The Walking Dead Season 10 Premiere Ratings Fall to All-Time Series Low

Things are only getting more difficult for The Walking Dead as time goes on. Over the last few seasons, AMC‘s long-running zombie drama has continued to decline in the ratings as well as in its overall viewership, and losing stars like Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan certainly hasn’t helped. Despite the fact that the series is better now than it has been in years, and AMC is bringing Cohan back into the fold in the near future, the ratings are still sliding. This past Sunday’s premiere, “Lines We Cross,” was the least viewed episode in series history.

According to Deadline, the Season 10 premiere of The Walking Dead saw just 4 million people tune in live, which is 34% less than the Season 9 premiere last October, and 3% less than the previous series low, “The Calm Before,” which aired back in March. The new episode scored a 1.4 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic, the lowest of any season premiere for the series.

All of that is certainly bad news for The Walking Dead, though there is a silver lining to be found in it all. The paid subscription service AMC Premiere released the new season premiere of The Walking Dead a full week ahead of its television debut on Sunday. Plenty of folks likely paid the $5 for the subscription service and watched the episode in advance, making the ratings dip a lot more palatable.

Going forward, AMC will continue to release new episodes of The Walking Dead onto the streaming service early, though not as early as the season premiere. Each of the new additions to Season 10 will arrive on the service 48 hours before they air on TV.

If you’re worried that these numbers might mean trouble for The Walking Dead‘s future, go ahead and put those worries aside. At New York Comic Con this past weekend, AMC announced that The Walking Dead had been renewed for an 11th season, coming in 2020. Danai Gurira will have departed the show by then but it was revealed that Lauren Cohan would be making her return.

Do you think these ratings will have any impact on The Walking Dead‘s survival past Season 11? Will AMC’s streaming option help the series continue? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

New episodes of The Walking Dead air on Sunday nights at 9 pm ET on AMC.