10.5M watched 'Walking Dead' mid-season finale

• Tweet

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- About 10.5 million viewers tuned in to the mid-season finale of the Georgia-set zombie drama "The Walking Dead," AMC announced.

The last fresh episode until February aired Sunday night at 9 p.m. EST. The series, which is now in its third season, stars Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln as the leaders of a group of survivors on the run from blood-thirsty legions of the undead.

Encore broadcasts of the mid-season finale at 10 p.m. and midnight delivered an additional 3.6 million and 1.1 million viewers, respectively, the cable network said.

"The Walking Dead" is the first cable series in television history to reign as the biggest show of the fall season among Adult 18-49 rating, beating all broadcast and cable entertainment series, including "The Voice," "Modern Family," "X Factor," "Two and a Half Men," "The Big Bang Theory" and "Grey's Anatomy," AMC said.

"Representing both the studio and the network as AMC does on this project, I speak for so many when I say 'thank you' and congratulations to everyone involved," Charlie Collier, AMC's president, said in a statement Monday. "The records that 'The Walking Dead' shattered today represent an enormous achievement of which we are so proud."