The Walking Dead is a horror TV show whose reign over Netflix has spanned from Oct. 31, 2010, to Nov. 20, 2022. The post-apocalyptic setting and zombified aspect have kept viewers on their toes for the past 12 years, eagerly anticipating the trials and tribulations of each new season. The show amassed millions of viewers over the course of its run-time and arguably reached its peak in 2014 when season five aired. The premiere of season five is The Walking Dead’s most-watched episode ever, with 17.29 million tuning in. That was when TWD was action-packed and interesting. The plots made sense, they were new and refreshing, and the writers didn’t recycle old foes or plot points. Characters stayed true to their personalities and didn’t change or make stupid decisions baselessly. The Walking Dead may have reached its peak in season five, but merely seasons after, it declined rapidly.
As one of AMC’s biggest series debuts, there was a colossal amount of pressure to keep interests piqued, and TWD tried to do that by adding new villains, with each new one more sinister and deadly than the last. One of the series’ most prominent and horrifying villains was Negan, the barbed-wire-bat-wielding, charismatic, foul-mouthed leader played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Negan made his first appearance after much ominous talk in the season six finale, where he notoriously took the life of Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz) in an incredibly brutal fashion. Since his introduction, nearly the entirety of the next two seasons revolved around Rick Grimes and his community trying to put an end to Negan’s terrifying reign.
Arguably, season eight is where the show went downhill. Season eight experienced a change in character for Rick Grimes and one of the most controversial deaths that TWD has seen yet. Down almost 10 million viewers from season six to season eight, it was quite evident that TWD was running out of ideas to keep people intrigued. Many fans argued that the show writers wasted the potential of young Carl Grimes by lazily killing him off halfway through season eight. The whole Negan/Saviors plot line was drawn out, and fan-favorite Rick Grimes became uncharacteristically selfish and vengeance-driven. For a man who prioritized saving his family, his neglect of his child and blood-thirsty attitude didn’t go over well with the audience, and many saw this as an aberration from Rick’s typical character. Not only did TWD writers fumble what could have been a fantastic Carl Grimes plotline, but they also brought back a season one character just to kill him off in a 1v1 minutes later. Many of the choices seemed arbitrary and poorly thought out. Considering that Rick Grimes supposedly “dies” in episode five of season nine, allowing Carl Grimes (15) to step up and follow in his father’s footsteps as leader of Alexandria would’ve been the perfect arc for his character.
The number of viewers from season five (15.8 million) declined to a mere five million for season nine. Though an unpopular opinion, season nine picked up slightly in its entertainment quality, with Rick trying to rally all the communities to build the future that his son, Carl, wanted after the downfall of Negan. Though season nine brought in a new villain, Alpha, and killed off more fan favorites at the end of the season, it was not enough to keep viewers interested. Seasons 10 and 11 both suffered serious viewer losses, with 2.93 million and 3.1 million views, respectively. Michonne, Rick’s wife and a powerhouse since her introduction in season three, also left the series in season nine to go search for Rick. Leaving TWD with only a few of the original characters and an abundance of the forgettable ones, there wasn’t much to watch for. Though Daryl Dixon, a man who spoke only in grunts, received more lines and took on a fatherly role, there weren’t many other compelling character arcs or storylines, and the show suffered severely because of that. Needless to say, despite the refreshing qualities that season nine brought to the franchise, season eight started the decline of TWD and it only went downhill from there.
‘The Walking Dead’: Ranking All 11 Seasons, From Worst to Best (tvinsider.com)
All 11 ‘The Walking Dead’ seasons, ranked
All 11 Seasons of ‘The Walking Dead’, Ranked From Worst to Best (collider.com)
The Walking Dead season 8 recap | Den of Geek
‘The Walking Dead’ by the Numbers: Looking Back at AMC’s Massive Hit (hollywoodreporter.com)