The Walking Dead stars Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride ink rich franchise deals
Related The Walking Dead video! – Take a look at some of our early thoughts last night on Rick’s departure from the series! (Note that this was recorded prior to the news of the movie franchise coming out.) For some other news, subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube and be sure to also have a gander at our official Walking Dead playlist. We have new videos up every day so don’t miss out!
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the two actors have each signed three-year deals that are with the larger franchise beyond just the series itself — meaning that if they do eventually leave the main show and venture elsewhere, they would continue to be paid. In the case of Reedus, his deal could be worth anywhere between $50 and $90 million when you factor in various advances and guarantees that have been made. Meanwhile, McBride’s deal is set to run around $20 million across three years. (Of course, remember that the odds of the actors actually seeing all of this money is slim due to management and a billion or so other fees — per-episode salaries for performers online can often be misleading at first glance.)
What matters here more than anything else is that this represents The Walking Dead fighting tooth-and-nail in order to take care of its own. They want to ensure that this franchise has value and familiar faces for years to come … even though we’re still mad about them killing Carl (we are forever salty about that). Whether or not all of this proves to be worth it remains to be seen given that ratings for the flagship show are no longer anywhere close to what they were years ago; meanwhile, they’ve also fallen for Fear the Walking Dead and the main show could lose more steam without Andrew Lincoln. This is not an attempt at being overly pessimistic; this is just the reality of where this franchise is at the moment.
Nonetheless, clearly AMC is doing well enough to be able to pay out enormous deals for two of their biggest stars. More, smaller details could be coming down the line, and there are also still talks on going with Danai Gurira about her future as Michonne.
What do you think about some of these new deals for McBride and also Reedus? Be sure to let us know right away in the attached comments. (Photo: AMC.)