The Walking Dead season-four finale ratings are insane. There's no other way to put it. The fourth season ender had 15.7 million viewers and 10.2 million adults in the 18-49 demographic, setting a new record for finales.
Talking Dead, The Walking Dead aftershow, posted a series best of 7.3 million viewers.
"The linear television business is Dead and well," Charlie Collier, AMC president, said in a statement. "Thanks to Robert Kirkman, Scott Gimple, the other terrific executive producers and the entire cast, crew and network for working together to bring the fans (myself included) another unforgettable season of The Walking Dead. To see this show serve as the centerpiece of a truly historic night on AMC is truly gratifying. So many played a role in this success, across all three shows, in giving the fans a reason to continue to return in ever-greater numbers. And so we say, until next fall, ‘Welcome to Terminus.'"
The fourth season premiere of AMC's zombie apocalypse drama had more than 16 million viewers in October 2013. The midseason premiere in February 2014 had 15.8 million viewers. Season four averaged 13.3 million live/same day viewers on AMC. Like the zombie plague in the show, The Walking Dead ratings are unstoppable.
The Walking Dead will return for a fifth season this fall. AMC is also working with comic book co-creator and series executive producer Kirkman on a spinoff of sorts from The Walking Dead. Sons of Anarchy veteran David Erickson will co-write and executive produce the companion series.
"I can say that it will be another group of characters, surviving in another part of the world. And it's not going to use any of the core cast from our show. The show will continue uninterrupted, as if the other show doesn't exist. But the other show will kind of be its own entity," Kirkman said at a comic book convention in January.