After much controversy, The Walking Dead once again has a Showrunner. Supervising Producer Scott M. Gimple has been promoted from within and will now take on the big time role of running the show. He joined the series at the beginning of Season 2 and has been working his way up ever since. (You can either be happy about or ignore the fact that he wrote Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.). At the very least we know he was part of the show during season 3 - when it got great again - so hopefully he can maintain that. He also is said to be a big fan of the source material.
Gimple will take over for Season 4 of The Walking Dead as Glenn Mazarra will see it through the end of season 3. This is the third showrunner in the show's four season history.
We have less than a month until the show is back on and it's nice to know that it will be left in someone's hands that can help carry through the transition. On the other hand, that sounds like it will be an awkward place to work for a few months.
I'm really disappointed Glenn Mazarra is leaving. I'm really interested to know what will happen going forward in season 4 that caused him to have creative differences. I'm wondering if they were going to stray a lot farther from the source material or if it was going to be too crazy for him to handle. I think he and Frank Darabont were amazing and I hope this doesn't spell doom for the show.
On the other hand, how many shows can say their showrunner has been replaced several times and the show's popularity and critical praise keeps getting bigger?
@rem25: Coincidentally, I was listening to an old episode of the Nerdist Writer's Panel podcast from last year before season 3 premiered with some of the TWD guys, including Mazarra. He came off like a very no-BS kind of guy who even on the podcast among colleagues seemed to disagree with quite a few of the opinions presented. Not trying to say he sounded like an ass, just that I could see how he may have ended up arguing very strongly for his point of view. Still, it must've been something really big if it caused him to leave the show over it which I find weird and also sad. I hope the show at least stays as good as it is now.