The Walking Dead Lawsuits Are Like Zombies, They Just Don’t Die

In The Walking Dead universe, three things never die: zombies, spinoffs, and lawsuits. Just as the show’s sixth spinoff enjoys newfound success, so too has a lawsuit brought against its network, AMC, which at one point almost ended, but has since returned.

It’s a bit of a ride to get to the most recent update but here are the basics. Back in 2016, one of the original creators of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Frank Darabont, sued the network for what he believed was a failure to pay him everything he was owed from his work on the show, a total amounting to $280 million. It took a while but finally, in 2021, Darabont won and was awarded $200 million. As that lawsuit was in process, five other producers—Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Glen Mazzara, and Charles Eglee— collectively sued the network for the same thing. Darabont won his case, but those five didn’t; a few years later, they filed a new version with an appeal based on the Darabont verdict. Basically, they were arguing if Darabont was officially owed $200 million, they were owed something similar. That was late 2022 and AMC quickly filed to throw that lawsuit out.

Now it’s 2024 and, on Monday, a federal judge officially denied AMC’s motion to throw out this new case. What does that mean? It means this second lawsuit Kirkman, Hurd, Alpert, Mazzara, and Eglee filed against AMC for back profits owed to them for producing The Walking Dead and its first spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead, will continue. A fight that began in 2017 continues to creep along like a walker in the post-apocalyptic streets seven years later.

Variety has more information, including statements from both lawyers. There’s no word on when the next proceeding in the case is but, as you can guess by the almost 10 years this has been going on, it probably won’t be anytime soon.

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