The Walking Dead Casts Michael James Shaw as Mercer in Season 11 Michael James Shaw will play Mercer of the Commonwealth in the upcoming final season of The Walking Dead. Shaw's badass survivor is part of a new group of characters tied to the white-armored soldiers glimpsed in "A Certain Doom," the original season finale that aired in October, and who are behind the New World Order referenced in the Season 11 teaser that premiered during Sunday's extended Season 10 premiere. A fan-favorite character and commander of the Commonwealth Army, Mercer is a Marine who stands out with his red armor and the pair of axes he wields as his signature weapons.