First look: Thora Birch joins The Walking Dead as a Whisperer

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

A familiar face will be joining The Walking Dead for the tenth season of the AMC series, but she's going to be keeping that face hidden beneath a mask of rotting zombie flesh for some of her scenes.

Thora Birch is best known for work she did throughout her childhood and teens, like HOCUS POCUS, PATRIOT GAMES, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, NOW AND THEN, AMERICAN BEAUTY, and GHOST WORLD. (The lesser known PURPLE PEOPLE EATER, released in 1988, was a childhood favorite of mine.) Now she'll be introduced to The Walking Dead viewers as Gamma, who is described as being a "fiercely loyal lieutenant" to Samantha Morton's character Alpha, leader of the Whisperers, a group that survives the zombie apocalypse by disguising themselves as zombies. Producer Gale Anne Hurd says Gamma is "a committed believer in the Whisperer way of life".

So expect to see her spending a lot of time hanging out with Alpha and Beta (Ryan Hurst).

In addition to announcing the casting of Birch and releasing a couple images of the actress in character, AMC has also provided a synopsis for The Walking Dead season 10: 

The Walking Dead is a story that started 10 years ago with one man trying to find his family. That family grew and gradually communities took shape. They fought and survived, thrived and gave birth to a new generation. It is a tale of humankind and there are more stories to tell.

It is now Spring, a few months after the end of Season 9, when our group of survivors dared to cross into Whisperer territory during the harsh winter. The collected communities are still dealing with the after effects of Alpha’s horrific display of power, reluctantly respecting the new borderlines being imposed on them, all while organizing themselves into a militia-style fighting force, preparing for a battle that may be unavoidable.

But the Whisperers are a threat unlike any they have ever faced. Backed by a massive horde of the dead it is seemingly a fight they cannot win. The question of what to do and the fear it breeds will infect the communities and give rise to paranoia, propaganda, secret agendas, and infighting that will test them as individuals and as a society.

The very idea of whether civilization can survive in a world filled with the dead hangs in the balance.

Birch joins a cast that includes Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Callan McAuliffe, Avi Nash, Eleanor Matsurra, Cooper Andrews, Nadia Hilker, Cassady McClincy, Cailey Fleming, and Danai Gurira. Gurira will be leaving the show this season.

Kevin Carroll of The Leftovers will also be appearing in the new season of The Walking Dead as Virgil, a "really intelligent, very resourceful" survivor.

The Walking Dead season 10 is set to begin airing on AMC on October 6th.