The two companies signed a five-year, $500 million licensing deal on July 30, 2026. This gave Netflix and AMC+ co-exclusive global streaming rights to The Walking Dead Universe, which includes the original show and all six of its spin-offs. There are 371 episodes, which is more than a decade’s worth of TV. It’s a huge number, and the dollar amount that goes with it is hard to ignore.
Since 2011, Netflix has been the only place in the U.S. to stream The Walking Dead. There have been on-and-off relationships for fifteen years, and it’s clear that they’ve worked out well for both parties. In fact, when it was time to renegotiate, AMC Global Media CEO Kristin Dolan called it “the right choice.” That way of putting it says something. Not “the most lucrative deal” or “the most competitive offer.” The best choice. It suggests that the Netflix relationship had weight that wasn’t just financial, no matter what was said in rooms that the public doesn’t see.
From 2027 on, you’ll be able to watch Fear the Walking Dead, Daryl Dixon, Dead City, The Ones Who Live, World Beyond, and Tales of the Walking Dead on Netflix around the world and on AMC+ in places where that service is available. The UK, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand are some of the new places that can now use Netflix for the first time. It’s an important geographical expansion for a franchise that hasn’t been available everywhere in the world for years.
The co-exclusive structure is what makes this case interesting. For years, streaming strategy was based on the old model: one platform, one home, no sharing. Companies saved content like it was gold, which it might have been. But that method also split audiences into smaller pieces, which made more people angry than it converted. This deal, in which both Netflix and AMC+ show the same shows, seems to be a quiet acceptance that having content available might be better than keeping a franchise going for a long time. It’s still not clear if co-exclusivity will become more popular or stay a niche way to get around problems, but it’s something to keep an eye on.
Another interesting thing about this deal is what it says about library books. There was no more The Walking Dead after 2022. It’s been four years, and now Netflix is paying $500 million to keep streaming it. Putting that much money into a finished show doesn’t happen unless a lot of people watch it, and it looks like they do. New fans keep coming to the franchise. Netflix’s VP of Licensing, Lori Conkling, made it clear: people are still finding out about the show. Streaming services are slowly realizing that this kind of long-term discovery, years after a show’s end, is exactly what they should be fighting for.
One small fact you should remember is that The Walking Dead will first air on AMC+ in early 2027. The original show ran on AMC’s linear cable network for more than ten years, but until now, it wasn’t available on AMC’s own streaming service. That’s kind of ironic. The show helped make AMC a high-end TV network, but its streaming home has been someone else’s platform the whole time. That gap is finally closed by this deal.
There are many channels that AMC Global Media runs, such as Shudder, Acorn TV, Sundance Now, HIDIVE, and BBC America. However, The Walking Dead Universe is still their most popular show. This deal seems to strike the right balance between protecting that asset and making it more visible around the world without ending the relationship with AMC+. A lot of things affect whether it lasts for five years: how well the spin-offs do, how Netflix’s licensing strategy changes, and whether people keep watching. But it looks like both businesses have found a deal they can live with for now, at least on paper.
550 million dollars for a zombie series. Going into streaming is a weird business.
