This past Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead season 10 threw a major spanner into the works. Following the Whisperers’ attack on Hilltop, which brought a couple of tragic casualties, there was an unexpected turn in the tide of the war as Negan succeeded in killing Alpha. The former Savior has been gaining the Whisperer leader’s trust over the past few weeks, but it all turned out to be a ploy to bring her down.
Negan managed to lead her into the woods under false pretences, before slitting her throat and cutting off her head as a trophy. Comic book fans were thrilled to see the famous moment from the source material play out on screen, with showrunner Angela Kang revealing it was always the plan to kill Alpha off this way. And though fans are happy that the evil villain’s reign of terror is over, actress Samantha Morton is still mourning Alpha’s loss.
While speaking to EW, Morton opened up about how emotional it was to exit the AMC series, as she had grown close to the cast and crew during her two-season stretch on the drama. In fact, a kind gesture on set led her to “burst into tears.”
“Honestly, I burst into tears because they made these t-shirts that said Save Alpha. The whole crew were wearing these Save Alpha t-shirts that they made. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to miss you guys.’ They’re used to that on the show, I’m not. They’re used to it because they’re always having people come and go.”
The British star went on to speak about how much she’s enjoyed living and working in Atlanta and getting to play an American character. Morton added that she’s very pleased with her tenure as Alpha on TWD, commenting that she had a great time working with her co-stars on the series.
“Really happy because I think we hit a home run. We just achieved such amazing stuff. Jeffrey Dean Morgan — the work we did together blew my mind,” she said. “Melissa and I, some of the work that we had to do in the series and everybody — Cassidy [McClincy], and Ryan [Hurst], and Norman [Reedus] — and I just love everybody so much. Even actors I didn’t get to do anything with, you just become family. I just was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to miss you all so much.’ It was the best job ever.”
Morton also explained that she counts two episodes as her particular favorites – season 9×10 “Omega”, where she introduced herself to the survivors for the first time, and season 10×02 “We Are the End of the World,” which explored Alpha’s backstory via flashback.
See how the Whisperer threat escalates without Alpha to guide them as The Walking Dead continues Sundays on AMC.