WARNING: Spoiler alerts for readers who aren’t caught up on season five of The Walking Dead.
For The Walking Dead fans Super Bowl Sunday means one thing, one week left until the season five midseason premiere. Deadheads around the country could indulge in seasons one and two on Sunday instead of watching the big game. When the season left off it ended with heartbreak after Beth Greene died and the fans took it hard, like really hard. A group of over 45,000 fans took to lobby for the death of Beth with a “Bring Beth Back” change.org petition.
The petition was started to get the AMC producers to listen to the fact that fans are unsatisfied with the way her storyline ended. The creator of the petition, who can only be identified as Amanda T., describes Beth’s death as “disgusting, unsatisfying.”
The petition states, “The writers threw away the potential of a perfectly good character,” and currently has more than 61,000 supporters. In addition to this petition, an additional nineteen hundred people have come together on Facebook to support Beth under the slogan “Beth Greene Deserved Better.” The fans have been mailing boxes of plastic spoons with quotes from Beth inscribed on them to The Walking Dead’s production offices in Atlanta. The spoon is significant to a moment in season four when a spoon is found as a souvenir in Washington.
Though fans are still in mourning over Beth’s untimely demise, many are planning what will happen next in the season. A Facebook page has been dedicated for this specific reason and is called “The Spoiling Dead Fans.” They have worked tirelessly to predict what will happen throughout the seasons and have been credited with having many sources close to show. Fans who are dedicated to finding out what will happen in the show were not as happy when AMC spoiled the midseason finale. AMC posted a message to their Facebook page revealing Beth’s death during the winter closer of the show and ultimately had to release an apology.
The statement reads, “We heard your feedback to last night’s post, and we’re sorry. With zero negative intent, we jumped the gun and put up a spoiler. Please know we’re going to work to ensure that, in the future, possible spoilers by official AMC social feeds are killed before they can infect, certainly before the West Coast (U.S.) broadcast of The Walking Dead. As always, thank you for watching, and keep the comments coming. We appreciate all of your support. #RIPSpoiler.”
AMC originally posted a photo of character Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) carrying the deceased body of Beth Greene (Emily Kinney) with a headline reading RIP Beth. The post appeared on the Facebook page before the show had been aired on the West Coast. This wasn’t the first time that the show has posted spoilers though. According to Entertainment Weekly, a DVD ad on AMC’s website prematurely revealed the death of character Shane (Jon Bernthal).
The ratings of the show didn’t fall because of the spoiler, however. Entertainment Weekly reported that the episode “Coda” delivered 14.8 million viewers and a 9.6 rating among adults 18-49, The Walking Dead’s best-ever performance for a midseason finale.
AMC posted to their Facebook page on Feb. 3 a link to a two minute preview of the season premiere. It shows an exclusive look at the first scene of the show. The cast also was discussing the clip via a Google+ hangout session on Feb. 3. Fans were able to submit questions for the cast and vote on favorites.
Fans of the show are also able to engage with cast members on The Talking Dead, a talk show about The Walking Dead, and character Michonne (Danai Gurira) will be the guest appearing on the show after the return of the season Feb. 8.
