With The Walking Dead's penultimate season gearing up for a big finish, the AMC zombie drama is casting its final season.

The newest addition is Michael James Shaw, who has been locked in to play Mercer.

Mercer had a heavy presence during the final arc of the comic books the series hails from.

In the comics, he plays the Commonwealth Army commander, a man who stands out thanks to his red armor and a pair of axes he uses as his weapons of choice.

If you watch The Walking Dead online, you know the Commonwealth arc is only just beginning, so it makes sense to reveal who will be playing such a pivotal character.

Shaw is well-known for his appearances on Bull, Blue Bloods, and Blood & Treasure on the small screen, but on the big screen, he has appeared as Corvus Glaive in Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame.

While the AMC hit typically veers away from the comic books, Mercer strikes a fast bond with Rick Grimes and Princess.

As you are probably well aware by now, Andrew Lincoln's Rick is no longer a part of the series, but he is set to lead a trilogy of movies.

Princess only recently came into the narrative, and her most recent plot involved her and a group of people being stopped by the Commonwealth.

"The one episode that's coming up [extended Season 10 episode 'Splinter'], that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's a whole big story to be played," showrunner Angela Kang teased of the new group during The Walking Dead Extended Season 10 Preview Special.

"There's more characters within that group to meet, but we will start to get into them a bit, get a sense of their vibe, what they're about, through our characters' perspective. But there's so much more cool story to come in Season 11."

"It tells you that this group is really formidable, they are organized, they have some access to the materials that you need to create in a uniform fashion, so that's really unlike some of the groups that we've seen," she continued.

"Because our groups have only been able to do things like that on a very limited basis, like [how] Eugene was only able to make a handful of perfect bullets. But these guys have a lot more going on."

We have five episodes remaining of The Walking Dead Season 10.

What are your thoughts on the new casting additions?

Are you ready for the show to be over?

Hit the comments below.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC.

Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.