The Walking Dead Showrunner Mazzara Inks a Deal With Fox TV

Glen Mazzara, the outgoing showrunner for AMC’s comic book adaptation The Walking Dead, has hung his own production company shingle and inked an overall deal with Fox Television Studios.Mazzara will develop cable series for Fox through 44 Strong (named for his address in Brooklyn, 44 Strong Place) and will help coach and develop other writers on their own series. Mazzara already had a relationship with Fox TV, having spent six years on the hit FX drama The Shield.”The Shield was the show that really put [Fox Television Studios] on the map, and Glen was a huge part of that show’s success,” Fox TV president David Madden told Deadline. “Years later, Glen has become a lauded and expert showrunner, and after his extraordinary stint on The Walking Dead, we are proud to bring Glen back home.””I’ve had a long history with Fox Television Studios… This is where I want to be, and I couldn’t ask for a better partner as I take the next step in my career,” Mazzara added.Mazzara took over as showrunner on The Walking Dead after Frank Darabont, the series creator, pilot director and original showrunner, was ousted at the beginning of season two. He spent two years at the head of the series, guiding it to being the top-rated show in the U.S. this season, but had irreconcilable creative differences with AMC over the direction of the series.A number of Mazzara’s former collaborators on The Shield have come forward to lend him support and publicly blame The Walking Dead comic book creator and executive producer Robert Kirkman for the conflict.