The Walking Dead universe has expanded beyond all borders since its flagship series ended in 2022. New spinoffs like Daryl Dixon, Dead City, and The Ones Who Live take the franchise’s most popular characters and throw them into new adventures that challenge the very premise of the fictional universe. At first, I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the idea of The Walking Dead ending and spinning its most popular characters out into different series. However, the last few years have proven me wrong.

Long before the spinoffs aired, The Walking Dead began to struggle to keep its viewership base happy. While hardcore fans stuck around, the original series lost viewers in its last few seasons, becoming the quintessential show that everyone used to watch. Few of the viewers lost in these last few seasons have returned for the recent spinoffs–but they might be missing out. With The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2, subtitled “The Book of Carol,” upon us, now is the time for old TWD fans to return to the franchise.

Why Did People Stop Watching The Walking Dead?

The Walking Dead Began Losing Viewers Somewhere Around Season 7

Cast of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol

Character
Played By

Daryl Dixon
Norman Reedus

Carol Peletier
Melissa McBride

Isabelle Carriere
Clémence Posey

Laurent
Louis Puech Scigliuzzi

Marion Genet
Anne Charrier

Stéphane Codron
Romain Levi

Dr. Lafleur
François Delaive

The Walking Dead was once hailed as one of the best post-apocalyptic shows of all time, but many viewers and critics agree that it took a downward turn over the years. What began as a tight, emotional exploration of how far someone would go to protect themselves and their family eventually became a more serialized drama that some found repetitive and at times melodramatic. These changes helped the show maintain its longevity but also left some viewers disappointed by its lessened artistic flair. However, even hardcore Walking Dead enthusiasts had trouble getting through the show’s roughest patch.

Many point to the moment when Negan killed fan-favorite character Glenn Rhee in the Season 7 premiere as a turning point for the series. More than simply killing off a beloved character, this moment marked the beginning of the Savior War arc, which the series had been building up to for years. However, drawn-out storylines and toothless storytelling left fans disappointed by what should have been the show’s greatest era. Seasons 7 and 8 are generally viewed as the worst in the show’s history and featured its biggest drop in viewership. While the arrival of new showrunner Angela Kang in Season 9 signaled a rise in quality, The Walking Dead never returned to the same levels of popularity that it had in its early seasons. The series was still popular by the time it ended with Season 11, but it was nowhere near the ratings juggernaut that it had once been.

Why The Walking Dead Deserves Another Chance

The Walking Dead Spinoffs Reinvigorate the Franchise

The Walking Dead Franchise

Series
Years
IMDb Rating
Rotten Tomatoes Score
Streaming

The Walking Dead
2010-2022
8.1/10

Fear the Walking Dead
2015-2023
6.8/10
73%

The Walking Dead: World Beyond
2020-2021
4.5/10
46%
AMC+

Tales of the Walking Dead
2022
5.9/10
74%

The Walking Dead: Dead City
2023-Present
7.1/10
80%

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
2023-Present
7.6/10
79%
Netflix AMC+

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
2024
7.9/10
88%
AMC+

I understand viewers’ problems with The Walking Dead in its later seasons, though I always stayed faithful to the series (even during that rough patch of bonus episodes at the end of Season 10). And, while the spinoff ideas didn’t click with me at first, I gave them a shot and was for the most part pleasantly surprised. The Walking Dead: Dead City didn’t grip me as much as I had hoped it would, but Maggie Rhee and Negan Smith are always a delight onscreen and were entertaining enough for me to come back for Season 2 later this year. The true turning point for me was the first season of Daryl Dixon. With a brand-new setting in France, a cast of fresh characters, and a surprising premise, Daryl Dixon found inventive ways to challenge a character who fans have been following for nearly fifteen years. The storytelling was tight in much the same way as the first season of The Walking Dead and left me wanting more.

While I loved Daryl Dixon‘s first season, it was The Ones Who Live that proved to me that The Walking Dead wasn’t dead after all. The Rick and Michonne spinoff had a lot to live up to after years of buildup, but it mostly succeeded. The series carries a gravity that has been absent from The Walking Dead for years and manages to find new dimensions to Rick and Michonne’s relationships. While the finale felt a little rushed, Rick and Michonne’s long-awaited reunion with their children felt well-earned and delivered an emotional punch, unlike anything The Walking Dead fans have seen in years.

The strength of these new spinoffs is their smaller, more concentrated storytelling. The Walking Dead spinoffs separate the original show’s most popular characters and ditch the humongous and sometimes suffocating ensemble of the original series. Finally, characters like Daryl, Carol, Maggie, Negan, Rick, and Michonne get the chance to take the spotlight again, and they all prove to be just as compelling as they were at the height of The Walking Dead‘s popularity. The character work that made the first series so popular has returned–and The Walking Dead is much better as a result.

The Walking Dead has had its rough patches over the years. Even so, the franchise has largely recovered, though mostly under the radar. Fans who walked away from the original series might find themselves enjoying the spinoffs in the same way they did in the earlier years of the franchise.