AMC Global Media Settles ‘Walking Dead’ Profit Participation Lawsuit for $120 Million

Logo text The Walking Dead lawsuit saga may finally be over. AMC Global Media said Tuesday that it had settled the lawsuit brought by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and the show’s other producers, including Glen Mazzara, David Alpert, Charles Eglee and Gale Anne Hurd. The lawsuit, initially filed in 2022, was about the profit participation rights for the original Walking Dead series, and its first spinoff series Fear the Walking Dead. AMC says that it will pay $120 million to resolve the lawsuit, including $85 million this month, with another $35 million next year. The $35 million will also serve as an advance against future profit participation rights. The settlement was reached on Friday, Sep. 4. The Walking Dead is the most successful franchise in AMC’s history (the company just inked a $500 million streaming deal with Netflix for the franchise in July), and the company has been battling lawsuits related to it since 2013, when Frank Darabont and CAA filed a profits suit about the program back in 2013. Darabont and CAA’s suit was settled in 2021 for $200 million, but it helped spark the new challenge from the franchise’s other producers, who filed the lawsuit now being settled in 2022. At issue in the suit is how the company calculates and collects profits for the franchise, and in turn how much the show’s creatives would be owed. “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 two sides said in a statement Tuesday. “The parties look forward to sharing in the continued success of the franchise for many years to come.”