Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman signs deal to develop TV for Amazon
Amazon has a new overall deal with The Walking Dead comic book series creator Robert Kirkman. Kirkman’s comic provided the inspiration for the hit AMC show of the same name, and now he’ll work with Amazon and his own Skybound Entertainment company to create TV projects designed to air exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.
The deal is the latest for Skybound, which also has a two-year first look arrangement with Universal, as Variety reports. In addition to The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, Kirkman’s comic Outcast has resulted in a horror series that airs on Cinemax and just concluded its second season. Kirkman’s comics success include ongoing Image series’ Invincible, as well as Thief of Thieves, both of which have had successful runs and built a strong following.
I would love to see an Invincible TV series, personally, but that’s already been optioned for a Universal Pictures film helmed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Still, Kirkman’s creative power is a force to be reckoned with and a proven recipe for success in original TV content production, so it seems like a good pick-up for Amazon’s own original streaming content push.
This news comes in the same week that Netflix announced its own acquisition of comic book creator Mark Millar’s Millarworld publishing company. Netflix announced the news just ahead of Disney’s announcement that it would be pulling its movies from the service in 2019 and creating its own subscription streaming offering. The Defenders and the companion Netflix series derived from Marvel content are part of a separate deal, and that remains intact for now, but it’s clear that all streaming providers are looking to comics as a wellspring of creative inspiration for programming.
Kirkman’s Amazon Prime deal should have both comics and streaming fans alike excited, but we’ll have to wait and see to find out what exactly comes out of the new partnership.
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