'Fear the Walking Dead' Renewed for Fourth Season With New Showrunners

AMC is sticking with Fear the Walking Dead.

The cable network has handed out a fourth-season renewal for the Walking Dead prequel series. Additionally, Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (Once Upon a Time) have boarded the series as co-showrunners, replacing Dave Erickson. Flagship showrunner Scott M . Gimple has also boarded the prequel spinoff as an executive producer. The renewal is an early sign of confidence in the series and comes well ahead of its June 4 season three return.

“We're very excited to continue the journey of Fear the Walking Dead, and truly look forward to working with the talented team of Andrew Chambliss, Ian Goldberg and Scott Gimple,” Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV, said Friday in a statement.

The renewal comes weeks after showrunner Erickson — who developed and co-wrote the pilot with Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman — announced that he would exit the zombie drama after season three. Erickson will instead develop new projects for AMC via an overall deal.

Fear the Walking Dead, while not a breakout hit like the flagship series, still performs well for AMC. The drama is one of the top shows on cable with an average of 5.3 million total viewers and 3 million among adults 18-49 with three days of delayed viewing.

“We are thrilled to be joining Fear the Walking Dead and couldn't be more excited to work alongside the wonderful team at AMC on this show,” Chambliss and Goldberg said in a joint statement. “We love this universe and are truly honored to have the chance to contribute to it.”

Goldberg was the showrunner on Once Upon a Time's Wonderland-set spinoff and previously teamed with OUAT showrunners Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis on their short-lived Freeform drama Dead of Summer. Both series were canceled after one season. Chambliss, meanwhile, counts The Vampire Diaries and Dollhouse among his credits.

For his part, Gimple is the third showrunner on The Walking Dead. He becomes the latest exec producer from the flagship to board Fear, joining Kirkman and Greg Nicotero, among others, as the spinoff strengthens its creative team in a bid to recapture some of The Walking Dead's sizable audience.