Duck Dynasty season 4 premiere August 14, salary negotiations settled; beardless pastor Alan to join as new castmember

A&E

"Duck Dynasty" season 4 premiere date has been set for August 14 at 10 p.m. ET.

The hit A&E reality series focuses on the lives of the wealthy Robertson family, who run a family business called Duck Commander in Louisiana. They make duck calls, and other products for duck hunters.

Season 3 of "Duck Dynasty" ended with a whopping 9.6 million viewers tuning in.

The new season will feature a new cast member, Phil Robertson's eldest son Alan Robertson.

Alan Robertson is a pastor who surprisingly is the only one of the Robertson brothers who doesn't have the iconic beard. He has been a pastor at Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ in West Monroe, Louisiana, for 22 years and he has agreed to be on the show to help spread the word of God.

"What I do for our church - you see, it's a pretty good-sized church - impacts a lot of people, but because of my association with the show, I'll get to minister to a lot more people," Alan told New York Post. "Any person that's an evangelist, that's what you want to do, so I had to give this up for something possibly bigger."

Alan said he and his wife had with the congregation on whether to join the cast before ultimately deciding to be on the show.

The 47-year-old cast member will join the family's duck call manufacturing business, as their public relations manager.

The hit A&E show had brought instant fame to the Robertson family, which had Alan concerned about joining the show. "My children are grown, but all of my brothers' children are teenagers now, so how is this crazy world going to impact them?" he told the New York Post. "We think about John Luke and Sadie, who are such a big part of the show and they're teenagers, you know? They need to be just normal teenagers. We pray about that."

Alan's father Phil and mother Kay, along with his uncle Si and three brothers have all starred in the series for three seasons. Alan's wife Lisa is set to feature in the show, joining the wives of his three brothers.

Previous reports earlier this year stated that the Robertson family wanted a raise, and asked for $200,000 per episode from the network.

A&E executive producer and CEO Philip Segal said in March, "The 'Duck Dynasty' guys… they don't need the money. They're having fun, right? It isn't about the money, right? They were wealthy to begin with. These A-type personalities… the network says, 'Can't you get them to be behave?' No. They are crazy, which is what makes them compelling characters. When a show is a successful, it becomes a problem."

Now that a premiere date has been set, it seems that an agreement has been reached between the family and the network.