The Walking Dead fans piece together the truth of Beta’s identity

For a while now, we’ve had questions about the identity of Beta on The Walking Dead. Unlike Alpha and the other Whisperers, Beta never seems to want to reveal his face, almost out of fear of revealing something big about himself. Because of all the previous hints, fans think they have solved the puzzle.

Be warned: Potential SPOILERS lie ahead.

In short, the theory is that Beta used to be a famous country singer. This is actually a theory that fans have been throwing around for quite some time, with clues first dropped on AMC’s spinoff show, Fear the Walking Dead. It was hinted that Beta was previously a famous country musician during the season 5 episode “Today and Tomorrow,” when Daniel and Grace are traveling with some records. When Daniel drops one of the albums, we can see the face of Ryan Hurst — the actor who plays Beta — on the cover, wearing a cowboy hat.

What’s more, in the latest episode of The Walking Dead, “Walk with Us,” Beta’s identity is actually recognized by another character. When he kills Gamma for deserting the Whisperers, she stretches out and rips off one half of his zombie-mask. Gamma dies, but another Whisperer instantly recognizes Beta. “It’s you,” he says, “your voice sounded familiar but…”

Beta kills this guy, obviously.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about his character’s mysterious identity, Ryan Hurst played coy. He did, at least, say that there have been easter eggs in other shows, so it looks like it really was him on that record after all. “I can’t tell you too much about that,” he said. “We’ve been dropping Easter eggs here and there, maybe on this show, maybe on another show that’s connected to it, but I’ll sort of keep dangling that carrot and let people wait for the end of this season to see what happens.”

Robert Kirkman also conceals Beta’s identity in the comics. But on the page, he’s not a musician, but rather a basketball star.

I really like the idea of putting a celebrity in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and The Walking Dead isn’t just making the celebrity fight for survival, they’re making him a villain. Now that Alpha has been killed by Negan, he’s pretty much the main villain.

I’m hoping that we get a full reveal of his identity later on in season 10. And now that half of his mask has gone, we might get a true reveal anytime now.

New episode of The Walking Dead season 10 airs Sundays on AMC.

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