As Season 5 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead shambles onward, ratings are dropping. However, the network has already renewed the zombie apocalypse series for a sixth season as the franchise continues to be the main drawcard for AMC.
Fear the Walking Dead is the companion to the original The Walking Dead series. Based in the same universe, Fear aims to follow a new group of characters that were not previously featured in either the TV or comic book versions of The Walking Dead . Even though the two programs are set in different locations across the U.S. and Mexico, the two programs have still managed to crossover. Morgan (Lennie James) crossed over from The Walking Dead and was later joined by Dwight (Austin Amelio). Even with these characters coming across from the mothership, Season 5 of Fear the Walking Dead has still managed to flounder.
Season 5 of Fear the Walking Dead has received plenty of critical commentaries and as the storylines continue to disappoint some fans, the ratings have dropped. The ongoing trend downwards appears to be in spite of news of a renewal of the series for a sixth season.
As Forbes points out, Episode 10 of Season 5 of Fear the Walking Dead only pulled in 1.37 million viewers. This is a current downward trend for the series that initially opened with more than 7 million viewers per episode on average during the first season. That number nearly halved in its second season, and a trend downwards has continued, albeit at a slower pace from there.
While the downward trend may be a concern, it needs to be noted that even though ratings are dropping for Fear the Walking Dead , the series is still one of AMC’s better-ranked shows. Newly released NOS4A2 brought in 680,000 viewers for its latest episode. Preacher saw 540,000 viewers. However, Better Call Saul has managed to beat Fear with its latest episode, pulling in 1.53 million viewers. Of course, none of AMC’s series currently beats The Walking Dead which saw 5.02 million viewers tune in for the Season 9 finale.
With Fear still pulling in more than a million viewers for each episode of Season 5, it seems unlikely that AMC is overly concerned just yet. Plus, with the back up of The Walking Dead and at least one more spinoff series already planned, it doesn’t look like viewers will be missing out on the Walking Dead universe any time soon.
Season 5 of Fear the Walking Dead returns to AMC with Episode 12, titled “Ner Tamid,” on September 2.
