The Walking Dead star Sarah Wayne Callies has addressed the controversial decision to drop original showrunner Frank Darabont from the horror series, revealing it ‘felt like an assassination’.
Veteran filmmaker Frank, who also worked on The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, developed the long-running show, which is based on a comic book of the same name.
After securing a deal with cable network AMC, the 63-year-old wrote and directed the pilot and later executive produced the first season, which starred Melissa McBride and came out in 2010.
However, mere weeks into filming of the second season a year later, the screenwriter was axed from The Walking Dead by network bosses.
Sarah, who played Lori Grimes for the first three seasons of the post-apocalypse drama, has recently spoken out about receiving the shocking news, detailing her surprise.
Chatting with her former co-star, she told the Real Ones with Jon Berthnal podcast: ‘Steven Yeun called me the night before. We’d just gotten back from Comic-Con and he was like, “I heard that Frank Darabont’s getting fired.” I was like, “No way. He just delivered AMC the biggest hit they’ve ever had.”
‘There’s so much I wasn’t privy to, but to me, it just felt like an assassination.’
The producer was reportedly given the chop because he ‘never quite adjusted to the daily grind of producing a TV series’ after a background in film, according to a Deadline report at the time.
However, The Hollywood Reporter claimed it came about after the network wanted to slash the budget for the second season.
Sarah, 45, wasn’t the only star unhappy with the decision, with Jeffrey DeMunn demanding for his character Dale Horvath to be killed off in solidarity with Frank.
Speaking to Cleveland.com, the 75-year-old explained: ‘Dale’s death was my decision. I was furious about how Frank was pushed out of the show. I spent a week not being able to take a full breath. And then I realised, “Oh, I can quit.”’
In 2013, Frank and agency CAA filed a lawsuit against AMC, claiming the network deprived him of $280million (£223m) in profits via alleged self-dealing agreements and underhanded accounting.
After a lengthy legal dispute, the case was settled last year, with AMC paying Frank $200m (£164m) over the zombie show’s profits.
The Walking Dead is available to watch on Disney Plus.
Credit: SourceYou can read this post on My Celebrity Life.
The Walking Dead star Sarah Wayne Callies has addressed the controversial decision to drop original showrunner Frank Darabont from the horror series, revealing it ‘felt like an assassination’.
Veteran filmmaker Frank, who also worked on The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, developed the long-running show, which is based on a comic book of the same name.
After securing a deal with cable network AMC, the 63-year-old wrote and directed the pilot and later executive produced the first season, which starred Melissa McBride and came out in 2010.
However, mere weeks into filming of the second season a year later, the screenwriter was axed from The Walking Dead by network bosses.
Sarah, who played Lori Grimes for the first three seasons of the post-apocalypse drama, has recently spoken out about receiving the shocking news, detailing her surprise.
Chatting with her former co-star, she told the Real Ones with Jon Berthnal podcast: ‘Steven Yeun called me the night before. We’d just gotten back from Comic-Con and he was like, “I heard that Frank Darabont’s getting fired.” I was like, “No way. He just delivered AMC the biggest hit they’ve ever had.”
‘There’s so much I wasn’t privy to, but to me, it just felt like an assassination.’
The producer was reportedly given the chop because he ‘never quite adjusted to the daily grind of producing a TV series’ after a background in film, according to a Deadline report at the time.
However, The Hollywood Reporter claimed it came about after the network wanted to slash the budget for the second season.
Sarah, 45, wasn’t the only star unhappy with the decision, with Jeffrey DeMunn demanding for his character Dale Horvath to be killed off in solidarity with Frank.
Speaking to Cleveland.com, the 75-year-old explained: ‘Dale’s death was my decision. I was furious about how Frank was pushed out of the show. I spent a week not being able to take a full breath. And then I realised, “Oh, I can quit.”’
In 2013, Frank and agency CAA filed a lawsuit against AMC, claiming the network deprived him of $280million (£223m) in profits via alleged self-dealing agreements and underhanded accounting.
After a lengthy legal dispute, the case was settled last year, with AMC paying Frank $200m (£164m) over the zombie show’s profits.
The Walking Dead is available to watch on Disney Plus.
Credit: SourceYou can read this post on My Celebrity Life.