This past weekend, the midseason finale for The Walking Dead's ninth season aired with the death of a major character, an intriguing development for a certain longstanding villain, and the surprise reveal of a new threat for the Hilltop community.

Despite this, the episode was the least watched and lowest rated midseason finale for the popular AMC survival horror series with a 2.0 rating and 5.1 million viewers during its initial broadcast. This falls below 2011's Season 2 midseason finale which had the previous series low of 6.6 million viewers.

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While a dubious distinction, this week's episode did see a 6 percent increase in overall viewers, including an 8 percent increase in viewers in the key demographic of viewers aged from 18-49, from last week's episode which received the lowest ratings and least amount of viewers for the series to date.

The series has seen shakeups both in regards to its cast and crew with Angela Kang making her debut as the new showrunner for the longrunning series this season while longtime stars Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan have both departed the main cast. With this in mind, The Walking Dead remains the third highest rated series on television with DVR numbers sure to increase the total amount of viewers for the midseason finale.

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Airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC, The Walking Dead stars Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Alanna Masterson, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Nadia Hilker, Dan Fogler, Angel Theory, Lauren Ridloff, and Eleanor Matsuura. With the series now reaching its mid-season finale, The Walking Dead will return from its winter hiatus with all-new episodes on February 10, 2019.

(via Deadline)