‘Duck Dynasty: The Revival’ Ratings Revealed: Is the Show a Hit?

Martin Holmes June 6, 2025, 8:41 am

Duck Dynasty is back, and the season premiere was a big winner for A&E compared to other series on the network’s line-up, though numbers were down significantly from the show’s heyday.

According to The U.S. Sun, citing Nielsen ratings, the Duck Dynasty: The Revival premiere on Sunday (June 1) reached 510,000 viewers. This made it the most-watched show on A&E’s current slate by a considerable margin; as of last week, the highest-rated A&E series before the premiere was First 48 Presents: Critical Minutes, with 378,000 viewers.

However, the show was down a lot from its original run, where the series regularly topped 1 million viewers, even in its later seasons. Duck Dynasty debuted on March 21, 2012, and averaged 1.82 million viewers for its first season. The show’s popularity only grew from there, with Season 2 averaging 4.17 million viewers, Season 3 averaging 8.32 million viewers, and Season 4 averaging a massive 9.16 million viewers.

While ratings eased off in later seasons, the show still regularly brought in around 1 million viewers per episode for its 11th and final season in 2016/17. The final episode, which aired on March 29, 2017, amassed 1,507,000 viewers.

Duck Dynasty: The Revival centers on Willie Robertson and Korie Robertson, their adult children, and their grandchildren in Louisiana. Other members of the original cast also appear, including Kay Robertson, Si Robertson, and Jase Robertson.

One original cast member not part of the series is patriarch Phil Robertson, who died on May 25, 2025, after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. The season premiere included an emotional tribute to Phil at the end of the episode, with a sweet clip of Willie reading out the show’s intro to his father.

The season premiered caught viewers up on the Robertson family, with a focus on how Willie and Korie have expanded the business.

“Duck Commander warehouse is totally different, five or six businesses. It’s got a museum, family history, pretty much everything we’ve ever said or done is up on the walls of the museum. The gift shop, we have podcasts, we’ve written books, it’s a lot for one man to manage,” Willie said in the episode.

However, opinions of the first episode were mixed, with one viewer writing, “Not the same without Phil, Godwin, Martin and Jep.”

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“Tonight’s show was a huge disappointment. I’ll watch next week bc I want this to succeed. Hoping it gets legs and takes off,” said another.

“I understand the time has changed but am pretty sure we all a little upset cause we was all expecting something like the original Duck Dynasty episodes,” another added.

Others were keeping an open mind, with one fan writing, “Happy to see how this goes and all but nothing will ever beat the original Duck Dynasty Episodes. This looks more like a family gathering show.”

What did you think of the premiere? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Duck Dynasty: The Revival, Sundays, 9/8c, A&E