THE DEAD TIMES
DEAD ARE COMING...
The huge surprise of The Walking Dead movie
As any serious The Walking Dead fan knows, a series of three movies based on the hit TV show are on there way and, as you would expect from a website dedicated to everything living dead, I have been following the eerie goings on for some time, even writing a lengthy article about what I want to see from the first outing. It's more picking up the pieces at this point, than "following" as we know only a little - perhaps, in realisation of the TV show's dwindling popularity, no one really cares anymore about Rick Grimes and his adventures in a world ruled by the undead. However, from watching season 10 (and every season before that, I might add, religiously, never missing an episode), plus the spin-off show, Fear the Walking Dead, I have noticed various clues that can be pieced together to form a disturbingly exciting whole - a story of epic proportion and surprise that stands the best chance ever of regaining the shows amazing initial legendary status. Buckle up, the theory crafting is about to begin!
From here on in, this article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead TV show - seasons 9 and 10 especially.
In essence, I think the first movie will focus heavily, not only Rick Grimes as we know but, on The Whisperers - yes, the bunch of humans that go around in Zombie ("Walker") skin facemasks in order to fool the walking dead into 'believing' they are fellow deadheads. There are a few reasons I think this, I'll tackle each in turn; by the end, I think you'll agree, there are far too many coincidences to ignore.
The End of Everything
After it is revealed, in season 10, that Lydia does not want to re-join her mother as part of The Whisperers, Alpha (Lydia's mother) is understandably quite upset, vowing to kill the remaining "good guy" survivors at Hilltop and Alexandria. She leads the Whisperers forward with a surprising new chant "We are the end of everything".
If you happened to read my previous Walking Dead article, all about what I want to see in the first Walking Dead movie, I noted that the three connected circles symbol on the side of a helicopter in Fear the Walking Dead appeared, faintly, in the text of the movie's logo - very strongly suggesting a link between the two. Well, guess what the title of that episode was: 'The End of Everything' - eerily similar to that chant of The Whisperers. Further to that, the helicopter pilot in that episode says that humanity will be saved, they are working on a way for humanity to live through this apocalyptic Zombie infestation but it is not in the way the survivors hope for. To me, this screams of The Whisperers; they walk with the dead, they are the humans that will survive the apocalypse simply by making the Zombies - the Walkers - 'think' they are one of them and not potential prey, they are the way humanity lives on and it is absolutely not what anyone trying to keep their humanity would hope for.
Beta is Rick Grimes
Ok, ok - I know that's a pretty bold claim but, stay with me, I have evidence to back up this wild statement. I'll start with the obvious:
- In episode 12 of season 10, "Walk with Us", Beta's mask is partially ripped off and, almost immediately, another character recognises him; "oh, it's you". Who can possibly be more identifiable as the face of The Walking Dead other than Rick Grimes? Alright, I know the actors are different, Andrew Lincoln who plays Rick Grimes is obviously not Ryan Hurst who plays Beta but, if Andrew Lincoln turned up on set for every episode involving Beta (and fans do pay way too much attention to this 'behind-the-scenes' stuff) the news would, very quickly, leak, ruining any chance of a dramatic reveal in the movie.
- Following on from point 1, it is a Whisperer who recognises the partially de-masked, Beta which would seem to be a pretty strong counter argument - how would a no-name Whisperer know who Rick was? Remember back in season 9 where Rick Grimes is carted off by helicopter to some unknown place? Well, after that point six years pass. Assuming Rick is Beta and he was taken to whatever camp the Whisperers came from, he has been there for six years before secretly donning the mantle of Beta. This both explains why he is immediately identifiable to other Whisperers but also suggests why the viewers cannot immediately identify him; it's been six years and his appearance has undoubtably changed a little in that time.
- The third point spawns from a question; if Beta is Rick Grimes, why does he do all that bad stuff? Well, Rick Grimes has always been focused on survival and, perhaps more importantly for him, the survival of others; I don't think he really cares about whether the dead walk or the planet has been invaded by robots, he just wants to keep people alive and will stop at nothing (even killing his long-time police partner, Shane) to do so. After all, Rick is a Sheriff, a high-ranking police officer, sworn to protect innocent people from the scum of the world. If walking with the Walkers as a Whisperer is what people need to do to survive in the undead world, Rick would enforce that rule to the letter. Also, assuming Rick has been with the Whisperers (or whichever community they come from) for six years, that is plenty of time for his views to be altered. Rick has been through so much - learning that all humans are infected, fighting and ultimately defeating The Governor, struggling to help survivors through a deadly outbreak of flu, all that stuff with Negan, being impaled on a piece of rebar and to top it all off, very nearly getting blown-up in an explosion he caused in a sacrificial act to save others - he is simply going to be easily corruptible and, as we know from the escaped Whisperer in season 10, Alpha is extremely good at corrupting the innocent. On that note, are the Whisperers really that bad in the first place? They killed members of Rick's former band of do-gooders but that was in response to provocation - the supposed "good guys" deemed them a threat only because of their 'walk with the undead horde' behaviour, even going as far as to kidnap Alpha's daughter, Lydia. It was the "good guys" that crossed over into Whisperer territory and the "good guys" who attacked the Whisperers first so just because the Whisperers are portrayed to be the "bad guys", it is only due to the audience having been pre-conditioned to see the ones they oppose; Rick, Daryl, Carol, Michonne and the rest as the "good guys".
- Both Rick and Beta are good fighters. And, more than that, they both seem pretty much indestructible. Rick Grimes has been extremely near death many times and yet he keeps coming back; way back in season 1 he miraculously wakes from a coma in an evacuated hospital without power, in season 3 he is badly beaten by The Governor and almost bleeds out, in season 9 he gets first impaled, literally impaled, on a piece of rusty rebar and then almost blown-up - I mean, the guy just will not die! Beta, has only had one major scrape with death in season 9 where Daryl Dixon tricked him into plunging headfirst, into an open lift-shaft. At the end of the episode, wouldn't you know it, Beta gets back up; a bit groggy from the fall but with no visible physical damage - explain that one! The only other time Beta has been up against it is in season 10 when he is set upon by Rosita after sneaking in to Alexandria (how did he know the hidden route inside?). He manages to extract himself from that fight unscathed and, somehow, manages to egress from Alexandria also completely unharmed - the next time he is seen he has clearly left the survivor's camp by yet another different route no one knew about. Even if this can all be explained through luck, why does he need to bother with all this sneaking about anyway - he is easily capable of bettering some of the weaker human survivors in grouped combat - so why actively avoid conflict with them?
- In the later part of season 9 and all of season 10, Beta is focused on reuniting Alpha with her wayward daughter Lydia, even at risk to himself (when he sneaks in Alexandria for example). Family was a key concept for Rick Grimes; he was always looking out for them, protecting them and stopping at nothing to get back to them when parted so Beta's personal mission to reunite Alpha's family mirrors Rick's lifelong mission to keep his family together. And as for why, if Rick is Beta, he does not simply fight his way back to his real family of Michonne, Judith and her brother, he has no idea they are still alive after six years apart and probably considers The Whisperers his new 'family'.
- In Rick's last episode in the show, episode 5 of season 9, Jadis, who saved Rick, called him a "B". There are a few theories out there about what this means but perhaps the most likely is that it is some form of moniker for leadership quality, after all, she originally planned to capture and take Gabriel, giving him the label of "A"; from that point onwards, Gabriel has definitely shown himself to be the leader of Alexandria. Further to this, after Rick's epic struggles with Negan, he tells Maggie that he does not want to lead the group anymore. Beta (notice that big ol' "B" at the start) does seem capable of leading The Whisperers but he doesn't, he follows the orders of an "A", an Alpha, even when he disagrees with those orders. Additionally, Alpha's 'lion pride' speech in episode 12 of season 10, when she is taking about Negan braking off to form his own Whisperer herd, does suggest to me that there are multiple Whisperer groups, each with their own Alpha and Beta. This gives more credence to why the people who were communicating with Jadis were desperate for an "A" and not a "B" - they wanted to form a new Whisperer group, wanted to get more people walking with the dead instead of against them, wanted to show more of the world that survival was still possible, even if it was not the message the rest of the world wanted to hear.
- The instant Beta finds Negan in the group, he does not like him. It goes without saying that Rick does not like Negan one bit but he has previously shown kindness to Negan, trying to live alongside him, more to honour Carl's dream of a peaceful future than anything else. Also, and I know this is a really minor point, but Negan did say in season 7 that he would never have 'messed' with Rick when he had a phenomenal beard - he does not 'mess' with Beta who sports a phenomenal beard, the colour of that beard being remarkably similar to Rick's former face fuzz.
- Finally, something high level. Beta is a very cool character, at least in my book. He is an ace fighter, he's big and threating looking, he is fiercely loyal to Alpha, despite not always seeing eye to eye, and he wears a mask, constantly, literally never taking it off, even when other Whisperers take off theirs, even though it must be uncomfortable. Heck, even during the flashback episode before Beta becomes a Whisperer (which, by the way, may not be the actual past, just Alpha's twisted perception of it), he wears a mask, only allowing Alpha to see his face during the final section of that episode. The Walking Dead fans are dying to know what is under that mask - to get a glimpse of what is underneath; the disfigured face of someone who almost died in an explosion, a former hero trying to mask his shame after falling on hard times or, as the Walking Dead comics answer, the normal face of a celebrity basketball player, simply trying to hide away from recognition? For me, Beta is The Walking Dead equivalent to masked-killer, Michael Myers from John Carpenter's exceptional 1978 movie, Halloween.
Rick Grimes: A New Beginning for a well-known hero
We already know that the first movie in the planned trilogy will focus on Rick Grimes and what happened to the character after his departure from the TV series. That is a good way to get Walking Dead fans interested - Rick is the 'face' of The Walking Dead so to have a movie without him, especially after we know he is still alive, would be difficult to make both exciting and relatable. However, if you read my article about what I want to see in the movie, you'll know I think it is very important that the movie is not too lore-heavy; it needs to be something everyone can enjoy, regardless of whether they have seen the TV series, read the books, browsed through the comics or simply enjoy Zombies. What better way to achieve this than by giving Rick a fresh start, still having the experiences of the past but forging a new, unpredictable future. Scott Gimple, chief content officer for The Walking Dead TV universe, has already compared the Walking Dead movie to Logan and, while it's a good few years since I have seen that film, I am pretty sure that the X-men spin-off shared a remarkably similar story; Logan brings the experiences of his past as Wolverine and a new, unpredictable future is formed for the character.
The Whisperers are just really, really cool
On a personal level, I just think The Whisperers are very cool and ideal subject matter for expansion; there are just so many unanswered questions. How did someone first figure out that simply being unwashed, staying quiet, moving like a Zombie and wearing a Zombie's skin for a mask would allow them to walk alongside the dead in safety? How did the The Whisperers group form? How does it get new members? How is the Alpha chosen? Is 'walking with the dead' an isolated idea from a single crazed mind that just happened on a way of survival or are there more groups with the same disturbing thought, coming to it through considered determination? I truly believe that The Whisperers deserve an in-depth backstory; I mean, we've never really seen this in a Zombie movie - people trying to 'blend in' with Zombies in order to survive (excluding the Bill Murray cameo in Zombieland) - and that intrigues me.
They're an odd bunch for sure, but there's no doubt about it, The Whisperers are pretty darn cool
© Forbes
DESCRIPTION:
As season 10 draws to a close, I believe that I have stumbled across a hidden secret which suggests a huge surprise coming in the first The Walking Dead movie. This article explains the mad theory and gives far too convincing evidence of why it might be right. Read on, dear readers - this potential insight into the future is too awesome to ignore.
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DATE UPLOADED:
12/04/2020