From The Governor to Negan, the Walking Dead universe is nothing without its terrifying villains – and The Dama doesn’t disappoint.

In Touch rounds up everything to know so far about the mysterious antagonist in The Walking Dead: Dead City.

The Dama (Lisa Emery) is a former theatre actress believed to be in her late 60s to early 70s who lives in Manhattan. While little is known about her past or her rise to power on the island, she has consistently proven herself to be smart, calculating and manipulative as an ally of the Burazi and a clear authority figure to The Croat (Željko Ivanek).

Throughout the first season, she worked closely with him to find Negan Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and get him to Manhattan. Once he was their prisoner, she used not-so-subtle threats against Negan’s family to convince him to try to rally the other groups of survivors on the island to rise up against the impending threat of an attack by the New Babylon Federation.

Lisa Emery was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1952, and has been acting professionally in television and film since the mid 1980s.

She is best known for playing the role of Darlene Snell on Ozark from 2017 to 2022. She’s also had guest star appearances in several other hit shows, including Netflix’s Jessica Jones, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Damages, and Madam Secretary.