‘Fringe’ Co-Showrunner Jeff Pinkner Exits for Final Season

As Fringe approaches its fifth and final season, it will be without one of its top bosses.

Jeff Pinkner, who has served as co-showrunner of Fox’s cult series with J.H. Wyman since season two, will not be returning next year in order to pursue new projects, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Wyman will take on sole showrunning duties, while Pinkner will no longer keep his executive producer title on the show.

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“We’re so excited to begin work on a fifth season of Fringe and to be able to deliver the 13 final episodes to our passionate and devoted fans,” said Fringe co-creator J.J. Abrams in a statement. “For four years, J.H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner have worked tirelessly as a team to keep all the worlds in order on Fringe. We’re thankful for the invaluable contributions Jeff has made to the show and of course wish him well and look forward to working together in the future. J.H. Wyman’s importance to Fringe cannot be overstated, however, and I’m thrilled that he will continue as showrunner for the concluding chapters of our story. We can’t wait for our fans to see what we have in store for them in the wild conclusion of Fringe.”

Wyman took to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, writing: “I will be here until the last frame. We always encourage everyone to pursue their creative paths.” He also revealed the title of the fifth season premiere, “Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11,” tweeting a photo of the script.

Co-created by Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, Fox greenlighted 13 more episodes of Fringe in late April, bringing the series to an end after 100 episodes, a critical syndication threshold for studio Warner Bros. TV. Fringe was also acquired by the Science Channel in an off-network syndication deal.

TV Guide first reported the news.