Frank Darabont was fired from The Walking Dead and the series was never the truly same because of these reasons.
The Walking Dead is arguably one of the most popular shows of cable TV’s golden generation. The series premiered in 2010 to critical acclaim and concluded after eleven seasons with multiple spin-offs continuing its legacy.
During the show’s early days, acclaimed filmmaker Frank Darabont was involved in the creative process, serving as the showrunner. However, Darabont was fired at the start of season 2, resulting in an ugly legal battle with the network.
Despite the nature of Darabont’s conflict with the network and behind-the-scenes problems, it cannot be argued that the first season was anything less than phenomenal. While the series remained popular in the following seasons, there was an obvious dip in quality. Here is why The Walking Dead never truly recovered.
The Walking Dead fired director Frank Darabont after the first season
The Walking Dead premiered in 2010 on AMC, with the post-apocalyptic series being an adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s popular comic book of the same name. It was developed for television by Frank Darabont, who also served as the showrunner for season 1.
However, in July 2011, Darabont was fired from his role as a showrunner. The director later filed a lawsuit against AMC, and several emails between Darabont and the network came to light in a report from The Hollywood Reporter.
I deserve better than a heart attack because people are too stupid to read a script and understand the words. Does anybody disagree with me? Then join the C-cam operator and go find another job that doesn’t involve deliberately f***ing up my show scene by scene.
Darabont made the above statement in an explosive rant, accusing the network and the crew of sabotaging his creative vision.
The report also suggested that there was evidence of Hollywood accounting to deny profit sharing with Darabont and a planned budgetary cut that would have significantly reduced the per-episode cost starting with the second installment. Ultimately, the lawsuit was settled outside the court with the network paying Darabont roughly $200 million (via Deadline).
The Walking Dead never truly recovered after Frank Darabont’s exit
Irrespective of the lawsuit’s nature and ambiguity over who was actually to be blamed for the situation, it cannot be argued that Darabont had a massive influence on the show’s critically acclaimed first installment, which currently holds an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In its second season, the network had ordered nineteen episodes, a significant increase from the six-episode first season. Moreover, the budget was also significantly reduced, resulting in the second season having fewer action sequences and locations compared to the first installment.
