Frank Darabont, the creator of The Walking Dead, is currently pursuing a lawsuit against the AMC network. The Walking Dead let go of its creator, and he is claiming the channel breached his contract, and neglected to pay him tens of millions of dollars during the process.

As the top-rated drama on television, and a show that has done very well during its run on AMC, the network clearly has the money to pay to its creator, as one of the most successful networks in the business. The suit was filed Tuesday in New York, and hints at the complications of his profit participation, which have been going on since February of 2011.

AMC never explained the firing of their Walking Dead creator, and according to the lawsuit, it seems that they did not explain it to Darabont either. He was let go just weeks into production of The Walking Dead‘s second season, and only days after appearing at Comic-Con to promote the show. It was a strange business decision for a a network that currently had one of the best shows on television, causing Darabont to have an expected outrage at the network.

The show has a large number of fans, and while they may not realize how The Walking Dead creator was forced out of the show, it is certainly possible that he could have made the show even better than it already is. When looking at the rest of his career, it is hard to think otherwise, when he has worked on projects such as The Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption.

Way to go @FrankDarabont Best of luck on taking them to the CLEANERS. You BUILT The Walking Dead. And the FANS miss your genius behind it.

— Jack Reher (@JReher) December 17, 2013

As Dale Kinsella, his lead lawyer says, “AMC’s conduct toward Frank to date has been nothing short of atrocious. Unfortunately, the fans of The Walking Dead have suffered as well by being deprived of his creative talent.”

In its fourth season, the post-apocalyptic zombie drama averaged a high number of viewers with 13 million viewers, and 8.4 million of them being adults aged 18-49. In a baffling decision for everyone who knows how much business the show helps AMC with, the lawsuit alleges that AMC fired Darabont in an effort to save money, avoiding its contractual obligation to pay him increased profits.

In addition to the tens of millions of dollars that he feels that he is owed from the show, The Walking Dead creator is asking for a cut of The Talking Dead spin-off talk show, and the scripted companion series that AMC is developing.

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