One of the most beloved characters in the history of “The Walking Dead” was unquestionably Dale Horvath, played by Jeffrey DeMunn. Dale’s death, which saw him disemboweled by a zombie in Season 2, made for one of the show’s most devastating moments… and it was DeMunn’s own choice, we’ve learned all these years later.
To make a long story short, “The Walking Dead” was developed and originally ran by Frank Darabont, who frequently cast DeMunn in his films (The Mist, The Green Mile). When AMC fired Darabont from the show during the second season, DeMunn stuck by his friend and, in his own words, quit the show by forcing the network to kill him off.
“Dale’s death was my decision,” DeMunn just told Cleveland.com. “I was furious about how Frank was pushed out of the show. I spent a week not being able to take a full breath. And then I realized, ‘Oh, I can quit.’ So I called them and said, ‘It’s a zombie show. Kill me. I don’t want to do this anymore.’ It was an immense relief to me.”
Darabont was fired by AMC midway through Season 2, reportedly due to behind the scenes disagreements about the budget. Darabont subsequently filed a lawsuit against AMC, seeking $280 million in unpaid profits. Needless to say, the split wasn’t amicable.
And DeMunn took his own stand against AMC over it, we now know.
