‘The Walking Dead’s’ $120 Million AMC Battle With the Producers Is Finally Over After 9 Years

The Walking Dead has survived walkers, wars, betrayals and more than a few major character deaths. Now, another long-running chapter surrounding the hit franchise has finally come to an end. AMC Networks has agreed to pay $120 million to creator Robert Kirkman and four other producers, bringing a legal fight that lasted nearly nine years to a close.

The settlement was revealed by AMC in a securities filing, where the company described the deal as a resolution of breach-of-contract claims. Kirkman, along with Glen Mazzara, David Alpert, Charles Eglee and Gale Anne Hurd, had been fighting AMC over how profits from the television franchise were calculated. Their argument was that the network’s accounting method reduced the money they were entitled to receive from the success of the show.

The roots of the dispute go back much further than the lawsuit itself. In 2009, AMC made a deal with Kirkman for the television rights to his comic book series. The producers were promised a share of the profits, but AMC did not officially set its method for calculating those profits until 2011. By that point, The Walking Dead had already become a major television hit.

That disagreement eventually turned into a major legal battle. The producers challenged AMC’s profit formula and argued that the network had not treated their deals fairly. AMC won an important court ruling in 2020, when a judge supported the company’s method of calculating profits. However, that decision did not completely end the fight.

A major development came in 2021 when AMC agreed to pay $200 million to settle a separate lawsuit involving former Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont and his agency, CAA. That case had also focused on the way AMC calculated profits from the series. Kirkman and the other producers then argued that their contracts included “most favored nations” clauses, which they believed gave them the right to receive terms similar to those given to Darabont.

Now, years later, the dispute has finally been settled. According to AMC’s filing, $85 million of the new settlement is due by September 18, while another $35 million is scheduled to be paid by January 31, 2027. That second payment is not simply a final check. AMC says it will be treated as an advance against future profit participation, meaning the producers will still have a financial connection to the franchise going forward.

The agreement is also a serious expense for AMC. The company expects its projected cash flow for the year to fall from $220 million to $150 million because of the settlement. AMC also plans to record an $85 million one-time charge during its September quarter. For a company that has spent years dealing with the financial and legal issues surrounding its biggest franchise, that is a significant hit.

Despite the history between the two sides, the settlement was announced without a fresh round of public fighting. Kirkman, Mazzara, Alpert, Eglee, Hurd and AMC issued a joint statement saying they were pleased to reach an amicable resolution of their remaining claims and litigation involving The Walking Dead television franchise. They also said they looked forward to sharing in the franchise’s continued success for many years.

That final point could be especially important now. The Walking Dead may have ended its original television run, but the franchise is nowhere near finished. Several spin-offs have kept the universe alive, and AMC has continued looking for ways to make money from one of its most recognizable properties. The network also recently reached a reported $500 million streaming deal with Netflix involving the franchise, giving everyone involved another reason to move past the courtroom battles.

The settlement closes a strange chapter in The Walking Dead’s history. The show became one of AMC’s biggest successes and helped turn the network into a major player in television, while the people behind it spent years arguing over how much of that success should show up in their paychecks. With the $120 million agreement now in place, both sides can finally look ahead instead of back at the same legal fight.

For The Walking Dead, the zombies may keep coming, but at least one long-running battle is finally over.

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