On Sons of Anarchy, Ryan Hurst played the best friend of Jax Teller, Opie. Now he’ll be flipping from good guy to bad as one of the main villains in season 9 of The Walking Dead. In the new season, he’ll be playing Beta, second in command of The Whisperers. It was previously announced that Samantha Morton has been cast in the role of Alpha.

In the comics, Beta spends most of his time wearing a mask made of human skin. It will be interesting to see if Greg Nicotero stays faithful or goes in a new direction. If you aren’t familiar with the Whisperers, they are a band of baddies that live among the Walkers by wearing human skin suits and pretending to be zombies themselves. Expect this season to be one of the most graphic in the history of the series.