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‘Sons of Anarchy’ Alum Ryan Hurst Introduces Fans to His Pivotal ‘The Walking Dead’ Character

If you haven’t heard the massively awesome news announced yesterday about AMC’s The Walking Dead, get ready to get excited!

Ryan Hurst, best known for his role as Opie on the Sons of Anarchy series, will be joining The Walking Dead world in the ninth season. Hurst is taking on the role of Beta, the second in command to a group known as The Whisperers.

Shortly after the news was announced, Hurst took to Twitter to playfully introduce fans to his new character. He posted a picture of Beta from The Walking Dead comics which allowed fans unfamiliar with the source material to see just how spot-on his casting is for the series. His caption to his post was simply the perfect tease of his new recurring role. Hurst captioned the photo by saying, “SHHHHHH!!!! Just a Whisper….”

Check out the post below.

The Walking Dead cast, both past, and present, quickly welcomed their new TWD Family member. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays the villainous Negan on the series, replied to Hurst’s post which led to an endearing exchange between the two. Is this The Walking Dead‘s newest bromance? Check out the fun Twitter exchange between JDM and Hurst below.


Other cast members to welcome Hurst to the family include King Ezekiel himself, Khary Payton, Jesus (aka. Tom Payne) and former castmates Michael Cudlitz (who played Abraham) and Michael Traynor (who played Nicholas). Check out their posts below.

 

*SPOILER ALERT* The rest of the article contains spoilers from The Walking Dead comics.

As for Hurst’s character, Skybound’s The Walking Dead describes Beta as, “a brute who is fiercely loyal to Alpha and will kill anyone who threatens her or their way of life. Negan is the first character to meet him and nicknames him “Frowny Mctwoknives,” “Beta Mctwoknives,” and Jolly Green Giant for his enormous height and two knives.”

Beta first appears in The Walking Dead Issue #154 and starts out as second in command to The Whisperers leader, Alpha (who will be played by Samantha Morton). In the comics, Beta is eventually forced to take over the leadership role when Negan beheads Alpha. It’s a moment which sparks a massive war between The Whisperers and Rick’s group. Of course, AMC’s The Walking Dead is famous for mixing things up, so fans will have to wait and see how Beta’s fate plays out during the upcoming ninth season.

The Walking Dead returns with all new episodes starting October 7th on AMC.

What do you think about Ryan Hurst’s casting as Beta on The Walking Dead? Are you pumped for the ninth season? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!