AMC picks-up 'The Walking Dead' for a 4th season -though showrunner Mazzara departs

For many viewers of AMC’s hit drama The Walking Dead, they might not care about who’s running the show, as long as they get zombies being killed in creative fashion. For some, the personal drama between the characters is distracting from the zombie violence. But for others, like me, I find it troubling when a hit series like The Walking Dead starts going through showrunners like waiters in a restaurant. I mean, this is a show that is not only breaking ratings for cable television, it’s also regularly beating everything on broadcast TV as well. 

In a dual announcement, AMC announced that the show will return for a fourth season, but showrunner Glen Mazzara –who replaced creator/showrunner Frank Darabont halfway through season two- will depart. Much like Darabont’s departure, Mazzara is leaving for creative and a “difference of opinion.”

"My time as showrunner on The Walking Dead has been an amazing experience, but after I finish season 3, it’s time to move on.  I have told the stories I wanted to tell and connected with our fans on a level that I never imagined. It doesn’t get much better than that. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey." – Glen Mazzara

Of course, this has happened before and will happen again. But AMC has a track record of losing creative showrunners from their hit shows. While Rubicon, created and exec producer by Jason Horwitch, was not a huge ratings hit, the critics loved it the show. But he departed during the production of its first and only season. And just recently, Hell On Wheels showrunner John Shiban was sort of forced out at the end of season two before the cable net announced a third season pick-up.

Eventually, we might get a reason for the departures, though it’s not too much a leap of logic to assume that it has to do with whether a show will be character driven or plot driven. And perhaps, even as horror novelist Stephen King has noted that the “zombies have lost some of their scare appeal,” this is what concerns the cable net. Still, King adds that the “continuing tale of human survival in Apocalypse America is still fascinating.” For any showrunner on a commercial network needs to balance that commercial aspect –the fickle viewers and a demographically dictated mantra - with the social commentary it’s also trying to weave through the show. Also, serialized shows have an even more difficult problem insomuch as they need to move the show forward each episode while fighting an audience that may not see the series every week and don’t want to make the effort of figuring things out. Episodic TV is easy, but continuing drama’s face an uphill battle with the network, the audience and the showrunners whom all seem to want different things. In the end, AMC is paying for the show, so they do get the final word.  But it does seem disingenuous of them to force out showrunners on a series that is such a huge hit ratings wise and a critical darling.