While Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan has injected some much-needed life into The Walking Dead, the villain has too often been ignored in favour of dull standalone episodes or repetitive shots of the survivors kneeling by cars and firing assault rifles. As a result of this apparent dip in the show's quality of storytelling, ratings have been falling and the series constantly seems to hit new viewing lows.
Season eight of The Walking Dead saw it sink to a six-year low but Skybound Entertainment CEO and executive producer David Alpert has weighed in on why he believes this decrease is no big deal.
"I don’t think in any way the brand has lost its relevance in general," he explains. "I think we’re just seeing a decline in urgency across all media to consume something at a specific time." While there's some truth to that, it still doesn't explain this severity of the show's dip in viewership but it appears as if many viewers now choose to pirate The Walking Dead as opposed to paying to watch it live.
It's also worth noting that the show still hasn't been renewed for a ninth season. In contrast, season eight was announced almost immediately after the season seven premiere so the network may be mulling over its options and some big behind the scenes changes too. What do you guys think?
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