This past Sunday night, “The Walking Dead” closed out its ninth season with an incredibly unique episode that brought a winter storm to the series for the first time. With a lead-in assist from the previous week’s devastating episode that separated ten characters from their heads, it probably comes as no surprise that the Season 9 finale ticked upwards in the ratings.
The bad news, however, is that it was still the least-watched finale to date.
Sunday night’s ‘The Storm’ had a 1.9 rating in adults 18-49 and pulled in 5 million total viewers, up from the previous week’s 4.15 million viewers. Previously, the lowest-rated finale was the first season’s, which had a 3.0 rating in the key demo and was watched by 6 million viewers. For a closer comparison, Season 8’s finale posted a 3.4 rating and 7.9 million viewers.
For the sake of context, here are the episode-by-episode numbers for Season 9:
- Episode 9.1 – 6.08 million
- Episode 9.2 – 4.95 million
- Episode 9.3 – 5.04 million
- Episode 9.4 – 5.10 million
- Episode 9.5 *Rick’s Final Episode* – 5.41 million
- Episode 9.6 – 5.40 million
- Episode 9.7 – 4.79 million
- Episode 9.8 *Mid-Season Finale* – 5.09 million
- Episode 9.9 *Mid-Season Premiere* – 5.16 million
- Episode 9.10 – 4.54 million
- Episode 9.11 – 4.39 million
- Episode 9.12 – 4.71 million
- Episode 9.13 – 4.83 million
- Episode 9.14 – 4.57 million
- Episode 9.15 – 4.15 million
- Episode 9.16 *Season Finale* – 5 million
Still, “The Walking Dead” remains the number 1 show on cable even with this steep decline, a true testament to just how much of a powerhouse juggernaut the series continues to be.
In terms of quality, even many of the show’s harshest critics agree that Season 9 was a big step in the right direction, with new show-runner Angela Kang bringing a fresh new direction to the series. A whole lot happened in Season 9, from Rick Grimes being written out to a massive time jump, and the big changes helped bring new life to the loooooong-running series.
With the “Whisperer War” on the horizon, we can expect much devastation when “The Walking Dead” returns in October. And for the first time in a while, I can’t wait to see what happens.
If you skipped Season 9, maybe use this time to play catch up. It’s a good one.
