Things haven’t been great on the ratings front this year for The Walking Dead, and unfortunately that continued with last Sunday’s mid-season finale. The latest episode, titled “Evolution,” was a thrilling, chilling hour that featured the first proper introduction of the Whisperers, but it seems that wasn’t enough to get folks to tune in.
According to Deadline, “Evolution” earned an audience of 5.1. million and accrued a 2.0 rating. That means that it saw a 6% increase in viewers from last week’s installment, but that still doesn’t stop it from being the lowest-rated mid-season finale in series history. The previous least-watched of its kind came back in season 2, with 2011’s “Pretty Much Dead Already” pulling in 6.62 million.
“Evolution” is just par for the course in season 9 though, as TWD has been beating its own records for weeks now, with every other episode earning the dubious honor of being the show’s least-viewed installment. Things didn’t start off well, either, when the season opener gained the lowest audience for any premiere with just 6.08 million viewers. To put that into perspective, season 8’s first hour, just one year before, saw 11.44 million tune in.
Even the much-publicized exit of Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes back in episode 5 didn’t bring folks flooding back. “What Comes After” managed 5.41 million, making it the most popular episode this season so far but not a patch on the event episodes of yesteryear. Gone are the days when a whopping 17.03 million would catch the show to find out who Negan’s going to kill next, as was the case with the season 7 opener.
Still, while you can’t clam that these ratings are terribly impressive, The Walking Dead remains one of the highest-rated TV shows on the air and its future is certainly safe, especially with AMC planning all those TV movies and other spinoffs.