The Walking Dead has closed many chapters in recent years. It just closed another one right outside of the courtroom this week, and AMC paid quite the price.
According to a report from Variety, Robert Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead, and producers, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Charles Eglee, and Glen Mazzara, reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit the producers filed way back in 2017 over "unpaid profits."
Kirkman and the producers will reportedly collect $85 million this month, with another $35 million coming next year. Had they not reached the settlement, there would have been a trial starting in October in federal court in Los Angeles.
Here's the full joint statement between AMC and The Walking Dead producers, via TheWrap:
"Robert Kirkman, Robert Kirkman, Inc., Gale Anne Hurd, Valhalla Entertainment, Inc., David Alpert, Circle of Confusion Productions LLC, New Circle of Confusion Productions, Inc., Charles Eglee, United Bongo Drum, Inc., Glen Mazzara and 44 Strong Productions, Inc., on the one hand, and AMC Global Media, on the other hand, are pleased to announce the amicable resolution of all their remaining claims and litigation related to The Walking Dead television franchise. The parties look forward to sharing in the continued success of the franchise for many years to come.”
I'm not a lawyer or a business reporter, so please bear with me. From my understanding, Kirkman and other Walking Dead producers identified about a decade ago that the financial agreement they had struck with AMC over profits from The Walking Dead. The group didn't think AMC was calculating the profits from The Walking Dead correctly. It was the same issue at the heart of the lawsuit from Frank Darabont, the original showrunner of The Walking Dead, and CAA against AMC. He reached a deal in 2021 for $200 million.
Of course, with any litigation that lasted nearly a decade, there's a lot more to it than that. I don't know all of the ins and outs of this situation, but it's obviously a good step in the right direction for all parties involved.
Again, this is a massive amount of money for AMC to pay, but if the calculations for the profit participants were incorrect, it makes sense that AMC would need to rectify this issue for The Walking Dead moving forward.
Kirkman, Hurd, Mazzara, Eglee, and Alpert are some of the biggest names involved with The Walking Dead behind the scenes in the early seasons. Kirkman is obviously the creator of the franchise, while Hurd was still an executive producer until the end of the show's run.
The Walking Dead came to an end on AMC in November 2022. Kirkman, Hurd, and Alpert are currently listed as executive producers on current Walking Dead spinoffs, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and The Walking Dead: Dead City.
Dead City season 3 officially comes to an end on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. It has not been renewed for season 4 yet, but we are expecting that to be announced soon.
Daryl Dixon season 4 was supposed to be released this fall, but it's since been pushed to 2027. It is the final season of the series starring Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride as Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier
From here, it will be very interesting to see where The Walking Dead franchise goes in the future. There's a lot of buzz growing for a continuation of the surviving members of the original crew, including Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl, Carol, Michonne (Danai Gurira), Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan), and others.
We'll keep you posted on the future of The Walking Dead franchise! Stay tuned for more news about Dead City, Daryl Dixon, and more.
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