The Walking Dead: 10 Things To Expect When Season 9 Returns

10. There Will Be A Period Of Deadly Confusion

It finally happened: the people of Alexandria met the Whisperers at the end of season nine's mid-season finale, "Evolution."

Jesus was performing some sick slow-mo walker slayings when an unexpected thing happened: one of the walkers ducked his blow, pulled a knife, and stabbed him in the back. Just as Jesus begins to succumb to his wound, the Whisperer softly tells him, "You are where you do not belong."

As in the comics, this revelation brings with it a great deal of confusion. The walkers, at this point, are entirely predictable. The threat of the dead lies in their numbers, not in their movement or behavior. The Whisperers are going to change all of that, as the survivors will never know if a Whisperer is among a horde of the dead until they get up close and personal.

Taking an old threat like the walkers and making them into a more dynamic enemy will throw a great deal of dread and confusion into the mix for the survivors of Alexandria, the Kingdom, and Hilltop. May deaths can be expected as a result and things are going to get from bad to worse.