Highlights
- The cast of The Walking Dead became wealthy from the show’s success and its spin-offs.
- Sarah Wayne Callies expressed her anger and disappointment over Frank Darabont’s firing from the show.
- After leaving The Walking Dead, Callies initially struggled to find another TV role.
Even though the cast of The Walking Dead never made $1 million per episode like some TV stars have, the show made a lot of actors rich. On top of that, The Walking Dead was so successful that it spawned several other shows, including an unexpected spin-off, which meant actors got even more work.
While there is no doubt that most The Walking Dead stars are thankful, that doesn’t mean that everything about starring in the show was wonderful. For proof of that, all anyone has to do is look at what Sarah Wayne Callies said about her The Walking Dead experience.
Sarah Wayne Callies’ Heart Was Broken By Her The Walking Dead Co-Stars After Frank Darabont’s Firing
Between 2010 and 2012, Jon Bernthal and Sarah Wayne Callies both starred in The Walking Dead. Roughly a decade later in 2022, the two actors reunited when Callies appeared on Bernthal’s podcast, “REAL ONES with Jon Bernthal”. During the resulting conversation, Callies spoke about what her experience starring in The Walking Dead was like.
When Bernthal welcomed Callies to his podcast, the host asked his guest if she was open to talking about their experiences on The Walking Dead. As that conversation began, Bernthal expressed his appreciation for his experiences on the show.
“I think we’d both say that, you know, those first couple of years on The Walking Dead were some of the most special times. It was definitely for me… Special times of my life, um, in, kind of, every way. Um, it was just like, it was just sort of perfect.”
While it is important to note that Bernthal was the one who said that, Callies’ responses were very telling. Throughout Bernthal’s comments, Callies repeatedly chimed in to agree with her former co-star’s sentiments.
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Based on that interaction, it is clear that Bernthal and Callies have a lot of appreciation for The Walking Dead. However, Bernthal would go on to say that despite all he is thankful for, his experience making The Walking Dead could be really tough at times.
“It also was, like, the full experience. We’re talking last night of how wonderful this, this art can be and also how toxic this business can be. I’m just wondering if you can take me through your experience. Going with Frank Darabont. You know, him, you know, finding out that he was getting fired in the middle of it.”
After Bernthal brought up Darabont’s controversial firing from The Walking Dead after developing the show, Callies weighed in. Based on what Callies had to say about that subject, it was clear that she was angry Darabont got fired at the time, and she still seems upset about how it went down.
While talking about Darabont’s firing, Callies began by explaining that she didn’t believe the rumors when she first heard them. Callies then went on to express her admiration for Darabont’s writing and the job he was doing on The Walking Dead before he was fired. Most importantly, Callies expressed how angry she was that Darabont was let go and the reasons the cast was given.
“To have somebody say, ‘He’s not ready to be a showrunner, he’s unprepared’… There may have been legitimate grounds for firing him. If there were, I never heard them. But, that was a line of bulls**t, and it pissed me off.”
Callies then went on to describe how she was so mad that she confronted Robert Kirkman. Kirkman was the creator of the comic series The Walking Dead was based on, and he was an executive producer on the show.
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“I remember walking up to Kirkam and saying to him, ‘If you don’t think we know the difference between a script by Frank Darabont and anybody else, you’re out of your mind.’ And I looked in his eyes and I thought, ‘I’m going to get written off this show.’ Shouldn’t have said that, I was too pissed.”
From there, Callies and Bernthal spoke at length about how they lost their battle to save Darabont’s job. At one point in the conversation, Callies made it clear that she was very disappointed in the other stars of The Walking Dead for not sticking by Darabont. As Callies explained, she and Bernthal wanted to lead a cast strike but her other co-stars didn’t back that.
“My heart was a little bit broken when there was almost no stomach for that.”
After talking about how disappointed she was in most of her co-stars, Callies admitted she later questioned her decision to fight for Darabont. Callies explained that she paid a heavy financial price after she was later written out of the show.
“Look, I’m proud of it in retrospect. There were years afterwards that financially, were very scary. And like, those were years where I was like, ‘What was the actual price of your integrity? Because, another two years on that show, with the raises they got, like, that’s life-changing money, you know?”
Did The Walking Dead Almost Destroy Sarah Wayne Callies’ Career?
After Sarah Wayne Callies mostly left The Walking Dead in 2013, the actor didn’t want to make her return to television. As she explained to The Hollywood Reporter in 2016, Callies didn’t want to star in another show if it wasn’t going to be special.
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“I’d been really resistant to going back to television because Walking Dead was such an extraordinary experience, and I wasn’t interested in going back to TV just for a job. I wanted to be careful and only go back if there was a story I was dying to tell.”
What Shows has Sarah Wayne Callies starred in, according to TV Guide?
- Tarzan
- Prison Break
- The Walking Dead
- Colony
- Letterkenny
Fortunately for Callies, she eventually found a television role she was passionate about when she learned about the series Colony. However, according to what Callies went on to tell The Hollywood Reporter, Colony’s producers initially wanted nothing to do with her. Amazingly enough, Callies almost missed out on the show because of The Walking Dead.
“They not only didn’t want me on the show, they didn’t even want me to audition. They wanted to separate the shows.”
Amazingly enough, Callies credits Nicolas Cage with helping her to get the role anyway. As Callies explained, Cage convinced her to send in an audition tape despite already being rejected, and that ultimately led to her getting the starring role.
“I asked if he would tape with me. And he said, ‘If I tape the audition with you, I guarantee you won’t get the job. I have the most recognizable voice in Hollywood. No one will pay attention to your work. But I guarantee you, if you send in a tape, you’re going to book it.’”
Source: NewsFinale
