Frank Darabont (The Green Mile), the television adaptor of The Walking Dead comic books created by Robert Kirkman (Invincible), left the series in 2011. This week, stars Sarah Wayne Callies and Jon Bernathal discuss his departure on Bernathalas podcast “Real Ones” as the AMC series comes to the end of its final eleventh season, according to Comicbook.
Exclusive to Deadline Hollywood, Darabont had filed profit participation lawsuit against AMC in 2013, to which AMC responded by saying that Darabont “made the set and writers’ room a threatening and toxic work environment,” according to Comicbook. A spokesperson also told Comicbook that they thought Darabonts “film talents did not translate to running a television show” because he was “abusive and threatening” to those he was working with.
Although Darabont’s behavior had been described as “threatening” a multitude of times, when the cast looked back on the firing of Darabont they were pretty shocked.
During the conversation Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break) stated, “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,'” according to Comicbook. Even though Darabont’s behavior was said not to be a fit for running a television show, he was considered a primary reason behind a series that provided AMC with a considerable portion of their earnings.
According to Comicbook, Callies opined “you cannot beat his writing,” in her opinion, nobody wrote like Frank Darabont. Callies was defending Darabont because she claims that the grounds of Darabont not being ready to be a showrunner were untrue and that she would “go to war for this guy,” according to Jon Bernthal (The Punisher), portraying Shane Walsh in the series, who spoke with Callies.
Callies was seeking a united revolt against the firing of Darabont by the cast; however, that did not happen. Bernthal agreed with Callies that the culture and success of The Walking Dead were because of Darabont and that getting rid of him in the way that AMC did “was some dirty shit,” according to Comicbook.
As the series finishes up its eleventh season the cast continues to reflect on Darabont’s removal as showrunner.