For the first time in six seasons, ratings for AMC’s flagship series The Walking Dead slipped year over year. It wasn’t a huge drop, and it didn’t affect its position as the top-rated show on television, but in its most recent season, The Walking Dead wasn’t as dominant as it has been in recent years. However, going into the finale, showrunner Scott Gimple and creator Robert Kirkman could have easily left well enough alone. Even if ratings continued to drop at their current rate, The Walking Dead could probably reign at the top for another three of four seasons. Instead, they took a calculated risk in the hopes of reversing the trend.
Their decision ultimately set up the biggest cliffhanger on television since the season three cliffhanger of Lost, and they had to know that it would leave viewers seething with frustration. The Walking Dead fans had spent the better part of a year anticipating not only the arrival of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan, but speculating about who he would kill. Ultimately, the series gave us Negan’s arrival but left the identity of his victim in doubt.
Fans went apesh*t, with some going as far as petitioning AMC to reveal the cliffhanger. Kirkman and Gimple probably expected angry fans, but perhaps they didn’t expect to spend the next two months responding and apologizing. In their frustration, some fans threatened to quit the series. Others railed against the show, arguing that it was a misstep because we’d all know by the time the season premiere rolled around who was going to die. The cliffhanger will be spoiled, they argued.
With the season seven premiere less than a week away, however, it’s beginning to look like the gamble paid off. There are still those who haven’t forgiven The Walking Dead for making us wait six months, but for the most part, the frustration has turned into genuine excitement. Sunday night’s episode will be something we rarely see anymore: An actual TV event. Premiere parties are being organized, which is strange considering the subject material. Friends and families will gather around their televisions this Sunday night to excitedly watch a man with a baseball bat bash someone (or multiple someones) to death. In fact, a month after the sixth season debuted on Netflix, binge-watching fans of the series who typically wait until the next season comes out on the streaming service are scrambling to find a place to watch the premiere because they don’t want to be spoiled on Monday. (And believe me, no one will be able to escape spoilers on Monday).
Concerns that the cliffhanger would be spoiled before the premiere have also largely been allayed (thanks in part to AMC’s threat to sue a fan website known for spoiling episodes). The truth is, that site still may have already spoiled the premiere. Or we may have spoiled the premiere. We have all cultivated our own theories, and AMC has been so good about spreading misinformation that the internet has been unable to settle upon one outcome. Each theory raises doubts about another, leaving us more confused about the potential victim. At this point, the most surprising development might be something as straightforward as following the Kirkman’s source material. Would it not be unexpected — and almost poetic — if Kirkman did what he promised last year and killed off Glenn?
The cliffhanger has also had Kirkman and Gimple’s desired effect: It gave fans something to talk about in between seasons. Our speculation may have been tinged with anger for the first couple of months, but now The Walking Dead fans genuinely have something to look forward to. What would we all be talking about five days before the premiere if the series had actually given us resolution in the sixth season finale? When we’ll meet Ezekiel? Will Enid ever get out of the closet? Will Michonne and Rick ever break up? Speculating about who Negan will kill is much more fun. Look at Game of Thrones for comparison’s sake. Last year, we spent a frustrating nine months talking about whether Jon Snow was dead or alive. This season, there’s far less chatter surrounding the series, which is going into its penultimate season, because last season’s finale didn’t leave us with an open question as compelling as Jon Snow’s fate.
The one challenge — and it’s a big one — is how The Walking Dead hangs on to its audience after the season premiere. AMC can guarantee that millions of viewers will show up for the season seven premiere. I suspect it will be the highest rated episode of the show’s run. However, after the Big Bash, The Walking Dead will need to come up with something to keep viewers invested. Gimple and Kirkman have said all along that they held back in the sixth season finale because Negan’s victim is the beginning of the season seven storyline. They have promised that the wait will be worth it, and that it will all make sense in the context of the entire seventh season. They’re going to need to deliver on that not just by killing off a major character, but by setting up a compelling arc for this season. I don’t know how The Walking Dead can raise the stakes even higher, but it’s going to need to figure out how to ratchet it up another level, and it’s going to need to do so without the benefit of cliffhangers.
The degree of difficulty here is high, but the show does have one ace in the hole: Jeffrey Dean Morgan. He’s the only The Walking Dead actor who was widely known before being cast on the series, and by all evidence, he’s the perfect Negan: Evil, ruthless, and somehow charming, the kind of villain capable of becoming a fast fan favorite. As long as Negan is around, and as long as he’s a threat, I suspect The Walking Dead will have little trouble hanging on to its massive audience.
