‘The Walking Dead’ Actress Samantha Morton to Star as Catherine de Medici in Starz’s ‘Serpent Queen’

Samantha Morton, who played the villainous Alpha on “The Walking Dead,” will star as the nefarious Catherine de Medici in Starz’s new series “The Serpent Queen,” the premium cable channel said Wednesday.Based on the book “Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France by Leonie Frieda,” the eight-episode TV seriesis “a cunning account of one of the most influential women ever to wear a crown,” per Starz. “Considered an immigrant, common and plain, Catherine de Medici is married into the 16th century French court as an orphaned teenager expected to bring a fortune in dowry and produce many heirs, only to discover that her husband is in love with an older woman, her dowry is unpaid and she’s unable to conceive. Yet, only with her intelligence and determination, she manages to keep her marriage alive and masters the bloodsport that is the monarchy better than anyone else, ...