Terminus brings in record ratings for 'The Walking Dead'

"The Walking Dead" reached Terminus with quite a climax: its best finale ratings ever.

AMC's zombie smash gathered 15.7 million total viewers on Sunday, according to Nielsen. That was easily the show's most-watched season closer ever and up 27% compared with the Season 3 finale last year.

It was also well above "Walking Dead's" season average of 13.3 million.

However, the finale did not quite match the 16.1 million for the Season 4 premiere back in October. It's the first time in "Walking Dead" history that a season finale has not topped the ratings for the season premiere. That leads to questions about whether "Walking Dead" can keep growing in Season 5 - or whether the show has peaked.

The season ended with a shootout at the Terminus, the rail station that a group of survivors saw as a sort of safe house from "walkers" (zombies). 

"The Talking Dead" aftershow delivered a record 7.3 million viewers - a figure higher than that for many series on broadcast TV.

~latimes.com