While The Walking Dead used to follow a small roving group from point to point, the series has now settled into three semi-permanent communities: The Kingdom, Alexandria, and The Hilltop. However, with Rick, Maggie, Carl, and Jesus dead or absent from The Walking Dead these days, and the Saviors no longer (except for Dwight, who has relocated to Fear the Walking Dead), the core players on the series have to be distributed among the three communities. That means that a lot more redshirts are necessary to fill in the gaps. However, several of them have graduated from seat fillers to glorified extras — characters who are tasked to do more than simply stand around behind the character with whom we are most familiar. Sometimes, these redshirts speak! The show used to be able to get away with mostly just “Scott,” but now more of these actors are getting appearances in multiple episodes, the occasional line, and actual SAG cards!
That is no more apparent than over on The Hilltop, where a few faces have been around long enough to leave an impression, but not long enough for us to learn their names.
Who are these strangers?
DJ
Like Alden, this Bo-Luke looking fella came over to The Hilltop from The Saviors, although he wasn’t among those locked up in the make-shift prison on The Hilltop. He was with Negan until the bitter end — in fact, DJ was injured by one of Eugene’s backfiring guns during the All Out War and knocked unconscious by Jesus. In the opening half of the season, DJ joined that Negan wannabe, Jed, and was among the former Saviors who tried to ambush Carol. DJ was also among the Saviors who got into a gunfight with Carol right before Rick “died.” However, after the time jump, he apparently became a solid citizen of Alexandria. Clearly needing another familiar face to add to the mix, he’s more recently been seen hanging with The Hilltoppers. He’s something of a roving gap filler — whenever this show needs a 40-ish guy with a beard to stand in a crowd or help transport someone else, DJ is their man!
Marco
If Marco seems new, that’s because he is. He made his first appearance in the season premiere and was among those who went to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. Eight episodes later, however, and he seems to be one of the leaders of The Hilltop, helping to arrange a search party in the last party to find Magna and Yumiko. In fact, he initially rejected Luke for the search party in favor of Oscar. Wait, who is Oscar?
Oscar and Bertie
Oscar has actually been around since season 7, although he mostly “accompanies” and “helps” characters with whom we are already familiar. However, in the seventh episode of the season, Oscar had a crucial speaking role: He gave Tara a status update on the crops! Bertie, meanwhile, has been around since season 6, when The Hilltop was first discovered. In fact, she’s appeared in 11 episodes, doing hard work like “standing among a group and listening to speeches,” “quietly counting rations,” and working as a lookout.
Gage
Gage has lived on The Hilltop over half his life, and yet, our first introduction to him came in the midseason finale. He, along with Rodney, was one of the punk kids who acted as a bad influence on Henry, ultimately getting Henry locked up. Rodney isn’t worth mentioning because he’s not scheduled to return to the series after his one-off, but we’ll see Gage again next month, in the season’s 13th episode, “Chokepoint.”
Adeline
Adeline goes by Addy, and she too was among Henry’s bad influences. However, she was a reluctant participant and looked as though she might have a little crush on Henry, which could get messy if Henry hooks up with The Whisperer, Lydia. She’ll be back in the season’s 11th episode, “Bounty.”
The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights on AMC.
