'Walking Dead' Season 9 Spoilers: Will the Whisperers Help Solve a Mystery?

Something happened to the survivors in the six years between Rick’s “death” and Judith saving Magna’s group on The Walking Dead Season 9, and as a result, the communities are divided. Michonne’s not exactly welcomed at the Hilltop with open arms, but could the introduction of the Whisperers and a major death in the midseason finale be what brings everyone back together?

Spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 9 Episode 8 below.

Going into the midseason finale, we knew that Michonne was wary about going to Hilltop because she didn’t want to see Maggie. But when she learned that Rosita was there and injured, Michonne went with Siddiq and Magna’s group to the other community. Once there, they were stripped of their weapons before they’re allowed entry in “Evolution.”

We learn that Michonne had to make some tough decisions, which angered those at Hilltop but also kept them alive. Could those decisions be connected to the X scars she and Daryl have on their backs? For now, it’s still unclear when or how they got them, or if anyone else is similarly marked.

When the injured Rosita wakes up, however, the focus turns to Daryl, Aaron, and Jesus, who are out looking for Eugene and still don’t understand the threat hunting them.

Eugene says the same thing when the three men find him hiding in a barn. The walkers following him aren’t normal, he tells them. They’re whispering, he says, as the four men try to escape the herd of walkers.

But it’s when the men are cornered and unable to open a spiked gate that they learn they’re not dealing with walkers at all. Michonne, Magna and Yumiko show up in time to help them open the gate enough to slip through while Jesus holds off the “walkers,” only for one of them to duck to avoid his sword, turn, stab him and whisper, “You are where you do not belong.”

The others dispatch of Jesus’ killer. But upon taking a closer look, Daryl realizes the “walker” is a human wearing a walker mask. He’s one of The Whisperers, who use walker suits as camouflage.

The Whisperers aren’t the only threat for the survivors. Negan escapes in the midseason finale after Father Gabriel fails to properly lock his cell door (presumably because he’s too worried about Rosita).

Still, if the communities ever needed to come together, it’s now. The Whisperers have already killed one of their own.

“It’s a character whose life really matters to everybody in this group and the people who are left behind,” showrunner Angela Kang told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s going to have a big impact on them.”

Despite being part of two different communities, Jesus (Hilltop) and Aaron (Alexandria) were meeting away from their groups, as an attempt to bridge the gap. At the very least, could Jesus’ death prompt Michonne to agree to attend the fair with the other communities?

Perhaps a discussion about this new threat, as well as Negan’s escape, will reveal what happened during the six-year time jump. Who else could have an X scar on their back? Why is Alexandria so closed off? Will it remain that way, or will Michonne be open to working with those from the other communities? We already see her working with two potential future members of Hilltop (Magna and Yumiko) against The Whisperers in the midseason finale and trailer (embedded at the top of this page).

“What does it mean for Alexandria to survive if The Kingdom falls?” Siddiq asks Michonne in the preview. Her focus may be on making sure her community survives, but would Michonne really let another community, especially one where her friends (no matter how estranged) are, fall?

It’s likely Jesus won’t be the last one The Whisperers kill, but will it take more deaths for everyone to agree to work together? After all, it’s not just Michonne who’s going to have to change. The others need to work with her. Considering Hilltop didn’t even want her armed inside their walls, that may take time.

Time that they may not have.

The Walking Dead Season 9 returns Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 9 p.m. on AMC.

Related video: Meet The Whisperers in The Walking Dead Midseason Finale Trailer