New comic book character coming in season 10 of The Walking Dead

By

Published on July 11, 2019 10:00AM EDT

Last season of The Walking Dead featured numerous new faces making the transition from page to screen as many characters from the comic book arrived on the AMC TV adaptation. Not only did Magna, Yumiko, Luke, Connie, and Kelly make their debuts as new allies, but iconic villains Alpha and Beta also made their presence known. Which got us thinking about next season. Who might we meet when the show returns for season 10 in October? We asked showrunner Angela Kang, and she spilled the beans on one character who will be making his TV debut in the season premiere.

“We’ll be meeting the character Dante from the comics,” reveals Kang exclusively to EW. “He is this roguish, fast-talking, sometimes charming, sometimes annoying guy who can sometimes put his foot in his mouth, but is an interesting presence in the comics.”

Indeed he is. In the comics, Dante is a loyal, hardworking member of the Hilltop community. But he can also be cocky and aggressive — especially in his pursuit of the widowed Maggie. “He’s actually a love interest of Maggie,” says Kang of his role in the original source material. “But in our world, the context is a little different, and he will play an important role in the story in Alexandria. So we’re excited about that.”

The fact that Lauren Cohan’s Maggie is not currently on the show and that Kang mentions Dante will play a big role in Alexandria and not the Hilltop shows that there will certainly be changes to the character’s role, if not his roguish personality.

As for whether there will be any other comic book favorites jumping to the TV adaptation in season 10, Kang plays more coy. “There will be some other characters we meet down the line,” says the showrunner, “but I don’t think I can quite talk about them yet. We’ll meet some really cool characters this year.”

And might one of those characters be a Princess, by chance? “I don’t know,” laughs Kang. “But we do love royalty on our show.”