As has become something of an annual tradition, The Walking Dead has promoted two of its recurring cast members to series regulars. This year, those honors go to Avi Nash and Callan McAuliffe, one of which was expected while the other comes as something of a surprise.
Nash plays Siddiq, the character inadvertently responsible for Carl’s death and now a doctor on The Hilltop, who will presumably help look after Maggie during her pregnancy (if Lauren Cohan stays on the show beyond season 9). Siddiq is a fairly significant character in The Walking Dead comics, so this doesn’t come as a shock, although it is nice that the series now can boast a Muslim-American character as a series regular.
The other promotion goes to Callan McAuliffe, who plays Alden on the series. Alden was something of an afterthought in season eight. He was the Savior locked up by Maggie who decided to switch sides and play for The Hilltop, which is what he will presumably continue doing in season nine as Maggie and Jesus rebuild in order to take on Rick and Alexandria. Alden is not a character in the comics and was a mostly forgettable one on the series, so this does come as a surprise.
Granted, being elevated to series regular does not always mean a lot of extra screentime for the characters (Jesus and Aaron, for instance, are both series regulars, but rarely appear, and Enid received more screentime before she was promoted). It also does not mean the character is safe from death. Steven Ogg (Simon) was promoted last season and died, while Tovah Feldshuh (Deanna Monroe), Alexandra Breckenridge (Jessie Anderson), and Austin Nichols (Spencer) were all killed off the show not that long after being promoted to series regular. So, really, the only guarantee here is that Avi Nash and Callan McAuliffe will be paid more next season. Congratulations to them.
Meanwhile, last week, TV Line gained some information that casting is underway for Yumiko and Magna, who are prominent members of the Whisperers, which rules out the fan theory that The Walking Dead may be skipping that storyline next season. Hopefully, however, The Walking Dead under Angela Kang will not belabor that war and drag it out into another two-season storyline. At the very least, The Walking Dead should combine the Whisperers storyline with the war between Rick and Maggie and the mystery surrounding The Commonwealth and Georgie so that the writers have more to work with as they fill out their 16-episode season.
Sadly, there is no word yet on whether the helicopter will be finally be promoted to series regular next season after making sporadic appearances throughout the series.
Source: THR
