Tales Of The Walking Dead Episode 3 Reveals More About Alpha's Backstory

AMC's "Tales of the Walking Dead" gave franchise fans an epic look back at one of "The Walking Dead"'s most infamous characters — Alpha from the Whisperers saga — before she became the cruel and ruthless baddie from in Seasons 9 and 10. And for many fans, it was an emotional and surprising performance from Samantha Morton and the entire "Tales of the Walking Dead" crew that they never saw coming. 

"Who else would have made me cry for Alpha?" wrote Twitter user @Pixi_feri. "[Episode 3] was my favorite of the series so far!" said @samthesparrow. "Mesmerizing, riveting and emotional story told by [Morton] as Alpha. Give this woman an award!!!"

For those who haven't seen it, "Tales of the Walking Dead" is an episodic anthology series that takes various looks back at established characters within the "TWD" universe while also telling stories about newly-introduced ones. Per the official synopsis, "Each episode has its own distinct tone and point of view — but the stakes are high in each story, pushing new, indelible characters with relentless, life-threatening choices and situations. We get to see the apocalypse through different eyes, discovering more worlds, mythos, and mysteries of the Walking Dead." For Episode 3, dubbed "Dee" — after Alpha's real name — the showrunners chose to dive into the character's backstory while also dropping a few twists about the Whisperers along the way. 

For Episode 3, the showrunners for "Tales of the Walking Dead" decided to give fans one of the more interesting and unexpected twists in "TWD" history — revealing that it was never Alpha who started the Whisperers group, but rather someone completely different. But that's not all. The episode also finally explained the origins of Alpha's iconic, blonde-haired skin mask, which was apparently a product of her rise to power within the group. 

While "Dee" starts off like a typical flashback episode and an emotional inside look at the woman who became Alpha, it eventually shifts into a surprising origin story for the Whisperers that shows how Dee was actually saved by the group, which was being led by a blonde-haired woman named Hera. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens to Alpha's savior and new leader, especially since we know that Whisperers can challenge for the "Alpha" spot through deadly combat. 

"Alpha's mask on the main show of [The Walking Dead] is the former Whisperers leader's face on #TalesOfTheWalkingDead," surmised @julianexcalibur. "Interesting twist for her to join the group instead of founding it," they said. User @MattC1320 declared, "Now we need story on how she became #Alpha in this new group!"

Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Samantha Morton talked about her interest in looking even deeper into Alpha's past in a possible prequel series someday. And even if AMC didn't want to — or didn't do the "Tales of the Walking Dead" Alpha episode — she'd still want to know more about the character. That's just how invested she is, the actor says. "I just wanted to know, like, even if they didn't make it, I was like, 'What happened? What happens?" Morton said at Comic-Con. "Tales of the Walking Dead" is currently set to wrap up in mid-September.