Lauren Ridloff joins cast of 'The Walking Dead' Season 9

July 17 (UPI) -- Tony-nominated actress Lauren Ridloff has been cast in AMC's upcoming ninth season of The Walking Dead.

Ridloff, who is deaf and was nominated for a 2018 Tony for her role in Children of a Lesser God, joins the zombie drama as Connie who will be featured in a multi-episode arc, Entertainment Weekly reported.

Connie will be a seasoned survivor who is deaf and uses American Sign Language to communicate. Connie was a featured character in The Walking Dead comic book series where she was a part of a new group of survivors who take up residence in Alexandria.

The Walking Dead was renewed for a ninth season in January. Executive producer Scott M. Gimple was promoted to chief content officer of the The Walking Dead television brand with Angela Kang now serving as executive producer and showrunner.

The new season is expected to feature a time jump and the departures of series stars Andrew Lincoln who portrays Rick and Lauren Cohan who portrays Maggie. Jon Bernthal who starred in the first two seasons of the show as Rick's police officer partner Shane, is set to return in some capacity.

"We're seeing the world start to break down around our characters a bit more," Kang said to The Hollywood Reporter about what to expect in Season 9.

"They run into challenges, with things like the infrastructure breaking down around them and things that they used to scavenge being in much shorter supply. We get to see a world where they're not relying on unstable gas that's hard to find; they're taming horses; they're pulling wagons; they're fashioning more hand weapons so they don't have to rely on bullets as much. That's been really fun. We get to play while staying true to the principles of The Walking Dead that people love. It's a new era in terms of where our characters are at and the challenges they're facing," she continued.