AceShowbiz -

Dave Erickson will quit "Fear the Walking Dead" after season 3. Erickson, who developed "The Walking Dead" spin-off along with comic book writer Robert Kirkman, will step down as showrunner after the upcoming third season.

Kirkman will exit the drama to develop other projects for AMC under a new overall deal with AMC Studios. He will remain an executive producer on "Fear the Walking Dead". A replacement for Kirkman has not been announced as the series awaits word on a fourth season.

He says in a statement, "I have truly enjoyed working with the writers and directors, cast and crew on 'Fear' and am so proud of what we have accomplished over our first two seasons. I look forward to completing work on season three, sharing it with the fans and developing new projects with my partners at AMC."

Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV, says, "We're beyond grateful for Dave's amazing work on the first three seasons of 'Fear the Walking Dead'. With Dave as showrunner, the series fulfilled its creative promise to expand the 'Walking Dead' universe in a way that was totally unique from the original series, and has gone on to become the number two drama series in ad-supported cable, behind only 'The Walking Dead'."

He adds, "We are also incredibly excited that Dave has chosen to stay in the AMC family to pursue his next passion project. We look forward to many more successful collaborations."

Erickson previously served as producer and writer on AMC's short-lived series "Low Winter Sun" and as co-executive producer on FX's "Sons of Anarchy". He also executive produced and wrote an episode of Netflix's "Marco Polo".

"Fear the Walking Dead" will return with the third season this summer.