AMC’s ‘Hell On Wheels’ Renewed For Third Season, Creators Joe & Tony Gayton Exit

UPDATED: I’ve learned that AMC has given a 10-episode third season renewal to Hell On Wheels. However, the Western drama’s creators Joe and Tony Gayton are stepping down as executive producers and will no longer be involved day-to-day on the show. They may consult. John Shiban continues as showrunner. The Gaytons had a two-year contract for Hell On Wheels, which is up. The two were very involved in the show early on, gradually focusing their attention on new projects — they recently sold a drama project to NBC.

The renewal comes on the heels of the Western drama wrapping its second season earlier this month with a solid average of 2.4 million viewers. That was down from the average of 3 million viewers for the show’s freshman season — but this time around, Hell On Wheels did not have blockbuster The Walking Dead as a lead-in and was impacted by the lack of AMC carriage on Dish Network.

Hell On Wheels, from Entertainment One and Endemol USA, is exec produced by Shiban, Jeremy Gold and David Von Ancken exec produce. eOne’s John Morayniss and Michael Rosenberg oversee production with Mike Frislev and Chad Oakes of Nomadic Pictures.