Netflix and AMC Global Media have agreed to a five-year global licensing deal for The Walking Dead Universe, valued at roughly $500 million. The agreement, announced July 30, 2026, grants Netflix co-exclusive streaming rights to the original Walking Dead series and all six of its spin-offs, totaling 371 episodes. Both companies confirmed the deal through their official newsrooms that same day.

Variety first reported the $500 million valuation. The deal covers Fear the Walking Dead, World Beyond, Tales of the Walking Dead, Dead City, Daryl Dixon, and The Ones Who Live. Beginning in 2027, Netflix subscribers worldwide will be able to stream the full slate of spin-offs, while the original series is already available on Netflix in the U.S.

Netflix had been the exclusive U.S. streaming home of The Walking Dead since 2011. Under the new agreement, that exclusivity ends. Netflix will now share streaming access with AMC+, AMC Networks' own streaming service. The arrangement also expands Netflix's Walking Dead availability into additional markets, including the U.K., Italy, Australia, and New Zealand.

AMC Networks announced the Netflix deal alongside its Q2 2026 quarterly earnings report and used it to raise its forward guidance — the company's forecast of future financial performance. The timing ties the licensing revenue directly to a financial update for shareholders, framing the agreement as a material event for AMC's balance sheet rather than a routine content renewal.

The financial scale of this deal is easier to grasp with a comparison. In 2020, HBO Max paid $425 million to bring Friends over from Netflix. The Walking Dead deal, at roughly $500 million over five years, exceeds that figure, though the structures differ. The Friends transaction was a platform-exclusive acquisition, meaning HBO Max became the sole streaming home. The Walking Dead arrangement is a co-exclusive licensing agreement, meaning AMC keeps streaming rights through AMC+ while also licensing the content to Netflix.

The co-exclusive structure is the operational detail worth examining. For roughly fifteen years, Netflix held sole U.S. streaming custody of the original series. That arrangement served both parties: Netflix benefited from a reliable catalog title with sustained viewer engagement, and AMC collected licensing fees for a property it also aired on linear television. The shift to co-exclusivity means AMC is betting that AMC+ can retain and grow its subscriber base through direct access to the franchise, even with Netflix as a parallel distributor. The math depends on whether dedicated viewers will pay for AMC+ when the same content is available on Netflix, which reaches a substantially larger global subscriber base.

The 2027 availability window for the spin-offs gives Netflix a content runway that begins next year. The original series and its spin-offs collectively span 371 episodes, a substantial catalog addition for Netflix in the markets covered by the agreement.

For AMC Networks, the $500 million in licensing revenue, spread across the five-year term, provides cash flow the company has already factored into raised forward guidance. The deal also keeps The Walking Dead Universe available on AMC's own platform, preserving the franchise as a subscriber-acquisition and retention tool for AMC+.

The broader context here is the continued monetization of established IP (intellectual property — in this case, a recognizable franchise with a built-in audience) through cross-platform licensing rather than platform-exclusive hoarding. The streaming industry's earlier strategy of pulling licensed content behind single-platform walls, exemplified by the HBO Max Friends deal in 2020, has increasingly given way to co-exclusive arrangements that distribute content across competing services. The Walking Dead agreement follows that pattern: Netflix gains global catalog depth, AMC captures licensing revenue while retaining its own streaming foothold, and the franchise reaches audiences across multiple platforms simultaneously.

Whether co-exclusivity ultimately drives incremental AMC+ subscriptions or simply consolidates viewership on Netflix is an open question. The deal's structure suggests AMC is willing to test that outcome in exchange for $500 million in near-term revenue.