SPOILER ALERT: Read on only if you have already watched Sundays Guardians episode ofThe Walking Dead.
Note to self: Do not challenge Alpha.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We finally meet Alphas No.
Gene Page/AMC
2, Beta, played by Ryan Hurst.
Our excellent casting directors made a list of different people, and Ryan was on that list.
And we were like, Wow, we all love Ryan Hurst.
Gene Page/AMC
Hes such an interesting guy and also so, so nice.
He even helped put together a costume for it.
Hes so creative and its been so much fun.
Gene Page/AMC
Cant wait for people to see more.
Tell us about this character of Beta.
They kind of point at each other.
They dont refer to each other by their name.
They are like a leadership pair made in heaven, or hell or whatever.
Lets talk about the whole challenge, where that guy challenges Alphas leadership.
A big part of the philosophy of the Whisperers is they have this survival-of-the-fittest thing.
They take a really animalistic approach to the way that their group works.
And so you might challenge the Alpha, as animals sometimes do when theres an Alpha animal of attack.
Instead, she does this whole manipulation.She knows the two of them are in it together.
She emasculates him before she kills him.
Its such a crazy thing she does, and I think Samantha does an amazing job playing those beats.
And just the way that she gets real close to him before she stabs him and all that.
But yeah, its definitely like, Behold all my people.
So it was really fun to see that all play out.
She talks about protecting what you love.
Even abusive parents can love their children, or think they do, and justify all kinds of things.
You think its this moment of love, and instead its so dark.
And I thought that that was interesting for this character.
When she hesitates, Alpha says Beta will kill them both if she doesnt.
So lets play another round of my favorite game,Walking DeadWhat If.
Lets say Daryl and Connie dont come to the rescue: What does Lydia do with that knife?
Does she kill Henry to save herself?I think she doesnt.
Maybe thats what would have happened.
I dont think Lydia could have brought herself to do it.
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But then after her talk with Negan, she changes her mind and allows them to make the decision.
And then when Judith confronts her with some truth as well.
Judith is like, Well hedidget out, and that didnt happen.
Michonne says Negan is a monster and only came back because he couldnt hack it out there.
Judith says hes not like that anymore.
Whats the truth, Angela?Thats part of what well be exploring going forward.
Can people redeem themselves after doing horrible things?
Were playing a prison story with him.
With Negan, a lot of things are complicated.
And I cant remember the exact genesis of the idea, but it came out of a writers room.
And they just thought that that was such a funny idea.
And then its like the line items that people added to this chart, its so funny.
And he assigns points to things that are pluses or minuses.
Its like, diapers gets negative points, but getting to spend time with Rosita gets plus points!
So its all these silly details that I think are really fun.
Josh McDermitt always does a great job with all the Eugene stuff.
And I think he went at so very seriously in the scene, which was really fun.
In the comics, Rositas actually having an affair with Siddiq while shes with Eugene.
How do you deal with this?
Okay, Daryl and Connie save the day, grab Henry and take off from the Whisperers.
Everybody did a great job with the episode, so I hope fans like it as much I do.
