The Walking Dead ratings in the US have been decaying for some time now, but soon-to-be-former showrunner Scott Gimple wants us to look at TV as a whole.

Season eight's premiere might have pulled in 11.4 million viewers, yet the ratings haven't come close to that since, hovering around the 6.5m-7m range, with last week's episode 'Still Gotta Mean Something' posting a season low of 6.3 million and a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49.

"People are watching The Walking Dead in a variety of ways now. But it is exciting that it is still at the top of live television and that people are sharing a live experience," Gimple told TheWrap, adding "ratings across television have gone down" since the show started in 2010.

Albert L Ortega Getty Images

"If The Walking Dead was a person and just sort of, like, zapped into 2018, they wouldn't recognise the world anymore. So it's absolutely fair play to bring up that the ratings have gone down on Walking Dead, but it is a little silly not to bring up the entirety of television," he expanded.

"I like hearing about high ratings of any TV show nowadays just because I like the idea of people watching it together, and of people having an experience together. And I want to continue to work on ways to tell stories that encourages people to watch it all on the same night."

Gene Page AMC

The last time Gimple will get to do that with The Walking Dead is with the season eight finale, before he starts his new role as Chief Content Officer of the entire Walking Dead universe.

What that means for Fear the Walking Dead season four and The Walking Dead season nine remains to be seen, but we do at least know that the upcoming finale will feature a flashback to Carl's younger days. We're not ready.

The Walking Dead airs on AMC on Sundays at 9/8c on in the US, and on FOX and NOW TVon Mondays at 9pm in the UK.

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