The Walking Dead villain Beta’s past life as a country music star has finally been revealed in the show after weeks of teasers and fan speculation.
The Walking Dead’s official Twitter account has now started to share some of Beta’s music, which in the narrative was recorded under his pre-apocalypse music moniker Half Moon.
During the show’s most recent episode, Half Moon’s ‘I Went To The Well’ was also played. You can listen to Half Moon below.
Discover the music of Half Moon… Stream the latest episode of #TWD On Demand or the AMC App. pic.twitter.com/P85TyM25CO
— The Walking Dead on AMC (@WalkingDead_AMC) April 1, 2020
Showrunner Angela Kang revealed that Beta’s backstory had been imagined by Ryan Hurst – the actor who plays Beta – and was partly influenced by country singer-songwriter Garth Brooks, who once performed under the alter-ego ‘Chris Gaines’. In the comic books on which the show is based, Beta is a basketball player.
King told Entertainment Weekly: “We were thinking about all of that stuff, and in the comic books he’s a basketball player. But as we were constructing it here, we were like, ‘Does [Hurst] really feel like a basketball player? Maybe more of a football player, but is that the way we want to go?’
“And Ryan had this idea of, ‘Oh, maybe he was this musician,’ and we thought that that was really cool.”
Beta’s secret identity was hinted at in Season 10 of the show when Magna (Nadia Hilker) was seen listening to one of the singer’s albums at Hilltop.
King explained: “That was Ryan Hurst singing that song, and that’s the song that recurs now, so we had a little bit of fun kind of burying all of that kind of in the show and even in Fear.”
Meanwhile, the season 10 finale of The Walking Dead will not be shown as planned in April, AMC have confirmed.
The network posted on the show’s official Instagram page last week (March 24) to tell fans the last episode in the current season was unavoidably delayed as the coronavirus crisis continues.
The Walking Dead has already been confirmed to be renewed for its 11th season. A spin-off series is also in the works and is due for release later this year.
