The Walking Dead franchise is one of the biggest things going on TV righter now. So it should come as no surprise that AMC has renewed Fear the Walking Dead for Season 3 only after one Season 2 episode has aired. Consisting of 16 all-new episodes, the Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson created horror drama will return in 2017 after this latest run finishes in late 2016. President of AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios Charlie Collier had this to say to Deadline today.
“What Dave Erickson and Robert Kirkman have invented in Fear The Walking Dead is to be applauded. Watching Los Angeles crumble through the eyes of our characters and seeing each make decisions and try to figure out the rules of their new world – it’s fresh, eerie and compelling and we’re all in for the ride.”
Fear the Walking Dead returned for its sophomore run this past week, with the first new episode premiering on April 10. The episode garnered the same Live + Same Day numbers as the Season 1 finale from October of last year. The debut was down 37%, however, from Season 1’s record-breaking cable high in the key 18-49 age demographic. The show also saw a decline of 34% in overall viewers from its very first show.
Despite this slide in ratings, the zombie spinoff is still the second highest rated show on cable this season in the 18-49 year old demographic. It is only behind the original Walking Dead. On all of TV, including broadcast and cable, Fear the Walking Dead is the 7th highest rated show of the season thus far. And that includes Sunday Night Football.
Fear the Walking Dead is airing its second season of 15 episodes in two parts, beginning with the first of seven episodes this past Sunday. The remaining eight episodes will air later in 2016. The series, which delivered the highest-rated first season of any series in cable history among total viewers and all key demos in live+3 ratings, is executive produced by showrunner Dave Erickson, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero and David Alpert and stars Kim Dickens as Madison, Cliff Curtis as Travis, Frank Dillane as Nick, Alycia Debnam Carey as Alicia, Rubén Blades as Daniel, Mercedes Masöhn as Ofelia, Lorenzo James Henrie as Chris and Colman Domingo as Strand.