The Walking Dead franchise suffers unexpected loss ahead of 2027 return

It's fair to say that, throughout its two-decade run, the Walking Dead franchise has been the undisputed champion of the AMC network. Granted, throughout those early years of the original show's run, it faced stiff competition from the likes of Breaking Bad and spinoff Better Call Saul, but in terms of raw viewership and commercial success, the zombie series succeeded in ways that put it firmly in its own league.

Even after the sheen of the show wore off and cable television began to decline, the TWD Universe has remained at the center of AMC's programming, with three newer spinoffs carrying on the legacy of The Walking Dead via streaming platform AMC+, telling more stories focused on some of the show's most beloved characters. And yet, in the grand old year of 2026, the saga's spinoffs have been unexpectedly bested by a new challenger.

YAGA surpasses Walking Dead spinoffs' launches on AMC+

It's official: AMC's new supernatural drama YAGA is a juggernaut. The cable network has revealed that the series now holds the record for the No. 1 exclusive series launch in AMC+ history, delivering record viewership and subscriber acquisition to the streaming platform since its premiere at the end of October. Yes, that means that is officially surpasses The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live - which launched to the streamer's biggest numbers back in 2024.

This is extremely surprising, especially to those who had resigned themselves to the fact that the Walking Dead franchise would always post the biggest launch numbers for the AMC+ streamer - which has very much relied on the franchise's massive appeal since its own launch. After all, that's exactly what it has been doing since those newer spinoffs began making their presence felt on it just a few short years.

When the Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan-led The Walking Dead: Dead City launched in summer 2023, it set the record for the biggest exclusive series launch in AMC+ history. A few months later (in September 2023), the Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride-led The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon surpassed that record, becoming the streamer's biggest exclusive show. And then, at the beginning of 2024, Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira made their long-awaited returns as Rick Grimes and Michonne in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, which definitively set the record once again for the highest launch in AMC+ history.

The Ones Who Live hasn't had another season as it was explicitly designed as a miniseries, while subsequent seasons of Daryl Dixon and Dead City haven't managed to outperform the Rick and Michonne series. Despite AMC+ continuing to produce other popular titles like Interview With A Vampire it truly seemed like nothing would be able to topple The Ones Who Live; people had waited for Rick and Michonne's return for years, and the spinoff delivered. And now, almost three years later, YAGA has managed to do the unthinkable.

The supernatural series is a reimagining of the Baba Yaga story and it features a star-studded cast, including Carrie-Anne Moss, Noah Reid, Clark Backo, and Heated Rivalry breakout Hudson Williams. Expectations were indeed very high for it, but even that didn't prepare audiences for the strong opening performance on AMC+. YAGA made an impression, that's for sure!

The question is: Can the Walking Dead franchise ever hope to reclaim this record? It's possible, but the window is closing. As we said, subsequent seasons of the current spinoffs haven't managed to replicate those launch numbers in the years since The Ones Who Live's premiere, so it's hard to imagine that a new offshoot might. There is a chance that the upcoming fourth and final season of Daryl Dixon could pull it off considering how beloved Daryl and Carol Peletier are, but considering that we are talking about a fourth season here, that won't change the fact that YAGA is now the biggest series launch.

AMC does have plans to launch more Walking Dead spinoffs in the years ahead - as the franchise remains its crown jewel - but it's unclear if any of them could have the juice to overtake those earlier spinoffs' numbers. Not only did those shows star legends from the OG series, the franchise itself is aging up with each year, meaning that not everybody is rushing to see new installments as they release - despite their long-term success. And yet, there is one potential spinoff that could pull this off.

For years, fans have been calling for one final Walking Dead spinoff that would bring the casts of all three newer offshoots back together. That would see Rick and Michonne, Daryl and Carol, and Maggie and Negan, team up for one more adventure in an Avengers: Endgame-like crossover that would essentially function as a revival season / twelfth season of the original show. Considering that this would likely serve as a series finale to the TWD Universe - or at least the current phase of it - it could very well have the power to overtake YAGA as the most successful series launch in AMC+ history.

Until then, however, congratulations to YAGA on an absolutely phenomenonal accomplishment!