Along with the arrival of the Whisperers in Season 9 of The Walking Dead came their strange leader, Alpha (Samantha Morton). Insisting on living among the dead, she had harsh rules that her group must follow at all times. When researching the role, Morton has now revealed that she watched documentaries about cults in order to really understand Alpha.
SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses AMC’s The Walking Dead . Please proceed with caution if you have not yet viewed all available episodes and wish to avoid spoilers.
When Alpha speaks, her group listens. They follow her rules implicitly or suffer the consequences. This was shown in Season 9 of The Walking Dead when one of her group gave up her own baby after it started crying and attracting walkers. Upon Alpha’s instructions, the woman gave up her infant in order to remain in the Whisperers. Ultimately, the baby was rescued by Connie (Lauren Ridloff) and raised by the communities. However, it comes as no surprise that since that moment, many viewers have likened the Whisperers to a cult.
According to The Hollywood Reporter , prior to taking the part, Morton watched documentaries on cults in order to better understand Alpha and her control over the members of the Whisperers.
“I watched documentaries on cults before taking this part,” Morton said.
In addition to using these documentaries to further shape how her character controls the Whisperers, she also watched them in order to develop how Alpha would react to the loss of her daughter, Lydia (Cassady McClincy).
Previously in The Walking Dead , Lydia has left the Whisperers to live with the other communities of which Alpha is opposed. Alpha has since described Lydia’s defection as her daughter being dead to her and Morton likens it to when parents lose their children to cults.
“People who lose their children to religious cults will understand that it’s not just that you lose them physically. You’ve lost their minds. That’s more frightening to Alpha than the physicality.”
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , with Lydia and Alpha now on opposing sides, there is the potential there for the pair to come up against each other at some point in Season 10 of The Walking Dead . In fact, some fans suspect that to have the two meet up once more could mean a fight to the death. However, viewers will have to tune in to further episodes of The Walking Dead to find out if this theory comes true or not.
Season 10 of The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, October 20, with Episode 3, titled “Ghosts.”
