Fear The Walking Dead Season 5s Optimism Could Save the Entire Franchise
A new trailer for Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 promises hope, which is exactly what the franchise needs right now.
The brand new extended trailer for Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 has been released, and while it has a familiar horror refrain in its title, the trailer actually brings a level of optimism that rarely exists in its parent television series, The Walking Dead.
The new trailer is titled "We Are Coming for You." While that phrase brings back memories of Night of the Living Dead when Johnny teases his sister by saying "they're coming to get you, Barbara," the meaning in this trailer has a very different connotation. In this case, Morgan and the survivors are coming for people who need help.
The trailer seems like a breath of fresh air for people who have been watching The Walking Dead kill anyone and everyone without care for the past nine seasons. While horror fans love a good on-screen death, nine seasons of relentless slaughter seems to be driving fans away by the truckloads.
The Walking Dead Ratings Drop
At one time, The Walking Dead had some of the best ratings on television. From Season 1 until Season 5, ratings climbed every year. By the fifth season, the AMC zombie series averaged 14.38 million viewers an episode.
The first drop came in Season 6, when the series fell to 13.15 million viewers. Season 7 brought that number down to 11.35 million before bottoming out at 7.82 million in Season 8. What happened? In Season 6, the survivors were starting to settle into their new home in Alexandria, an ideal-looking location where it seemed they could finally find peace. Then, in the season finale, Negan showed up and killed someone, leaving fans with a cliffhanger to hold onto for the entire summer.
Fans started to get angry. When the Season 7 premiere arrived, two beloved characters met their end by way of Lucille's might, writing both Glenn and Abraham off the show. Fans started to leave after those gruesome deaths. While horror fans salivate at intense and violent kills, mainstream fans who tune in to see their favorite characters fight for survival started to realize their beloved favorites were eventually going to die.
In Season 8, Carl Grimes died, marking another major loss for the series. Then, early in Season 9, Rick and Maggie both left. Even later in Season 9, where the quality is markedly the best it has been in years, the season ended with more deaths -- 10 heads on pikes, including two teenagers and longtime character Tara.
Fans are turning away in droves, and this season the ratings for The Walking Dead hit an all-time low, as the episode "Omega" only had an audience of 4.54 million viewers and a 1.7 rating.
Shawn S. Lealos is a freelance writer who received his Bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma with a minor in Film Studies. He has worked as a journalist for 25 years, starting in newspapers and magazines before moving to online media as the world changed. Shawn is a former member of the Society of Professional Journalists and a current voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has work published on websites like The Huffington Post, Yahoo Movies, Chud, Renegade Cinema, and 411mania. Shawn is also a published author, with a non-fiction book about the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers and has begun work on a new fiction series as well. Visit Shawn Lealos' website to learn more about his novel writing and follow him on Twitter @sslealos.
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