The Walking Dead season 9 reaches its mid-season finale this Sunday and star Tom Payne is promising fans that it’ll be the creepiest episode the series has ever served up.
The eighth outing of the run, titled “Evolution,” will see the survivors come up against the mysterious herd of whispering walkers that recently attacked Rosita and Eugene. Our heroes don’t know what to make of these talking dead, but fans should have a strong inkling of who they are.
Of course, they’re the Whisperers, the villains from the comics that readers have been waiting to see make the jump to TV for a while now. They actually aren’t walkers at all, but rather a group of survivors who’ve taken to wearing zombie skins and talking in whispers to avoid detection by the undead. Still, they’re just as dangerous as any zombie with the munchies.
Tom Payne, who plays Paul “Jesus” Rovia on the show, has shared the episode’s promo on his Instagram account this week and teased that the mid-season finale will be something special. “It’s coming,” he wrote in his caption. “The creepiest episode of The Walking Dead you’ve ever seen. What lies ahead? This Sunday you’ll find out. It’s scary, and awesome. It’s scary awesome.”
Exec producer Greg Nicotero has previously promised much the same. In fact, he even went so far as to say that Samantha Morton’s Alpha, the leader of the Whisperers, is the best villain that The Walking Dead has ever had. Fans of Shane, the Governor and Negan might raise an eyebrow at that, but if the Whisperers are as terrifying as the cast and crew are saying – and they sure look to be – then there’s every chance he could be right.
Be sure to catch The Walking Dead 9×08 “Evolution” when it airs on AMC this Sunday, November 25th.