Chris Hardwick Will Return Has Host of Talking Dead – Today’s News: Our Take

Whether you agree with it or not, Chris Hardwick will be back to host Talking Dead in August. That’s because AMC cleared him to return to the Walking Dead aftershow as well as the other shows in his Talking franchise following an internal investigation into allegations of abuse by his ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra.

“Following a comprehensive assessment by AMC, working with Ivy Kagan Bierman of the firm Loeb & Loeb, who has considerable experience in this area, Chris Hardwick will return to AMC as the host of Talking Dead and Talking with Chris Hardwick. We take these matters very seriously and given the information available to us after a very careful review, including interviews with numerous individuals, we believe returning Chris to work is the appropriate step,” AMC said in a statement obtained by Variety.

AMC pulled Hardwick’s Talking series from the air after Dykstra accused him of sexual assault and verbal abuse in an emotional Medium post back in June. He was subsequently pulled from his regular gig as host of the Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead after shows and panels at San Diego Comic-Con, and Nerdist, which Hardwick founded, removed all traces of him from their website (he had previously parted ways with the company).

Hardwick’s dismissal opened the door for fan favorite Yvette Nicole Brown to step up and moderate both Comic-Con panels, as well as serve as the interim host of Talking Dead. With plenty of support behind her, Brown had a fair shot at taking over the gig permanently even though she wasn’t exactly gunning for her friend’s job. But now that Hardwick has been reinstated, that’s something she’ll no longer have to worry about, which is a shame because she would have made a damn good permanent host.

Regardless of how you feel about Hardwick and the allegations made against him, the fact is AMC is sticking by him and it’s up to you to decide whether you’ll continue watching his Talking shows or pretend they no longer exist.

Talking Dead will resume with Hardwick as host on Aug. 12following the midseason premiere of Fear the Walking Dead. It’s safe to assume he’ll also host The Walking Dead Season 9 Preview Special slated for Aug. 5.