‘The Walking Dead’ Adds ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Alum Ryan Hurst to Cast

Sons of Anarchy alum Ryan Hurst has been added to the cast of The Walking Dead for the show’s upcoming ninth season.

According to The Wrap, Hurst will be playing a character named Beta, who is the second-in-command of a group called The Whisperers that the main cast of survivors encounter on the zombie apocalypse drama.

In addition to Hurst, actresses Samantha Morton and Cassady McClincy have also been announced as joining the series for its new season.

Fans will best remember Hurst as Opie Winston on seasons one to five of Sons of Anarchy, but he also appeared in shows such as Bates Motel and King & Maxwell.

Interestingly, Hurst was also recently cast in the fifth season of Amazon’s cop-drama Bosch, which reunites him with one of his former Sons of Anarchy co-stars, Titus Welliver.

Hurst’s most recent starring role was as “Lil Foster” Farrell VIII on the since-canceled WGN series Outsiders, about an Appalachian family struggling to survive and maintain power over the area.

During an interview with Metal Life, Hurst opened up about his role on the show and what initially attracted him to it.

“The material is just so out of this world,” he explained. “You have a very mythical, sort of fantastical story line of magic beings running around, and then you have someone who has an Oxycodone addiction so it’s a very grounded story line but still fantastical at the same time.”

“You don’t usually find those two working together at the same time, and then you also have David Morse who was there from the beginning,” Hurst added. “He’s one of my all time favorite actors, for as long as I can remember, so when I heard he was a part of this show I started very dramatically going after it.”

He also shared his thoughts on whether or not he felt that his personality was reflected in the character.

“Yeah I always try to find something I can identify with in every role, and over the years you have to be able to bridge the gap between you and your character, especially one that is very, very different from you.”

Fans can catch Hurst, and the rest of The Walking Dead cast, when the series returns this fall on AMC.