Game Of Thrones Season 7 Premiere Comes Up Short Of The Walking Dead Season 7 Premiere

The numbers are in and while the Game of Thrones Season 7 premiere broke records at HBO, it couldn’t top the live viewership of The Walking Dead‘s Season 7 premiere.

Game of Thrones premiered it seventh season on Sunday night to 10.1 million viewers, a 27% increase from the previous record holder in the Season 6 premiere which earned 8.89 million viewers. The Walking Dead‘s controversial Season 7 premiere, however, topped 17 million viewers as the mystery of “Who did Negan kill?” was finally resolved.

The HBO series added 6 million same day viewers with playback and streaming services, bringing the total to 16.1 million viewers.

While the seventh season of Game of Thrones is the penultimate of the series, The Walking Dead is showing no signs of slowing down. The AMC series will likely run well beyond the upcoming eighth season which will debut its trailer this Friday at San Diego Comic Con, preparing for another sixteen episode run. Game of Thrones has seven episodes remaining in its seventh season.

In the aftermath of the Season 7 premiere for The Walking Dead, the ratings of the show dropped drastically. Much of this is credited to the violence which came along with Glenn and Abraham’s deaths as Negan bashed their skulls with a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat. Following the premiere, which was the second most-watched episode of the series, the viewers dropped to 12.46 million viewers and would go through various peaks and valleys as the season continued.

MORE WALKING DEAD: Why Morgan Is Next Season 1 Character To Die / AMC Releases Statement On John Bernecker’s Death / John Bernecker’s Family Releases Statement / FearTWD Wrapes Production On Season 3 / The Walking Dead Halts Season 8 Production

Fear the Walking Dead returns September 10. The Walking Dead will return for its eighth season in October with a trailer coming in July at San Diego Comic Con. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.