Three Walking Dead actors upped to series regulars, prolonging their inevitable deaths

Three of the supporting players from season four of The Walking Dead have been upped to series regulars for the fifth season, indicating they may be around slightly longer before they are inevitably killed by zombies, by humans, or by some deadly disease/natural disaster/allergy attack. They include Alanna Masterson as Tara, Christian Serrators as Rosita, and Andrew J. West as Gareth, who will all join the series full-time when it returns next fall.

Tara and Rosita have been recurring characters for a portion of the show’s fourth season. While Tara is a creation of the TV show, Rosita is an iconic character from The Walking Dead comics. Gareth, meanwhile, was introduced in the season four finale and will play a large role in the show’s fifth season.

[Spoilers for the season four finale] As viewers now know, Garth heads up the Terminus colony, and the season finale ends with the show’s heroes trapped in his clutches. According to executive producer and comics creator Robert Kirkman, “Seeing Gareth and Rick and the people of Terminus and our survivors go head-to-head is going to be interesting. There is a very deep, dark and storied history to Terminus and how these people came to be that will be revealed in season five.”