As audiences are coming to grips with the explosive events that happened at Terminus during The Walking Dead’s Season 5 premiere, showrunner Scott Gimple & Co. are continuing to fill out this season’s cast. The latest to join the zombie drama is former American Horror Story actress Alexandra Breckinridge, who will play a character that comic fans are unfamiliar with. Unless of course she ends up being someone comic fans actually are familiar with. That’s how casting works these days.
Breckinridge has signed on for a recurring role, but interestingly has the option to become a regular at some point. She will play a character named Samantha, and though Deadline doesn’t have any plot direction where this character may go, she’s described as “attractive, strong, smart, charming and articulate.” How someone can remain charming at this point of the zombie apocalypse is beyond me.
But that’s not it. She’s also called “a mother with a bohemian spirit, and a talented artist.” So, basically the group is going to run across some kind of a hippie commune with only two residents left. (I’m only assuming she is the mother to a living child.) No clue whether she’s actually by her lonesome or part of a group. Is her last name Banksy?
If we can speculate for a second, it’s entirely possible that her name isn’t Samantha and that her actual identity is being hidden. Gimple and creator Robert Kirkman could be planning on bringing another comic character into the fray and they don’t want to clue audiences in on where things are going just yet. Might she end up being Holly, who starts up a relationship with Abraham? The TV series isn’t quite up to that point in the timeline, but that hasn’t stopped the writers before. Maybe they’re going even deeper and bringing The Hilltop’s Brianna or Alexandria’s Olivia into the storyline. It really all depends on when Breckinridge’s episodes begin. If they’re not until after the winter hiatus, it’s definitely within reason to think that we’ll get some teasers leading up to arc surrounding Negan, the most sadistic villain Walking Dead has to offer.
What if she is Negan?
Seriously though, it’s not unheard of for Walking Dead’s creative team to develop new characters – Daryl Dixon, anyone? – but it’s more exciting to believe the plot is moving foward to the comic’s next major narrative arc. Especially if she has a shot at becoming a regular character. I guess I shouldn’t be so greedy. We still have yet to meet the comic-centered Father Gabriel Stokes (Seth Gilliam) or visit his church, but that’s possibly coming up this weekend.
Was the Season 5 premiere everything you hoped for? Who do you guys think Alexandra Breckinridge will be playing?
