The series premiere of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live proved a ratings winner for AMC and AMC+. The spinoff featuring fan favorites Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) began its first season by pulling in the biggest ratings of an AMC series since 2018.
According to the network, three million viewers watched the spinoff on its first night, earning it the top spot on the 2023/24 cable drama premiere chart in key demographics. Episode one also ranks as the most-watched episode of any series on AMC+.
“When we each began this extraordinary journey so many years ago, the most mind-meltingly beautiful moments have always been either with or about the fans. Playing trailers at San Diego Comic-Con, sharing the dark with 6,500 people, we both came to realize this is a story that is a connection between the passionate commitment of our remarkable crews and casts and the greatest fans in fandom,” said Lincoln and Gurira in a joint statement. “Telling this story from behind and in front of the cameras as a team has been a dream (sometimes a fever dream) and to see the response is even better than five pizzas and a wedding ring. We want to take this opportunity to thank those fans from the bottom of our blood-stained hearts. We all did this together. Big, Epic Love, Andrew and Danai”
The Ones Who Live is executive produced by Lincoln, Gurira, Denise Huth, Brian Bockrath, Greg Nicotero, and Scott M. Gimple, chief content officer of The Walking Dead Universe. Gimple also serves as the showrunner.
“On Sunday, we had an incredible reunion of TWD giants: Rick and Michonne — and the fans of The Walking Dead, both old and new,” said Gimple. “Danai and Andy’s mind-blowing work in front of and behind the camera, along with the efforts of a truly wonderful cast and crew was all for an audience we asked to believe just a little bit longer. We’re grateful they did.”
New episodes air on Sundays on AMC and AMC+ at 9pm.
“What a start for The Ones Who Live, the biggest episode of television in the history of AMC+ for both viewership and customer acquisition, the top cable drama of the current TV season in key demos and our biggest AMC series premiere in six years,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “This is a show the world, and particularly the incredibly passionate and engaged fans of this universe, have been waiting for and essentially willed into existence. Thanks to Danai, Andy and Scott for everything it took to get here and all that is yet to come. We can’t wait to share the rest of this incredible season with the fans over the next five weeks.”
In addition to Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, the series stars Pollyanna McIntosh, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Terry O’Quinn, Matthew August Jeffers, Craig Tate, Breeda Wool, and Andrew Bachelor.
