Did you catch that final episode of The Walking Dead last week? According to a report at Variety, 3.1 million people tuned in to give AMC+ its highest viewership ever.
“To celebrate this extraordinary series for more than three hours at a live event with thousands of the fans who have driven this series since the beginning was a perfect way to end the flagship series while, at the same time, sharing our collective excitement for the stories and worlds yet to be explored in this growing and vibrant franchise,” stated Dan McDermott, AMC’s president of entertainment and AMC Studios.
I know a lot of people fell off watching the Walking Dead, but the acting and moments between Negan & Maggie in the final season and episode were the best of the entire show. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an absolute BEAST
— Brawlicjon (@BrawlicJon) November 21, 2022
The finale episode was a huge hit with the 18-49 crowd, bringing in a 75% increase in views from the previous episode, while the 25-54 age bracket was up 53%. Even the after-show for the episode, The Talking Dead, brought record viewership of its own. The talk show enjoyed a 138% increase in views with 1.3 million people tuning in.
The 90-minute episode, entitled Rest in Peace, was the grand hoorah for the zombie apocalypse thriller that started way back on Halloween night in 2010. Although we won’t get into spoilers here (we save that for our in-depth recap and review articles!), we can say that the episode brought a bit of closure to the main storyline while simultaneously opening up a few new worlds ripe for the spin-off picking.
Next year will see Dead City, a spin-off with Negan and Maggie that has many fans wondering how the two will stand each other long enough to work together. Daryl Dixon will also enjoy a solo spin-off that takes place in France, and Rick and Michonne will be seen in their own spin-off that has a yet-unannounced release date.
I’d say that these record viewership numbers bode well for the franchise’s lifespan and makes AMC’s bet on the Walking Dead name a sure thing.
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