As we reported the night before last, The Walking Dead executive producer and showrunner Frank Darabont has stepped down from the showrunner position. At that time it wasn’t known if he was stepping away from the show entirely or just from the showrunner position, and we still don’t have an answer to that question at this time.

What we do know now, however, as reported by Deadline, is that Glen Mazzara has stepped up to showrunner from his previous second-in-command/head writer position. As we reported back in February, he was hired into that previous capacity at the beginning of season 2 (which they are currently shooting in Atlanta) to replace Charles Eglee who left the show to work on the Powers pilot with Brian M. Bendis.

Mazzara was familiar with the The Walking Dead production as a freelancer before he was hired onto the head writer position because had written the penultimate episode of season 1, “Firefly.” You may recall that “Firefly” is the episode where we first saw the CDC. For some Lost fans that episode is referred to as “The Hatch” or “The Desmond” episode because of all of the visual references to Lost during the CDC segments. I like to think of it as an homage.

Mazzara had been showrunner for the first season of Crash on Starz, and also wrote for The Shield.

It was with a huge sigh of relief that this was part of the Deadline report:

Production on Season 2 of Walking Dead has not been interrupted by the showrunner change, and the series remains on target for an Oct. 16 premiere.

Whew! Let’s hope that holds; I’m still keeping the date on my calendar IN PEN. Be looking for a report on the international premiere dates later today.

Once again, The Walking Dead is set to premiere season 2 on AMC on Sunday, October 16 at the new time of 9/8c.