'Into The Badlands' Canceled Or Renewed? Finale Ratings Bode Well For Season 2

Fans of AMC's "Into the Badlands" are still waiting to see if the martial arts series will be back in 2016 for another run. However, now that the ratings for the Season 1 finale, bolstered by time shifted viewing, have been announced, things are looking up for Season 2!

While the Dec. 20 finale was a drop off from the series' average of 5.3 million viewers, the episode's 3-day, time shifted viewing (On-Demand and DVR viewing) reached 3.6 million viewers, according to the Wrap. That could be an indication that the show's early success was not solely a result of the fact that AMC wedged "Into the Badlands" in between the cable network's biggest hit, "The Walking Dead," and the show's popular fan recap series, "Talking Dead," which concluded their seasons nearly a month before the "Into the Badlands" finale.

With "The Walking Dead" lead in, "Into the Badlands" scored the third best cable debut ever with 8.2 million viewers. However, the show's audience declined from there. For episode 4, "Into the Badlands" drew only 2.4 million viewers after "The Walking Dead" midseason finale the previous week. Those numbers, though, were still good enough to rank it as the third highest rated cable series on TV that Sunday.

Series star Daniel Wu, who plays Sunny, posted a message to fans on Facebook in early December seemingly confirming the show's return, despite the lack of official word from AMC. However, the post was later deleted, suggesting nothing is certain yet behind the scenes.

Meanwhile, series star Aramis Knight, who plays M.K., says everything is still up in the air.

"I know [series creators] Al Gough and Miles Millar and [executive producer/series star] Daniel Wu recently got together in L.A. – Daniel actually came over to my house to talk about the story arc and where things would go," Knight told International Business Times in November of a potential second season. "They set a 90 percent location if we were to come back, which would be New Zealand. It's all up in the air right now, though."

Will "Into the Badlands" get renewed? The finale ratings should help, but fans will have to wait on AMC to find out for sure.