More The Walking Dead on AMC

FOURTH SEASON CONFIRMED BUT SHOWRUNNER GLEN MAZZARA WILL NOT BE RETURNING

AMC, not surprisingly, has renewed breakout hit scripted drama The Walking Dead for a fourth season, with an unconfirmed number of new episodes for 2013. But showrunner Glen Mazzara will not be returning, and no replacement has been named yet. “Both parties acknowledge that there is a difference of opinion about where the show should go moving forward, and conclude that it is best to part ways,” said AMC in a statement. “This decision is amicable and Glen will remain on for post-production on season 3B as showrunner and executive producer.”

This will be the third change in showrunners on The Walking Dead. Original showrunner Frank Darabont left amid controversy during the second season and was replaced by Mazzara.

Several other TV producers weighed in on Mazzara’s departure.

Shawn Ryan, creator of “The Shield”, “The Unit” and “Last Resort”, tweeted the following:

Breaking my Twitter silence to comment: AMC, WTF?

— Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyanTV) December 21, 2012

Common knowledge that AMC cut Breaking Bad shorter than it should have been. Now you have creative differences w/ biggest hit’s savior?

— Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyanTV) December 21, 2012

With FX, Showtime, HBO, Starz, Cinemax, A&E, TNT and others to sell to, it’s a real question now why good show runners should sell to AMC?

— Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyanTV) December 21, 2012

Greg Yaitanes, executive producer of “House, M.D.” and Cinemax’s upcoming drama “Banshee”, sent out this tweet:

yo. @AMC_TV what are you doing with @WalkingDead_AMC by canning another great voice???

— Greg Yaitanes (@GregYaitanes) December 21, 2012

Kurt Sutter, writer and executive producer of “The Shield” and creator of “Sons of Anarchy”, tweeted his ire towards AMC: (Note: Sutter’s tweet includes a link to his continued thoughts on the matter, which contains some explicit language.)

AMC is run by small-minded, bottom-line thinkers who have no appreciation or gratitude for the effort of it’s creative… http://say.ly/Hvg4Poo

— Kurt Sutter (@sutterink) December 21, 2012

The season-three premiere of The Walking Dead broke the record books with 10.9 million viewers on Oct. 14 (according to Nielsen), making it the most-watched episode of any drama series in basic cable history. By current season end, The Walking Dead will have produced 36 episodes.