The Walking Dead has a new showrunner. Weeks after AMC announced it was pretty much firing current Dead head Glen Mazzara, Vulture hears that the network has wrapped up a multiyear deal to promote Scott Gimple to executive producer and showrunner of the monster hit. Gimple is currently a supervising producer on the series and has been on staff at the show since its second season, writing episodes such as “Pretty Much Dead Already” and “Save the Last One.” He also created the 2002 Disney-produced animated series Fillmore! and has some comics cred, writing for both The Simpsons comics and the upcoming Punisher: Nightmare. AMC isn’t confirming the Gimple deal just yet, but industry insiders say he’ll take control of Walking Dead later this year, once Mazzara finishes postproduction on the second half of the show’s third season (bowing February 10). While the promotion of Gimple doesn’t resolve the nagging question of why exactly AMC decided to part ways with Mazzara last month, the decision to promote from within suggests that the network isn’t looking to take the show in a radically different direction. We think.
