‘WALKING DEAD’ WALKOUT

Dead_stry

The stars of TV’s THE WALKING DEAD are considering walking out unless they get fat pay hikes, say sources.

With the fourth season finale of AMC’s hit zombie series scoring a whopping 15.7 million viewers, the show’s regulars all want a bigger share of its success.

“The series is a cash cow for AMC and the cast sees very little of that money,” said a source.

“Everyone from Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) and Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon) down to Lauren Cohan (Maggie Greene), Danai Gurira (Michonne) and Steven Yeun (Glenn Rhee) feel they deserve a boost in pay.”

Lincoln – who plays a smalltown sheriff’s deputy leading survivors of a zombie apocalypse – is the show’s highest paid actor at $90,000 an episode, said the source.

“That may seem like a lot, until you consider that Ashton Kutcher makes $750,000 an episode for ‘Two and a Half Men,’” the source pointed out.

“The Walking Dead” is cable’s highest rated show, with its fourth season averaging 13.3 million viewers per episode.

It’s also among TV’s most profitable series, reportedly pulling in as much as $11 million an episode from ad revenue.

“The cast would like a piece of that pie,” said the insider.

“And they’re willing to band together to do it, just like the ‘Friends’ cast did before they got their record-setting $1 million an episode deal.

“Until now, the implied threat for most cast members has been that they’re expendable.

“Any one of their characters could end up getting killed at any time. But they’re willing to take that risk now. And if they don’t get their way, they’re going to walk!”