'The Walking Dead' will return for Season 9 with a familiar face as the new showrunner
Scott M. Gimple is out (sort of), Angela Kang is in.
The Walking Dead will return for a ninth season with Kang, a writer on the show since Season 2, occupying the showrunner's seat. She's the series first female showrunner, following Gimple, Glen Mazzara, and Frank Darabont.
Gimple, who has been the showrunner since Season 4, brought stability to the AMC series after tumultuous early years when lawsuits and creative differences between key decision-makers loomed over all. He'll now move into the role of Chief Content Officer for AMC's Walking Dead brand, which includes both the main series and the Fear the Walking Dead spinoff.
Kang noted in a statement that she was "beyond thrilled" to be taking the reins on the series (h/t Deadline).
"Working on this series and having the opportunity to adapt Robert Kirkman’s amazing comic has been a fangirl dream come true for me," she said. "I’m excited to continue working with Scott and the wonderfully supportive folks at AMC, and can’t wait to share the next chapter of the story with our fans next fall."
Season 8 of The Walking Dead continues on Feb. 25, picking up where the series left off in 2017 with a major character's death looming -- one that The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has since spoken about publicly.
The ninth season begins in the fall, one of the key players from the series will be moving over to Fear the Walking Dead when it returns for its fourth season.
Topics The Walking Dead
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
