DEADLINE: Heighten is an interesting term as we look at your fairly recently announced step away from being the showrunner on TWD after a pretty long run to become Chief Content Officer for Walking Dead, Fear and what were unspecified as potential brand extensions on a variety of platforms. You know it seemed like a bump upstairs but to what a lot of us are still unclear
GIMPLE: I know
DEADLINE: So lay it out for us: how did the new position come to be and how did you envision it actually working with new showrunners at both Walking Dead and Fear in their upcoming seasons?
GIMPLE: Well, I was talking to AMC about the future the opportunities to do even more stuff. The Walking Dead universe came up and that led the conversations about Fear. In some ways, the opportunity to step back to elevate Angela seemed exciting because I was excited about trying to get new stuff going in The Walking Dead and even do more with old stuff in The Walking Dead.
DEADLINE: Does that mean more spinoffs?
GIMPLE: I mean were working on all sorts of things. Its all kind of coming together, but we want to keep doing great Walking Dead stuff. And Angelas amazingly talented. Look, I had done five years, more than 80 episodes, and it just seemed like a really good time for a change. I have a great relationship with Angela and I hired Andrew and Ian over on Fear folks that I had worked with before and its been really exciting working on that show too. I just didnt want to try and do it all at once. I love working on Season 9 with Angela and its very impressive to see how shes attacking it. And were just starting our eighth episode of Fear so were almost halfway through that season and Im so proud of whats come together there.
DEADLINE: Scott, you are weaving around my spinoffs question
GIMPLE: Ill say were working on different sorts of Walking Dead goodness coming up and well be telling you about it as it comes together. And its all sorts of stuff
DEADLINE: You took over suddenly in many ways after Glen Mazzara was out as TWD showrunner in late 2012, what is this more measured transition with Angela, who is the first female showrunner the series has ever had, like and how has your day-to-day changed?
GIMPLE: With Angela, its great, just great. Angela is very much the showrunner of Dead and Andrew and Ian are very much the showrunners at Fear. So now its being in a position to talk about sort of the stories globally and sometimes specifically. Its about breaking the whole season and figuring out where things are going. And then, the showrunners really do take the ball and run with it.
DEADLINE: Still satisfying?
GIMPLE: That part is really satisfying. Its very much trying to give them an even better experience than I had and trying to also make sure that the franchise has a certain continuity. That has the same story values and the same entertainment values. Its great and Im excited about all the other stuff thats coming down the line. That stuff Im really digging into in the next month as I finish Walking Dead Season 8.
