AMC Threatens to Pull ‘The Walking Dead’ Out of Georgia over Abortion Law

The TV network behind the hit zombie apocalypse drama The Walking Dead — which has filmed in Georgia for nearly a decade — says it will “reevaluate” its production in the state if a new abortion law goes into effect next year.

The Walking Dead, the long-running, award-winning hit series is an economic powerhouse and brings streams of tourists to the Georgia towns where it has been filmed.

A statement from AMC Networks calls the abortion legislation “highly restrictive” and says it will be closely watching what’s likely to be “a long and complicated fight” over the law.

“If this highly restrictive legislation goes into effect, we will reevaluate our activity in Georgia,” the network said in a statement to CBS News. “Similar bills — some even more restrictive — have passed in multiple states and have been challenged. This is likely to be a long and complicated fight and we are watching it all very closely.”

Georgia’s Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is usually around six weeks. The law is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020 but the ACLU and other organizations are mounting a legal fight to have the law blocked by a judge.

AMC is joining Disney, Netflix, WarnerMedia — the parent company of CNN, HBO, and TNT — among other Hollywood actors, producers, and directors who’ve threatened to pull film projects and production out of Georgia over the new abortion law.

To date, no major studio has actually pulled production from the state, which has become known as the “Hollywood of the South” due to its tax incentives for filming.

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson