The Walking Dead franchise has been around for almost 15 years. During that time, it has thrilled, frustrated, and terrified viewers with its storylines, providing some of the most edge-of-seat moments of television in history. And you don't have to take my word for it - just ask the 17 million viewers were tuning into the mothership show in its prime. That's how popular this series was.
Even when its own demise was upon it, the saga found a new way to cheat death, spawning multiple spinoffs that could carry on the stories of some of the biggest characters introduced in the AMC series. And it has indeed offered the TWD Universe with a new way to live on, thrilling audiences with new adventures for Daryl Dixon, Carol Peletier, Maggie Rhee, Negan, Michonne and, yes, Rick Grimes.
However, the most recent installment of The Walking Dead franchise was dealt an unexpectedly harsh blow when it premiered on screens this month.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 opens to unexpectedly low ratings
The third season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon premiered on AMC on Sunday, September 7, and it was watched by 241,000 viewers on the night. This was an unexpectedly sharp drop for the series as it's down significantly from the season 2 finale (which brought in 476,000 viewers last year) and marks the lowest-viewed episode of the series to date. It's also the least-watched episode of the new spinoffs thus far, coming in just behind the third episode of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2's 355,000 viewers.
Given that there is evidence to suggest that Daryl Dixon is one of the most popular shows in the TWD franchise, what went wrong with the season 3 premiere? It certainly wasn't the reception as the response to the season was strong before it premiered, and there was certainly a level of buzz and excitement about its return. Daryl has managed to release new episodes annually so fans do have a vague idea of when to expect its new seasons to premiere (sometime in September), so why were the numbers so much lower this time around?
Granted, those are just the live viewership numbers and they don't count the large number of people who would have streamed it on the AMC+ streaming service. As the new spinoffs are released on the streamer nearly a whole day before they air on AMC, that would eat into the live viewership numbers. The same could be said for those who opt to watch it at different points throughout the week. However, it's also worth pointing out that the previous seasons of Daryl Dixon were available on AMC+ too, meaning that this drop is still pretty surprising.
The show had to contend with some heavy-hitting content on Sunday, though. The NFL season kicked off with a game between the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills while MTV's VMAs were also broadcast on CBS. It's well-documented that live broadcasts tend to reel more people in, so perhaps any Daryl Dixon fans who were torn on what to watch allowed the live programming to win out so that they could stream the show instead. There were fan theories that the competition on Sunday nights earlier this year (particularly from fellow zombie series The Last of Us) were responsible for the lower ratings that Dead City's second season opened to. The good news is that those ratings eventually went up... so hopefully the same can be said for Daryl Dixon.
Has franchise fatigue finally set in on The Walking Dead?
Some fans have pointed out that the lower numbers might simply be down to franchise fatigue. While The Walking Dead has gone down in history as one of the most popular TV shows of all time, its viewership in its final few seasons was a fraction of what it was at even the sixth or seven season. Throw in the fact that it ended after 11 seasons, there were already multiple spinoffs at that stage, and then three new ones were launched and it's a lot to juggle. And even though the first seasons of Daryl Dixon, Dead City and miniseries The Ones Who Live were all very successful, it's only natural that the numbers will continue to go down the longer that the franchise carries on for.
Dead City's unanticipated ratings drop when it returned for its second season was initially attributed that to the excessively long wait between its two seasons and the overall lack of visibility that the franchise has now. But Daryl Dixon's drop-off too could suggest a larger problem for the TWD Universe. Have viewers had enough of The Walking Dead? Not likely. Both shows are returning for at least one more season each, so there's clearly a demand for them. But the visibility is a problem, as the new shows just aren't as well-known as the original series and its spinoffs were.
Truthfully, The Walking Dead franchise continues to be extremely popular around the world so international deals to broadcast it in other countries ensures its continued success across the water. And even if its ratings on the night were impacted by other factors, the TWD shows have continually broken and set new records for the AMC+ streaming service. So, even if they don't watch on the night, people are still watching. And with more planned spinoffs potentially on the way, that's a good thing!
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 airs on AMC and AMC+ on Sunday nights.