Yahoo News Two Walking Dead fan favourites land huge new deals
The Walking Dead has confirmed that fan favourite actors Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride have signed huge new contracts.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the deals will cover three years and tie into AMC's expansion plans by covering the entire Walking Dead universe, giving Reedus and McBride the option to appear in other AMC properties.
Which basically means that if they're written out of the main series, they could pop up elsewhere – in either Fear the Walking Dead or any other potential spin-offs.
"The deals that we made for Norman and Melissa are franchise deals," AMC programming president David Madden told the publication.
"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 [M Gimple] and to his partners.
"We do look at this as a universe where we're trying to expand into as many different places as the show fits. We think this is a franchise that could live across formats. So we want to do it carefully; we want to be strategic; we want to try to do it right. But there is a multi-year plan that could include additional series, digital content and specials."
The deals will reportedly see Norman Reedus earn $350,000 an episode – as well as guarantees and advances on top – for a deal that is rumoured to be worth between $50 million and $90 million – while Melissa McBride will reportedly earn an estimated $20 million across the three years.
Also reportedly in negotiations for a similar deal is Black Panther actress Danai Gurira, who plays Michonne, with Madden adding that AMC "really want her to stay" on the show.
"She has been very vocal about saying that she loves the show. We love Danai; we love that character," he added.
"Right now, she's got a lot of opportunities and she needs to weigh what she feels is best for her. But we certainly would want her on the show as long as she wants to be on it. We really want her to stay. She is an incredibly valuable character and I'm really hoping she stays.
"Obviously, the lesson of Andy is that the show can survive anybody's departure if need be but that's not our goal. The goal is to have Danai continue on whatever basis she can make work, given the other things that she has going on in her life."
The Walking Dead airs on AMC in the US and on FOX in the UK. You can also catch up on the show via NOW TV.
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