After The Walking Dead Season Eight finale brought resolution to the conflict between Rick Grimes at last — though not necessarily in the way some people expected — some eagle-eyed fans think they may have figured out what villains Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and co. might be facing in Season Nine.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead for the eighth season finale and the comic books!
At the end of the episode, Rick ultimately decided to allow the evil Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) live. Whether that truce will remain in place for any extended period of time — and whether it will inspire serious discord within Rick's group — is yet to be seen.
So while the villain (or villains) for Season Nine have yet to be revealed (could it be someone from within?), some TWD comic book fans think they spotted a nod to a major book arc that could be headed to TV: the introduction to the Whisperers.
Who are the Whisperers? In the comics, they're a group of survivors who disguise themselves in zombie skin and live freely within the walkers, never speaking above a whisper so as not to draw attention to themselves.
Before the final battle with Negan, Rick spotted a group of walkers bigger than anything anyone had seen before — a trademark of the Whisperers, who live within these herds of zombies and can weaponize them to their advantage. And elsewhere in the episode, action took place in a field with a fence that looks suspiciously like the fence the Whisperers use to mark their territory (with the heads of human foes spiked on posts).
Showrunner Scott M. Gimple told The Hollywood Reporter that the fence scene was simply a coincidence — "I would be a liar if I said those fence posts were an intentional nod," he said, adding, "It's a location where we even talked about pulling them down" — but he did not deny that the Whisperers could be the next big foe.
He didn't confirm it, either, but still!
The action in the comics jumps forward several years as the Hilltop, the Kingdom, and the Sanctuary learn to live in relative harmony again — or at least in something that looks more like a modern-day society — but will the show? Gimple told THR that the show might not necessarily head to where fans are predicting. But he also didn't say it wouldn't, either.
"As a viewer, I would not expect we're jumping right to that; as a viewer, I wouldn't expect that we're necessarily jumping to anything, but if you're just asking me as a comic book reader ... they were a very unique style of survivors that felt that the world had told them the way, and that they listened," he said. "There was a great deal to do with nature, and even the nature of man as an animal. That sort of hard philosophy they bought so hard into was incredible to see our people come up against."
Gotta love the cryptic talking points! Looks like we'll have to wait until closer to the premiere — or maybe San Diego Comic Con in July — to find out more about where the story will head.
