MOVIE NEWS – Although The Walking Dead series will end in 2022, the legal battle over the profits generated from it is still ongoing, and who knows when it will end, as AMC’s claim has been denied by a judge.

Deadline reported that a federal judge denied AMC’s request. The network wanted to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Walking Dead co-creator Robert Kirkman, executive producers Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert, and former showrunners Charles Eglee and Glen Mazzara. Originally, Frank Darabont was the showrunner who brought the comic to television, and he started the decade-long (!!!) legal battle when he and his CAA reps sued AMC in 2013.

At the time, Darabont’s objection was that AMC’s self-dealing in-house licensing fees meant he wasn’t getting his promised share of the show’s revenue. He was fired during the second season, which he says was done so that he would not receive full financial compensation for the season, which would also have affected his salary. Eventually, in 2021, an agreement was reached between AMC, Darabont and the CAA for $200 million. And it was because of that settlement that Judge Fernando Aenlle-Rocha ruled that the lawsuit against the network could proceed.

“It would be an illogical interpretation of the MFN provisions and contrary to the reasonable expectations of the parties when they entered 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 the same to plaintiffs,” Aenlle-Rocha wrote in his ruling.

Barring another ruling or perhaps an out-of-court settlement, the Kirkmans’ trial will continue in court on September 17, while AMC’s sixth (!) The Walking Dead spin-off, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, wrapped its first season yesterday.

Source: GameSpot, Deadine