Fear the Walking Dead Showrunners Face Fan Backlash on Twitter

Fear the Walking Dead showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg were at the center of backlash [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

Fear the Walking Dead showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg were at the center of backlash on Twitter after Talking Dead opened the floor for fan questions.

The typically live aftershow hosted by Chris Hardwick, usually aired after premiere episodes of Fear and The Walking Dead, has aired irregularly for Season 5: Talking Dead only reconvened for the season opener, the mid-season finale and the mid-season premiere. Chambliss and Goldberg return to the couch for the Season 5 finale Sunday, Sep. 29.

When Talking Dead invited fans to submit their questions for the showrunners who boarded the spinoff in its fourth season, response from Fear viewers was largely negative:

"How does it feel to ruin a show that was amazing?" reads the top reply. A subsequent tweet called Fear "a boring soap opera with no real direction."

Another commenter accused Chambliss and Goldberg of "literally destroying" the show while others expressed anger over the decision to kill off former lead Madison Clark (Kim Dickens), who was replaced by Walking Dead transplant Morgan (Lennie James) as part of the first crossover between the two shows that kicked off a semi-rebooted Fear Season 4.

One user weighing in argued Fear has been destroyed "to the point of no return," while another asked, "Why did you ruin the show?"

Others called for the return of co-creator and three-season showrunner Dave Erickson, who exited the series in 2017 when he inked a development deal with network AMC. Erickson has yet to produce another project for the cabler.

Fan reaction has worsened with each new episode. In reaction threads published by the official Walking Dead Twitter handle on Sundays, Fear often garners mixed-to-negative responses; in recent weeks, the spinoff has been called "damn boring" and "unwatchable."

Episode 512, "Ner Tamid," saw Fear hit a series low in viewership. But the following episode, which introduced new foes Virginia (Colby Minifie) and the Pioneers, saw a slight increase in viewers.

Despite its waning audience, Fear was officially renewed for Season 6 during San Diego Comic-Con weekend in July. It was there Chambliss and Goldberg promised a "big change" at the end of Season 5 that will "really change the show in a way that will launch us into Season 6, in a really big way."

Elaborating on that major change in a subsequent interview, Chambliss said, "It's something that we're very excited about, and it's really going to change the narrative approach of how we tell stories in Season 6."

Fear the Walking Dead next airs its penultimate episode of Season 5 Sunday, Sep. 22 at 9/8c on AMC.

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