Is Walking Dead Season 7 Introducing Another Big Villain from the Comics?

Unlike HBO’sGame of Thrones, AMC’sThe Walking Deadwill seemingly never have to worry about the TV series potentially catching up toRobert Kirkman’s comic books. Last week, the 156th issue of the comic was released, and the Season 6 finale essentially caught the show up to the 102nd issue, just after the iconicNegan(Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was introduced. While no official plot details or footage for Season 7 have been released yet, there have been plenty of rumors about certain characters that will be introduced this fall, and now we can add another name to the list, which may be quite surprising for regular readers of the comics. There will be spoilers for both Season 6 ofThe Walking Deadand the most recent comic below, so read on at your own risk.

Shortly after Negan’s introduction in the comics, where he kills Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) with his barbed-wire baseball bat dubbed Lucille, we meet a character namedEzekiel, the leader of a group known as The Kingdom. While this character hasn’t been cast yet, as far as we know, there have been plenty of rumors that we could see Ezekiel very soon in Season 7, but during an interview withComicBook.com, series starNorman Reedusoffered a cryptic hint that another villain, Alpha, leader of The Whisperers, may surface this season. Here’s what he had to say.

“There’s different worlds now. There’s different characters. There’s a change of power on the show. Negan coming in has flipped our whole script so to speak. We are no longer theAlpharight now. It’s a new world. It’s a new, dangerous world in a different way now.”

Of course, it could just be coincidence thatNorman Reedusspecifically used the word Alpha in this interview, but the timing is quite interesting, since last week’s aforementioned comic book issue ofThe Walking Deadfeatured Negan killing Alpha. If Alpha does surface this season, it would be quite early, since this character doesn’t surface until the 132nd issue ofRobert Kirkman’s comic book series. Her group, The Whisperers, are quite unique, using the skin of “walkers” both to disguise themselves from humans, and repel attacks from the real walkers. We’ve seen Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his crew use zombie guts spread over their clothing to get through a horde of walkers without being harmed, but The Whisperers takes that tactic to a whole new level.

While Alpha’s introduction may be far too early, the show has often diverged from the source material. For instance,Laurie Holden’s character Andrea is still alive in the comics, but she was killed off at the end of Season 3. In Season 6, Dr. Denise Cloyd (Merrit Wever) was killed off in a scene where, in the comics, Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz) is murdered. Of course, the biggest change could come in the Season 7 premiere, when we learn if Negan killsGlenn Rheeas he does in the comics, or if he killed a different person. With the show’s cast and producers arriving at Comic-Con next week, we’ll find out much more about this season then, so stay tuned.