Walking Dead Reveals New Characters, Cast, and Last Season Premiere Date

As the Walking Dead Going into its final season, it has one final chance to adapt characters and storylines from the Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore graphic novel series and let them interact with the already complicated lives of the survivors we’ve been on for nearly 12 years Know canvas. For those familiar with the source material, it means arriving in the Commonwealth. And during the 2021 San Diego Comic-Con panel for the Walking Dead Didn’t reveal too much about how or when The Commonwealth will flow into the final season of the AMC series, it gave comic book readers an idea of ​​what new characters to look forward to on-screen from the side.

Earlier this year, actor Michael James Shaw was cast as Mercer, a chief officer of the Commonwealth. “This experience was a joy,” Shaw said during the panel. “[As an] awkward kid who loved to read comics, it’s just a dream to slip into the shoes of a really great comic book character. ”

During the SDCC brief panel, showrunner Angela Kang also announced three new actors for the final season. Laila Robbins (The young) will play Pamela Milton, another key character from the Commonwealth Arc in the Walking Dead Comics. She is the governor of the Commonwealth and one of the final antagonists in the entire series.

Ritchie Coster (The flight attendant) joins in an as yet unnamed role. His character may be associated with the Commonwealth, but he could also be one of the Reaper – the antagonistic group that followed Maggie at the end of Season 10. Kang teased that the Reaper were “experienced before the apocalypse” and “incredibly brutally organized” warriors, “which is frankly terrifying.

Particularly tempting is the news that Josh Hamilton (Eighth class) will play Commonwealth Administrator Lance Hornsby from the comics. The exclusive SDCC TWD The trailer gave fans a first look at Hamilton in his character through some vintage videos that will be reminiscent of Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) Wonder Woman 1984. Whatever that version of the character’s deal is, it’s already fascinating. But while his vain and smiling nature in the trailer makes it seem like he is ready to be the Walking Deads newest charismatic villain, that’s not necessarily the case. If the character is like in the comics, he’s in a leadership position, but he’s not responsible or something worse than unsympathetic. Resilient, maybe.

Image: AMC

Kang also mentioned that Margot Bingham (She must have it), whose voice we have been hearing as Stephanie speaking to Eugene on the radio for some time, will participate in the series in greater numbers. But Kang, oddly enough, didn’t call her Stephanie – she went out of her way Not say who Bingham is actually playing. This may be just an attempt to protect fans from spoilers, but it’s interesting. Josh McDermitt also talked about how Eugene’s trust in Stephanie could be broken after he took a group out to look for her, and soldiers (presumably from the Commonwealth) separated and imprisoned her at the end of season 10. Any hope of romance between the two characters will not be free of conflict.

Those two characters aren’t the only ones in an “inconvenient place,” according to host Chris Hardwick when we pick up last season. Carol and Daryl had a pretty heated argument and could still clear things up. Yumiko and Princess will be an interesting new dynamic. “Yumiko is very organized,” says Eleanor Matsuura, who plays Miko, “she leads a lot with her head. And princess is all heart. ”In this balance they found a sisterly bond. And of course, the tension between Maggie and Negan is “all season,” according to Lauren Cohan. “If there is a feeling,” she said, “we will probably spend some time with that feeling.”

the Walking Dead goes broke last season, and that means big emotions as well as big bads. Kang ended the panel by not talking about what’s going to happen but how all actors made her feel. How many of them made her cry. How they blinded her, made her laugh, made her gasp or whatever emotion it is when you say “ohhhh shit” – that was reserved for Cohan as Maggie. The fact that interesting new characters are being added to this rich, lived-in cast and fictional world is just the icing on the cake.

The final season of the Walking Dead premieres on August 22nd on AMC and will be streamed early on August 15th on AMC Plus.