Well, it was bound to happen sometime.
After years of shattering expectations with continued audience growth, The Walking Dead finally showed signs it may be slowing down. Per Nielsen reports, the season six premiere of AMC's zombie series opened to 14.6 million total viewers and a 7.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which are massive numbers for sure, but down a bit from season five's record-breaking numbers.
The series made history last season when it premiered to an audience of 17.3 millions viewers, and its finale was nothing to sniff at. The highest-rated in its run, the show closed out the season with 15.8 million fans tuned in.
Though it didn't break any more records, the series was still the evening's No. 1 program, even beating NFL football on NBC. Additionally, it had a massive social media footprint on Sunday night. The Walking Dead was mentioned in nearly one million tweets and was the No. 1 show on Facebook.
The start to the new season played around with time a bit, kicking things off in the future with Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his crew crafting a plan to deal with the most walkers in the show's history, while bouncing back to the immediate aftermath of the events of season five's finale. New characters were introduced (Hi, Heath!), some characters were suspiciously missing (Wherefore art thou, Carl?), and it all ended with alarm bells that almost certainly equal doom for Alexandria.
Are you surprised the show didn't break its own record? Sound off in the comments below!
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.