Thora Birch is the Whisperer Gamma in new images from The Walking Dead season 10. The comic book may have come to a shocking end earlier this year, but the AMC series The Walking Dead continues to shamble on, and will head into its tenth season this fall. Season 9 was of course a year of huge changes for the show, as both Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan departed (though Cohan could return after the cancellation of her ABC series Whiskey Cavalier, and Lincoln's character Rick Grimes will come back in a movie distributed to theaters by Universal Pictures).
Season 9 of course also marked the arrival of comic book fan favorite villains The Whisperers, headed up by their crazily hardcore leader Alpha (Samantha Morton). After The Whisperers dispatched several long time characters in season 9, including Tara (Alanna Masterson), Enid (Katelyn Nacon) and Henry (Matt Lintz), season 10 is set to feature all-out war between The Whisperers and the communities, and no doubt there will be tragic consequences as the two factions break out their weapons and head into battle. Joining the fray for The Whisperers in season 10 is a new character named Gamma, played by Thora Birch, who was briefly teased in the season 10 trailer that dropped during this weekend's San Diego Comic-Con.
Now, AMC has offered up another look at Thora Birch's Gamma with a pair of new season 10 images (via TVLine). One image shows Gamma in her Whisperers skin mask while the other affords a look at Birch's character unmasked (but still very grimy). See the images in the space below:
Birch's Gamma is described as a sentry for The Whisperers who has become an acolyte of Alpha and who believes thoroughly in The Whisperers' twisted and in many ways sub-human way of life. Her name Gamma suggests that she's third-in-command of The Whisperers behind Alpha and Beta (Ryan Hurst), and interestingly, she's not based directly on any comic book character (in the comics there's only a Whisperer named "Whisperer 6" who eventually leads the group after Alpha and Beta both die). With Alpha's daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy) now fighting for the other side after her tragically ill-fated relationship with Henry, it seems Gamma may become a kind of surrogate daughter for Alpha, which could be bad news for Gamma as Alpha didn't exactly treat Lydia with motherly kindness.
As always, The Walking Dead will go into the season with a handful of new characters, as the show continues to turn over cast members in hopes of keeping things fresh. Birch is an intriguing new addition for sure, and her character sounds like she could become involved in some intense scenes with Samantha Morton's Alpha. It will be interesting to see how Gamma's story, and the whole Whisperers war, play out in season 10.
The Walking Dead season 10 is set to debut on AMC on October 6th, 2019.
Source: TVLine