While he might be busy penning major movies for James Wan, screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick has also written many episodes of The Walking Dead over the years too. Johnson-McGoldrick started his career working as an assistant to writer/director Frank Darabont. He worked on Darabont's Stephen King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, before later establishing himself as a screenwriter, with his first credit being 2009 cult horror Orphan starring Vera Farmiga and Isabella Fuhrman.
In the years that followed, he penned the likes of 2011's Red Riding Hood from director Catherine Hardwicke and the lukewarmly received sequel Wrath of the Titans. Johnson-McGoldrick is now closely linked with producer/director James Wan, having co-written the 2016 sequel The Conjuring 2, which was a huge success. He and Wan have continued this fruitful relationship with Johnson-McGoldrick writing the Wan produced The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, in addition to co-writing the Wan-directed DC blockbuster Aquaman from 2018.
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick also penned the upcoming sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Despite his movie career being busier than ever, fans of The Walking Dead and its sister show Fear The Walking Dead may have noticed his name pops up on the show on a semi-regular basis, as both a screenwriter and as consulting producer. Here's every episode of both shows he's written on.
The Walking Dead
Season 2
- "Chupacabra"
- "Triggerfinger"
Season 7
- "Swear"
- "Hostiles and Calamities"
Season 8
- "Some Guy"
- "The Big Scary U"
- "How It's Gotta Be"
- "Worth"
Season 9
- "The Bridge"
- "Evolution"
- "Chokepoint"
Season 10
- "Squeeze"
- "Here's Negan"
Fear The Walking Dead
Season 5
- "Channel 4"
- "Today and Tomorrow"
Season 6
- "The Key"
- "Handle With Care"
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick's connection to the series makes a certain amount of sense, given that Frank Darabont created the Walking Dead TV series. That said, there's a noticeable gap between Johnson-McGoldrick's first two credits on season 2 - where Darabont was infamously fired by AMC - and his eventual return for season 7 episode "Swear." He's been relatively prolific on the original series since, including penning season 10's "Here's Negan," which presented the origin story for Jeffery Dean Morgan's titular villain/antihero.
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick's also wrote a few episodes of Fear The Walking Dead, including season 5's "Channel 4" and the upcoming season 7 outing "Breathe With Me." With The Walking Dead season 11 being the final outing of the original show, it will be interesting to see if Johnson-McGoldrick pens anything for the show's last run. That said, "Here's Negan" was his most recent episode, and it's a pretty good one to sign off on. Even outside of his collaborations with Wan, the screenwriter will also act as an executive producer on the upcoming prequel Orphan: First Kill and he co-produced the Megan Fox fronted thriller Till Death.