Creator of "The Walking Dead" Sues AMC Network Frank Darabont, the creator of one of television's biggest hit shows, "The Walking Dead," escalated his long feud with the AMC network on Tuesday, charging in a lawsuit that he had been cheated out of tens of millions of dollars because of "self-dealing" by the network. Mr. Darabont worked on the first season of "Dead" and was fired just before the start of the second season, a change that AMC executives have never publicly explained. The tension between the producer and the network has simmered ever since and as the show has gone on to become the most successful in the history of cable television. In the suit, filed in New York State Supreme Court and first reported by The Hollywood Reporter online, Mr. Darabont accused AMC of setting up a financial deal that keeps profit participants in the show from sharing in what should be enormous gains generated by the series. That is consistent with numerous previous lawsuits in which profit participants have accused studios of claiming that long-running, hugely successful shows have made no profit or made less than participants believed they had made. For examples, the actor Don Johnson sued for profits from his series "Nash Bridges," and Chris Carter sued to win profits from the hit he created and produced, "The X-Files." Mr. Darabont's suit claims that AMC has said that the series remained in deficit through its first two seasons, even after its enormous success. That success is undeniable. The show has averaged almost 13 million viewers this year, with the biggest ratings in all of television among the group most sought by advertisers, viewers between the ages of 18 and 49. In general, a studio might be able to create paper losses even for a hit show if it set a very low license fee, leading the series to show lingering deficits. AMC is the producing studio for "Dead," and effectively pays licensing fees to itself. A spokesman for AMC said the network would decline to comment "at this point" on the suit.