One of The Walking Dead‘s top crew members is leaving the production. It’s surprising news – especially considering he was just on a panel for The Walking Dead at Comic-Con a few days ago.

The show’s creator and executive producer has decided to step down despite being halfway through the production.

Deadline reports:

There is speculation that Darabont might be off the show completely, but I hear talks are still ongoing about him possibly staying on in some capacity. Darabont, who wrote and directed the pilot for AMC’s zombie saga, hails from the feature world, and I hear he never quite adjusted to the daily grind of producing a TV series. Last December, he considered forgoing a writing staff for Season 2 and assigning scripts to freelancers but ultimately went for the traditional writing staff model recommended by the network and tapped Glen Mazzara as an executive producer and his No. 2. It is unclear if The Shield alum Mazzara, who has showrunning experience, would now step in to run Walking Dead. I hear that the behind-the-scenes turmoil has not affected production on the show, which continues as scheduled.

We’re surprised by this news but ultimately think it won’t affect the quality of the show much.

We’ll let you know if/when an official statement is made.

Just a month ago we shared with you an interview with Darabont on season 2.