The Walking Dead's Season 3 premiere killed... the record for most-watched cable drama series telecast ever.

The zombie series returned to AMC Sunday night at 9/8c to 10.9 million viewers and 7.3 million viewers in the adults ages 18-49 demographic. Those numbers represent a 50 percent and 52 percent rise, respectively, from the Season 2 premiere a year ago. The Walking Dead easily beat its scripted network competition in the ages 18-49 demo, including The Good Wife and Revenge(Sunday Night Football still reigned supreme, however).

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Combined with encores at 10/9c and midnight/11c, The Walking Dead season premiere was watched by a total of 15.2 million viewers. "Thank you to the fans for making The Walking Dead such a tremendous success. We are honored and humbled that television's largest adult audience resides on AMC.  So many people on both sides of the camera worked tirelessly on this project, and I thank and congratulate each of them for their amazing contribution," AMC President, Charlie Collier, said in a statement.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC. What did you think of the Season 3 premiere?