AMC Slams The Walking Dead Producers' Lawsuit

08/14/2017 07:47 pm EDT

A bombshell just dropped on fans of the Walking Dead with word that series creator Robert Kirkman joined other producers in suing AMC in a case that could result in over $1 billion in damages. Now the network has issued a statement in response to what they call a "baseless" lawsuit.

Kirkman joined executive producers Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert, as well as former EPs Glen Mazzara and Charles Glee, in a lawsuit that alleges AMC breached their contract.

AMC quickly responded with this statement:

These kinds of lawsuits are fairly common in entertainment and they all have one thing in common – they follow success… Virtually every studio that has had a successful show has been the target of litigation like this, and The Walking Dead has been the #1 show on television for five years in a row, so this is no surprise. We have enormous respect and appreciation for these plaintiffs, and we will continue to work with them as partners, even as we vigorously defend against this baseless and predictably opportunistic lawsuit.

The complaint comes just a week before former Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont 's lawyers will see AMC's lawyers in courts for a related case in which Darabont claims he too is owed profits from the wildly successful series.

Kirkman, Hurd, Mazzara, Alpert, and Eglee's filing claims AMC "exploited their vertically-integrated corporate structure" to withhold profits from the producers.

"This case arises from a major entertainment conglomerate's failure to honor its contractual obligations to the creative people – the 'talent,' in industry jargon – behind the wildly successful, and hugely profitable, long-running television series The Walking Dead," the complaint states, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday. "The defendant AMC Entities exploited their vertically-integrated corporate structure to combine both the production and the exhibition of TWD, which allowed AMC to keep the lion's share of the series' enormous profits for itself and not share it with the Plaintiffs, as required by their contracts."

AMC doesn't sound like its backing down, but considering the lengthy process thus far between the network and Darabont, it looks like the Walking Dead producers are in for quite the legal battle.

The Walking Dead's sibling series Fear the Walking Dead returns September 10th. The Walking Dead will return for its eighth season on October 22, 2017. The Season Eight premiere will mark 100 episodes overall for the popular AMC series. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.

[h/t] Deadline

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