The Walking Dead – AMC – New Amsterdam – NBC

Who’s on the other end of the radio that’s been communicating with Eugene on ‘The Walking Dead’?  Her name is Stephanie and the woman who supplies her voice, Margot Bingham, has been announced as joining the cast for Season 11.  Stephanie’s voice was first heard in the S9 finale, “The Storm.”  She has since been heard in the episodes “Bonds” and “Morning Star.”  She establishes something of a long-distance romance with Eugene (Josh McDermitt), bonding over a shared childhood experience, a love of comets, and music.  In “Morning Star,” Eugene (and fans) discover that Stephanie and her community are located relatively nearby in Charleston, West Virginia.  Their budding romance is almost destroyed when Rosita hears Stephanie on the radio and demands to know who she is, scaring her off.

Comic Book Stephanie – Image Comics

Stephanie is a character from the comics, and so far, the TV show has followed her storyline fairly closely.  Both Bingham and comic book Steph are Black.  That’s about the only physical resemblance at this point.

There is one final episode of ‘The Walking Dead’ S10, but production had to be halted due to coronavirus shutdowns.  With Atlanta starting to open up, AMC and the show’s creators and cast are hoping that season finale will air before the end of this year.

At the end of S10, Eugene, Ezekiel (Khary Payton), and Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) were on their way to meet Stephanie, when they encountered Princess (Paola Lazaro).  Once again, this is in keeping with the comics, with the exception that in the book, she was the “Princess of Pittsburg,” but the show is currently set in the Virginia/West Virginia region.  (I don’t believe her city was identified.)

Showrunner Angela Kang has stated that S11 will have more scenes in urban settings, a huge departure from the rest of the series.  After the first few episodes, the survivors stuck to the sparcely-populated countryside or small suburban neighborhoods.

Bingham was a series regular as Clorinda Bradford on the short-lived Netflix series ‘She’s Gotta Have It’, created by Spike Lee.  She recurred as Evie Garrison on NBC’s ‘New Amsterdam’ (above).  She also had recurring roles on CBS All Access’ ‘One Dollar Bill’, ABC’s ‘The Family’, and HBO’s ‘Boardwalk Empire’.  Among her film credits are ‘Then Came You’, and ‘Barbershop: The Next Cut’.

 

Source: Deadline