Frank Darabont developed and executive-produced The Walking Dead season 1 and some of the early episodes in season 2 before he was fired. AMC cut The Walking Dead‘s per-episode budget for season 2 by about $500,000 which Darabont didn’t like and his strained relationship with the executives of AMC ended up with him being fired. Darabont didn’t say anything after he was fired and has recently opened up about it in a few interviews.

Frank Darabont was interviewed by Variety and he had some interesting responses to questions related about his time with The Walking Dead.

Have you kept up with the show since your departure? Fans of Kirkman’s comics haven’t particularly enjoyed its direction since you left.
Have not? Well I wouldn’t know. Because, for the same reason that if the woman that I loved left me for the Pilates instructor and they sent me an invitation to their wedding, for the same reason I wouldn’t go to the wedding, I haven’t seen an episode of The Walking Dead since then.

Did you just need to wash your hands of it?
Look, I really haven’t spoken of this yet – I will, I’ll get there – but I had to take some time off after that to really reassess everything, to really get over the emotional devastation of having some truly malevolent people tear asunder a brilliant family that had gathered to create this hit for them. It was a very, very deep and loving family, the cast and the crew, and to have that torn apart was – when somebody throws a hand-grenade into that situation, it’s tremendously emotionally trying. So would I want to watch another episode of The Walking Dead after that? Are you fucking kidding me? No, you put that traumatic disappointment behind you and move on with your life.

We interviewed the original cast while reporting our recent cover story, and a number of them – specifically Lauren Cohan – spoke quite fondly of you.
Listen, they’re the best group of people in the world, that cast. But my God, how do I put this – sometimes the emotionally difficult things are tricky to say, words can fall short – but I managed to put another family together on Mob City that is very meaningful to me. The people I get to work always make the journey worth it.
Source: RollingStone.com

Speaking to Variety, Darabont was asked if he still watches the series and had a blunt answer, replying, “Oh god no, why would I? If the woman you loved with all your heart left you for the Pilates instructor and just sent you an invitation to the wedding, would you go?”

He then adds, “There’s a deep commitment and emotional investment that happens when you create something that is very near and dear to you, and when that is torn asunder by sociopaths who don’t give a s**t about your feelings or the feelings of your cast and crew because they have their own reasons to screw everybody, that doesn’t feel good.”
Source: IGN

IGN also interviewed Frank Darabont and he had more harsh words about AMC.

IGN: Were there any lessons that you took from your experience working with AMC on The Walking Dead that you brought into your work on Mob City?
Frank Darabont: Work with nice people. Otherwise don’t show up. That’s the lesson.

IGN: You recently said that you don’t watch The Walking Dead and haven’t kept up with the show since you left, which makes sense. You’ve also said that the priorities weren’t caring for the cast and crew. What were the priorities? Was it just financial? Or were there creative differences as well?
Darabont: Money. Greed. Power mongering.

IGN: Were they simply not willing to provide the budget you needed in order to do what you needed to do?
Darabont: The big crux of our argument was budget. If somebody comes and hands you the biggest hit you’ve ever had you don’t just say, ‘Okay, now we’re going to cut your budgets by 25% across the board. And we don’t give a s**t if you care, if you don’t like it.’ That’s just…I don’t even understand that kind of thinking. Or how much punishment it visits upon the people who are actually making the show, which was incredibly difficult to begin with. Cutting your resources by a quarter in the following season so they work even longer hours and under harder circumstances? It’s inhuman. I’ll write a book about this one day.

IGN: Did you ever have a debrief with the cast and crew? At the time, it seemed like everyone was really afraid to comment.
Darabont: Oh yes, they were bullied, and threatened, and their livelihoods threatened, and there was some weight being thrown around. Like I said, I’ll write a book. And there are a lot of people who will go on record. That are actually very keen to go on record, because like I said there are a lot of people who felt tremendously abused.

IGN: What were the conversations like? Jeffery DeMunn [who played Dale on The Walking Dead and plays Hal Morrison on Mob City] did end up leaving the show.
Darabont: Yeah, Jeff didn’t want to stick around. Because Jeff is a human being and he’s got a tremendous…he doesn’t need the work. He doesn’t have a very extravagant lifestyle and he wants peace of mind in his life. He’s a very good and decent man that way; which is absolutely no reflection on anybody else who stayed with the production. Who had to stay with the production. Who were actually obliged to stay with the production. I actually had a few people, well more than a few people, call and say, ‘What do you want us to do? We’re thinking of walking off the set. I’m thinking of leaving. I’m thinking of quitting.’ And I said do not do that for me. Don’t do that. Don’t confuse love or loyalty to me with taking some kind of stand that’s only going to harm you. Don’t expose yourself to legal action or retaliation, which you know these people will take. And just don’t do it. It was heartwarming to hear people expressing that loyalty, but I didn’t want anyone to compromise their livelihoods. I mean these people have to work and support their families.

IGN: And obviously Jon Bernthal [who played Shane on The Walking Dead] is your lead on Mob City, so staying with the show didn’t hurt the relationship with you.
Darabont: Oh, yeah. Oh, I love that whole cast. And the crew. That was the thing, it was very much a family. It was a family like this [Mob City] is a family. So having that family torn apart for whatever reasons was very heartbreaking for everybody.
Source: IGN

Also here’s an interesting video with Sam Witwer who played as the walker in the tank with Rick in season 1, and he talks about an idea that Frank Darabont had that was turned down because of AMC not wanting to spend money.

Sam Witwer on Frank Darabont & “The Walking Dead”