We’re about three and a half weeks out from the return of The Walking Dead for the second half of its ninth season. And when it does make a comeback, fans should be ready for the chilling new threat that the survivors will be facing. Daryl, Michonne and the rest may have fended off the likes of Negan and the Governor in the past, but they haven’t encountered anything like the Whisperers before – a creepy community who’ve taken to wearing walker skin masks to blend into the hordes of the undead.

Properly introduced in the midseason finale, “Evolution,” the Whisperers’ intentions were made clear to be hostile when one of them killed Jesus while pretending to be a typical walker. We haven’t met her yet, but the leader of these sinister folks is Alpha, as played by Fantastic Beasts‘ Samantha Morton. We’ve got a glimpse of her in previous promos,...