LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: There is no doubt about ‘The Walking Dead’s popularity and the vast fandom that the series has garnered since 2010. This particular series gave rise to the post-apocalyptic genre in television and paved the way for future series. While ‘The Walking Dead’ was a vastly popular series, it did see a significant decline in viewership somewhere in the middle of the series, which also turned into one of the more popular discourses surrounding this particular series.
‘The Walking Dead’ was absolutely brutal when it came to killing characters, and eventually, major character deaths became a norm. However, the fans weren’t too pleased about it, especially not after the death of Glenn Rhee, played by Steven Yeun. His death marked the downfall of ‘The Walking Dead’ series, although, that was only a starting point.
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Glenn’s death and the decline in viewership
It would be a little unfair to the entire ‘The Walking Dead’ franchise if the decline in viewership was chalked up to one character’s death. However, Glenn’s death was most definitely the starting point of it all. Forbes has detailed a very important question in regards to ‘The Walking Dead’ and this mysterious phenomenon which asks the viewers and fans the precise moment they all gave up on watching the post-apocalyptic series. Glenn’s death was one of the most monumental scenes of ‘The Walking Dead’ which takes place in Season 7 of the popular series.
This death was inevitable and was also highlighted in the comics that the series has been adapted from. While this major character’s death impacted a lot of viewers and their opinions of ‘The Walking Dead’ an interesting Reddit thread reads, “Glenn's death was NOT the reason viewership went down, If anything Glenn's death kept ratings up.” Now this juxtaposition might leave people confused, but if you have been a fan of the series, chances are, you agree with this Reddit thread.
Glenn’s death and the decline in viewership were two events that coincided with each other, and while fans were disappointed with the death, that wasn’t why they stopped watching it. After Season 7, there was a steady decline in viewership, much like most series’ that overstay their welcome. Glenn’s death was simply the marker of decline, not the reason. After ‘The Walking Dead’ the franchise has seen several spinoffs, the most recent one being, ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City.’
‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’
The upcoming series is a spin-off of the franchise that focuses on Maggie Greene and Negan. Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan will reprise their roles as Maggie and Negan respectively. ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ is officially the fourth spin-off series, and one can only hope that a character’s death doesn’t spark the decline in viewership of this series too. ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ is scheduled to premiere on June 18, 2023, and will consist of six episodes.
