Judge Refuses To Dismiss Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead Lawsuit

The Walking Dead may have come to an end in 2022, but the potential courtroom battle for the show’s profits will continue. Via Deadline, a federal court judge has denied AMC’s attempt to dismiss the profit participation lawsuit filed by Walking Dead co-creator Robert Kirkman, executive producers Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert, as well as former showrunners Charles Eglee and Glen Mazzara.

Frank Darabont, the original Walking Dead showrunner who developed the comic for television, kicked off over a decade of legal headaches for AMC when he and his representatives at CAA filed a lawsuit against the cable network in 2013. Among other issues, Darabont contended that AMC’s self-dealing in-house licensing fees cut him out of his promised share of the show’s revenue. Darabont also argued that his dismissal from the series during the production of Season 2 was an attempt to keep him from being fully financially vested in that season, which would have also impacted his payday.

AMC settled with Darabont and CAA in 2021 to the tune of $200 million. And it’s because of that settlement that U.S. District Judge Fernando Aenlle-Rocha ruled that Kirkman and the others can continue with their own lawsuit against the network.

“It would be an illogical interpretation of the MFN (most favored nations) provisions and contrary to the reasonable expectations of the parties in entering into the agreements if the court were to allow Defendants, as a matter of law, to provide Darabont and CAA with increased contingent compensation and a greater share of future gross receipts for the series through a settlement agreement—at Plaintiffs’ expense—without providing Plaintiffs the same,” wrote Aenlle-Rocha in his ruling.

Barring a settlement or another ruling from the judge, Kirkman’s case against AMC will go to trial on September 17. Meanwhile, AMC’s sixth Walking Dead spin-off, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, will have its first season finale on Sunday, March 31.