at some point this season while Rick is still dealing with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Saviors. That new group is ominously known as The Whisperers.

[UPDATE] The Whisperers are coming! At San Diego Comic-Con 2018, AMC and The Walking Dead announced that Oscar-nominee Samantha Morton would take on the role of Alpha, the leader of The Whisperers. It's not known when or how they will appear, but there might have been a glimpse of them in the Season 9 trailer that was also released. This is great news for fans of the comics! [End update.]

It's best to be prepared for the enemy, so here's a briefing on who the Whisperers are and how they fit in this dangerous world.

The Whisperers first appear in Issue 130 of the comics and take survival to a whole new level. Not content to just drench themselves in walker blood to mask themselves like Rick has had to do a few times, the Whisperers actually wear the skin of zombies to really get into it. What's more, they pretty much live a zombie lifestyle, shambling along in their zombie costumes and scavenging among the undead when they're not in their camps.

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They're dubbed the Whisperers because some of Rick's group come back with news that they heard some zombies whispering when in fact it was actually these lunatics talking to each other among other zombies. The leader of the Whisperers is known as Alpha, and there's a good bet that the series will cast someone with a bigger-than-the-screen presence -- and someone who doesn't mind wearing a zombie's face -- for the juicy role, should the Whisperers actually make it to the show.

Of course, being as secretive as it is, The Walking Dead hasn't actually confirmed that the Whisperers will be in Season 8, and it's possible we won't see them until Season 9 as all attention is currently on Negan and All Out War.

The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9/8c on AMC.