With The Walking Dead crew finally arriving at the gates of the Alexandria Safe-Zone in "The Distance," we are about to meet a boatload of new characters. New guy Aaron told Noah about a very talented doctor in Alexandria who could help with his leg injury — so who is this surgeon Pete on The Walking Dead ? Of course since Alexandria is an entire community, like Woodbury and Terminus were, tons of new people will be introduced. But some characters are more prominent — and cause more problems — than others. Like Aaron and his boyfriend Eric, Pete the gifted surgeon is from the comic books. But the doctor does not have the same temperament as the two recruiters. (The Walking Dead comic spoilers ahead.)
I'd prefer for the gang to get some time to settle in and figure out what exactly is going on before they have to worry about another potential villain, but Nick Venable at CinemaBlend is predicting that Pete could be next bad guy. While I'm hoping that Pete is more just a thorn in Rick's side more than an actual psychopath like we've seen with the Governor and Gareth, I realize that may be a bit naive of me. Considering there hasn't been a nemesis for the group in awhile (and considering Pete's behavior in the comics), it's totally feasible that he's the next villain. Based on the comics, Pete violently abuses his wife and son — and we know that Rick will not stand for that.
According to The Spoiling Dead Fans Facebook page, Corey Brill will be portraying Doctor Pete. Brill was in HBO's The Normal Heart and the national tour of Cabaret.
Although there are bound to be a lot of people in the walled community, I don't think the Alexandria Safe-Zone allows just anyone to enter (as evidenced by Aaron and Eric's spying). But I'm sure some people with incredible talents — and questionable morales — may have slipped through the cracks. So maybe a skilled medical professional like Pete can get away with more bad stuff in Alexandria since his specialized skills are in high demand. But there's no way that will fly with Rick. Like Tasha St. Pierre wrote on FanSided, "According to the comics, the last thing you can refer to Pete as is a nice guy. Needless to say, he could be one that will cause some big trouble for Rick in the near future."
In a battle of Rick versus Pete, I don't even need to refer to the comics to assume who's going to win that one. (Uh, Rick, obviously.) And just because Pete may be a bad guy doesn't mean he has to linger on the show as long as the Governor did (although it would be nice if he could work on Noah before anything happens). So, I don't think we need to fear for Rick and crew too much — I'm confident that Rick will be able to handle Pete all on his own.
Images: Gene Page/AMC; zuzzolek/Tumblr
