"The Walking Dead" has done it again. "Seed," the first episode of season three of AMC's hit horror series, smashed ratings records in its premiere Oct. 14 with 10.9 million viewers watching, a bigger rating in the 18-49 adult demographic than any other entertainment series this fall, including all broadcast programs.

Based off the monthly black-and-white comic book series written by creator Robert Kirkman, "The Walking Dead" follows a gang of lost souls just trying to survive day-to-day life in a post-apocalyptic U.S. overrun with the living dead. The first two seasons of the AMC series were hugely-successful. The season two premiere broke cable ratings records in the 18-49 demographic as well. But the season three premiere shattered everyone's expectations for the show.

"The Walking Dead" was already the most successful basic cable series of all time in the adult demographic, and the premiere episode of season three was up more than 50 percent from season two, receiving a rating of 5.8 for adults in the 18-49 demographic. The only broadcast entertainment show even close to that was ABC's "Modern Family" season premiere, which pulled a 5.5 — and that's on network TV. AMC is at a severe disadvantage as its only available in a fraction of U.S. homes, and was dropped by Dish Network.

Fans that complained of season two's aimless narrative structure and slow pacing were treated to what was easily one of the goriest, most visceral, high-intensity episodes of the show yet.

Episode two of season three, "Sick" airs Sunday Oct. 21 at 9/8c on AMC.

"Sick" will pick up from the shocking ending of the premiere episode and finds the group fighting off other new, impending threats.

"It's been pretty intense this season," Lincoln said. "I made the fatal error this year of going into the writers' room and saying, 'What do you think Rick's breaking point is?' Well, that's the worst thing I could have said. We find out this season ... He's going to the dark side."