Last night revealed that The Walking Dead’s universe is expanding in very ambitious ways. In the case of the series’ longest-tenured stars, this means behind-the-scenes contract renewals and salary negotiations. Via The Hollywood Reporter, Norman Reedus (Daryl) and Melissa McBride (Carol) have signed new deals with AMC that cover the next three years of the Walking Dead franchise.
With Andrew Lincoln gone from the main series, Reedus and McBride are now the only actors to have been on the show since its inaugural season. Their “groundbreaking” new deals allow them to freely move between any Walking Dead properties that the network is planning. Whether this refers to new spinoff series, web exclusives, or feature-length movies remains to be seen. Obviously, the agreements come with substantial pay increases. The report says that Reedus will make $350,000 per episode along with guarantees and advances that allegedly fall in the $50-90 million range. McBride’s three-year total is estimated to be around $20 million.
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Former showrunner and current Chief Content Officer, Scott M. Gimple, is overseeing The Walking Dead’s expansion. “The deals that we made for Norman and Melissa are franchise deals,” said David Madden, AMC’s President of programming. “Our deals with Norman and Melissa allow us the flexibility to either move them or use them in more than one place, depending on what seems creatively right to Scott and to his partners.”
AMC is also hoping to broker a similar deal with Danai Gurira, who has played Michonne on the series since its third season. However, THR notes that her newfound Hollywood success might complicate things. Gurira has also been rumored for a role in 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong.
What do you think about Reedus, McBride, and Gurira appearing in other Walking Dead properties? Let us know in the comment section below!
