This Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, "The Walking Dead" returns for its season 7 mid-season premiere.
Ratings were down for the first half of the season, but don't let that fool you into thinking the show is at its end.
It’s still the highest watched show in the millennial demographic.
And with people turning to alternate ways to live stream "The Walking Dead" without cable, you have to wonder how much stock to put in the cable ratings anyway. (People still downloaded episodes from last season at a staggering rate.)
After a brutal mid-season finale, you can bet this mid-season premiere will be one you won’t want to miss. But what if you aren’t caught up on the show — is it too late to jump on "The Walking Dead" train? Absolutely not.
There are plenty of ways you can catch up before the premiere, with or without cable.
Watch the first half of season 7 on AMC.com
If you head over to AMC.com, you’ll see that the first seven episodes of season 7 are available to stream. The catch? You must sign in with your cable login credentials to watch.
The only way cord cutters can access the streams is with a PlayStation Vue login. If you’re not a PlayStation Vue customer, you can sign up for a free 7-day trial, use the credentials to login at AMC.com, and watch. You can cancel before the 7 days is up or keep it on a month-to-month basis.
Binge seasons 1-6 on Netflix
While Netflix won’t help you watch season 7 any time soon, it does offer the easiest way to catch up on previous seasons. In fact, every episode from season 1-6 is currently available on Netflix here in the US (catalogue varies by country). So, if you’re far behind, Netflix is your ticket.
Marathon season 5-7 this weekend on AMC
Carrying on with tradition, AMC is running a "The Walking Dead" marathon leading up to the mid-season premiere. The marathon starts on Saturday at 12 AM with season 5 episode 1 and finishes off right before the mid-season premiere with season 7 episode 8.
Don’t have cable or satellite to watch AMC live? No worries. There are now several legal ways to watch AMC without cable. The best part is, each is available with a free 7-day trial. So, you can sign up and watch the marathon (and new episode) free.
Purchase season passes on Amazon
While purchasing individual episodes can prove pricy at $2-3 each, you can save a bundle by purchasing season passes. Season 1 is available for $15.99 in HD and $10.99 in SD, while newer seasons get progressively more expensive.
Season 7 is available for $41.99 in HD and $26.99 in SD. Note that if you purchase the season 7 pass, you’ll be able to watch the new episodes the day after they air.
The only thing holding you back from catching up on "The Walking Dead" is time. And if you don’t get through them all in time before the mid-season premiere, don’t worry.
As soon as you’re ready, you’ll be able to find the newest episodes on demand on a host of different platforms.
Chris Brantner is a freelance writer who specializes in cord cutting technology and streaming entertainment. He currently contributes to Motherboard, DSL Reports, the Roku Stream Blog, and other industry sites. He's also the founder of CutCableToday.com, the largest cord cutting resource on the web.
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