The Walking Dead just backtracked on Alpha's Whisperer origin, leaving uncertainty over which tale is canon. Samantha Morton debuted as Alpha, leader of the Whisperers, in The Walking Dead season 9. Mostly authentic to Robert Kirkman's comic book creation, Morton's creepy performance was widely praised by audiences and critics for effortlessly capturing Alpha's internal battle between monster and mother.
Alpha gets killed by Negan in The Walking Dead season 10, but Tales of the Walking Dead brings Samantha Morton back to the apocalypse for "Dee" - an episode title referencing Alpha's true name. Set sometime after Alpha killed her husband, but before she became a Whisperer, Tales of the Walking Dead episode 3 shows Dee and a younger Lydia (once again played by Scarlett Blum) cohabiting with a very-obviously-doomed paddle boat community. When this group inevitably falls, only Alpha and Lydia escape.
This is where Tales of the Walking Dead abruptly drifts from canon waters. The final moments of "Dee" reveal how Alpha met the Whisperers and tease what the group was like before she took over. These new details fit existing The Walking Dead canon about as well as Lydia's shoes would fit Beta.
The Walking Dead Already Revealed Some Of Alpha's Backstory
The Walking Dead season 10's "We Are The End Of The World" features a string of flashbacks set 7 years before the main timeline. Alpha and Lydia were traveling alone, clearly surviving by the... err, skin of their teeth. Having already figured out how to move silently within a zombie horde, the mother and daughter took refuge in a hospital where they met the man who'd later become known as Beta. After a tense introduction, Beta became reliant on his new friend. Tearing the face off a loved one's zombified corpse, Beta left with Alpha and Lydia.
Though the details are vague, The Walking Dead's "We Are The End Of The World" very heavily implies this is how the Whisperers started. By the time she met Beta, Alpha had already developed her nihilistic philosophy and become comfortable moving among the dead, even telling her new companion, "Walk with me, and you'll never be alone again." The Walking Dead overtly hints that Beta was Alpha's first follower, and they formed the Whisperers based around dark beliefs she already held.
"Dee" Ending Explained - Alpha DIDN'T Start The Whisperers
As evidenced by Alpha's hairstyle and references to Lydia's father dying not long prior, Tales of the Walking Dead episode 3 must take place before The Walking Dead season 10's Beta hospital flashback. Upon escaping the paddle boat, Alpha and Lydia encounter a group of proto-Whisperers in a forest clearing. Led by the mysterious Hera, these early Whisperers are already wearing the skin masks, making creepy noises, and hiding among the trees - all extremely familiar traits of the Whisperers from The Walking Dead seasons 9 and 10. Alpha and Lydia are taken in by these mysterious ghouls, and it's subsequently revealed that Alpha challenged Hera, took her place as leader, and wore her face as a mask.
"Dee" doesn't correlate with "We Are The End Of The World" at all. If Alpha and Lydia were already Whisperers when they met Beta in hospital, why were they traveling alone and seeking shelter... without masks? Tales of the Walking Dead also retcons The Walking Dead season 9's "Omega," which showed Alpha in the zombie apocalypse's early days preaching a nihilistic worldview and killing anyone who might drag her down, husband included. Her attitude here perfectly mirrored the Whisperers' philosophy, which implied the villainous group was Alpha's creation. Instead, Tales of the Walking Dead claims Alpha randomly bumps into an existing group who feel exactly the same way she does...
When Alpha met Beta, she first referred to him as "Big Man," then "Mr. Big," then "B." When he asked what that would make her, she replied "A." This conversation is clearly the origin of how Alpha and Beta got their names, and drops a big clue that Alpha was the first Whisperer leader.
Can Tales Of The Walking Dead Episode 3 Be Canon?
The Walking Dead fans must perform continuity gymnastics to make "Dee" fit Alpha's existing backstory. Maybe Hera sent Alpha on a mission to recruit new members, and everything in season 10's Beta flashback was an act designed to sway him to their cause. In the same vein, Alpha might've been ejected from the Whisperers for a time, then returned with Beta to assume control. Needless to say, this isn't how The Walking Dead's "We Are The End Of The World" was originally written, but it's the only way both episodes can exist within the same canon. Another possibility is that Alpha is The Walking Dead's version of DC's Joker - an unreliable narrator with an ever-changing backstory, which was actually implied by Lydia's false memories in season 9's "Omega."
A simpler explanation might be to simply stop considering Tales of the Walking Dead canon. "Dee" is the spinoff's only episode directly connected to the main series, and it blatantly contradicts established lore. After the time loop antics of episode 2, Tales of the Walking Dead feels more like a "what if...?" anthology than an extension of The Walking Dead's prime universe.