"The Walking Dead" appears to be slightly dying, as a show, according to its current season's rating which has now been the lowest ever since the show began.
Apparently, the current season 8 of the show began losing its appeal ever since Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) died, partly due to the fact that he is one of the central and original characters of the show, and also because a lot of people seem to like him. Since his death, the show appears to be suffering consecutive low episode viewership.
Episode 10 of season 8, titled "The Lost and the Plunderers," only had a viewer rating of 2.9 among adults aged 18–49 years old. While the actual number of people who watched the episode only numbered in at 6.8 million for live and same-day viewing.
By comparison, the last time "The Walking Dead" had a viewer rating below 3.0 was season 1 episode, "Wildfire," which had 2.8. Meanwhile, the second lowest number of people who watched an episode on the same day was from season 2's "Better Angels," which had less than seven million viewers. By far, "The Lost and the Plunderers" hit both low notes and could be regarded as one of the worst episodes based on viewership alone.
However, the producers of "The Walking Dead" do not seem to be worried and are confident that the show will carry on and might even bounce back on its feet. They also insist that the brand of the show is as strong as ever, perhaps because "The Walking Dead" still remains as one of AMC's most popular contenders, even more popular than shows like "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" during the height of their prominence.
Right now, the ratings and current viewership are not enough reasons for the showrunners to fear cancellation, though should the decline become sustained, then some new decisions and twists might be in order to improve the show's standing or bring it back to how it was during its peak.
With that said, the next season of "The Walking Dead" will have a new showrunner, meaning changes are definitely in order and to be expected for the future of the title.
