Not that it should come as any great shock to anyone familiar with how much of a wildfire hit AMC’s The Walking Dead is, but the network has officially greenlighted season four of the series, which tells the stories of survivors of a zombie apocalypse and their constant battle to stay alive.

What may come as a shocker, is that Glen Mazzara, the man who stepped in for creator Frank Darabont as showrunner when he was fired, is now also stepping down from his position.

Continue reading for more, as well as to read multiple statements from those involved in the show.

Once again, the development is directly influenced by AMC, who have gained a reputation for being very difficult to work for. Rumors famously had the network threatening the cast if they spoke negatively about the removal of Darabont, saying it’s a show where anyone can be killed off easily…and some were, though its unclear whether that was the reason or not.

According to a statement released by AMC and Mazzara, the two parties disagreed on what direction the show should go in, and agreed that it was time to part ways. This same reason made fans very nervous in regard to the Darabont situation, wondering if they were trying to force the show to go in a bad direction, or maybe minimize the fantastic (yet pricy) practical effects that make it so great. One can only wonder if we’ll find out that Mazzara too was fired.

Fortunately for us, when Mazzara took over, he stepped in and not only kept using great practical effects, but also moved the storylines into more faithful waters, closer to what comic creator Robert Kirkman‘s original books offered. Now all we can do is hold our collective breaths once again and hope the show stays the course and continues to blow us away, despite all the dysfunction clearly going on behind the scenes.

Here’s the joint statement from AMC and Mazzara:

And here’s Mazzara’s thoughts on the matter:

Here’s a statement released by Robert Kirkman:

Finally, here’s producer Gale Anne Hurd’s thoughts:

This also isn’t the only AMC show with issues such as these. AMC lops off more showrunner heads than Henry himself. But still, they air some of the best shows on TV. You have to wonder if they truly know what they’re doing, albeit with am iron fist, or if they just have that many ultra-talented folks working on their shows, ready to step in and run things when called on.

What do you think of AMC losing yet ANOTHER showrunner?

[Source: Deadline]