‘The Walking Dead’ hasn’t been breaking any viewing records recently and Pollyanna McIntosh, who plays Jadis in the show, has tried to explain the audience drop-off.

During an interview with ComicBook.com, McIntosh shared her perspective on the ratings slide, saying: “We listen to what they [the fans] have to say, and we’re in touch with them in lots of ways.”

“I think season seven knocked a lot of people sideways with the gore, you know? And we took that into account, but it also set up… the truth of it, this is a show from a comic book, you know?”


McIntosh continues: “people will be dying in hideous ways. I mean, that’s part of the personality of the comic book. And as long as we keep the great character development and the great threads of morality and the human condition within there, I think we have some room to have a bit of fun with that blood and gore.”

Last week’s episode of the AMC zombie show slumped to the show’s lowest audience rating in the US for an episode since its second season, dropping to below eight million viewers for the first time in over five years.

Read more: AMC boss says ‘The Walking Dead’ could go on as a franchise for decades

The last time an episode of The Walking Dead registered an episode rate below 8 million viewers was back in season two, when the March 2012 episode ‘Better Angels’ attracted just 6.89 million viewers.