The Walking Dead spinoff The Ones Who Live has scored a huge ratings record following its premiere.
Starring Andrew Lincoln as fan favourite character Rick Grimes alongside Danai Gurira as Michonne, the show centres around Rick and Michonne reuniting after being torn apart in the ninth season of the flagship zombie drama – as well as solving a huge show mystery.
The first of six episodes has already broken two impressive records. According to Deadline, The Ones Who Live premiere is “now the most-watched episode of any show ever on [streaming service] AMC+.”
The other record shattered by Rick and Michonne is that the premiere episode “delivered 3 million viewers after three days of viewing”, according to Nielsen.
It was the biggest launch for a new AMC series in six years – since 2018’s premiere of The Terror.
The official synopsis of the series is as follows: “It is a love story between Rick and Michonne, kept apart by distance, an unstoppable power and the ghosts of who they were. They are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead — and, ultimately, a war against the living.
“Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they’ve ever known before? Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive — or will they find that they, too, are the walking dead?”
Digital Spy‘s review termed the show a slight let-down – with Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon the preferred spinoff.
“In fact, Daryl’s spinoff is far superior with the kind of innovation we would have expected more from Grimes, the former face of The Walking Dead. Perhaps if Rick’s show had led the charge, a lack of comparisons would have worked in its favour, but as it stands, Daryl is now the leader in more ways than one,” it said.
