Show History

Season 1

Walker premiered on Thursday 21st January, 2021, and airs on the CW Thursdays at 8pm.

On 23rd September 2019 it was first reported that Jared Padalecki of Supernatural had his next project lined up -- a reboot of the '90s action procedural series Walker, Texas Ranger. The original series ran for eight seasons, from 1993 to 2001, and was relatively successful.

According to publicity, the series, which was announced as being titled simply Walker, would "focus on Cordell Walker as he returns from years undercover. A widower and father of two, he begins fighting crime with a new partner, who is one of the only female Rangers in history." Walker and his partner will be "the modern day heroes our world needs, following their own moral code to fight for what’s right, regardless of the rules." The is set, and filmed, in Austin Texas.

The city of Austin voted to kick in $141,326 in incentives to the California production company filming “Walker.” It is by far the most the city has agreed to pay among the four projects it has attracted through a 6-year-old incentive program.

The state in February 2020 agreed to $9.3 million in incentives to help bring the show to Texas.

Production was scheduled to mid-October 2020 and continued through April, according to a city memo dated Oct. 5. More than 50% of the production was scheduled for Austin, breaking the mold from the original show which was shot in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The series is being written and executive produced by Anna Fricke, who is currently under an overall deal at CBS Television Studios, and who previously co-created the North American adaptation of Being Human for Syfy with husband and former Supernatural writer and showrunner Jeremy Carver. Jared is also listed as an executive producer along with Rideback's Dan Lin (Fox's Lethal Weapon), and Lindsey Libertore.

Both The CW and CBS (who also produce the show under CBS Television Studios) were reported to be interested, before it was announced that it had landed with The CW. On January 19th, 2020, it was announced that the network had ordered the first season.

As was originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter, "The first episodes will be filmed in the spring in advance of The CW's upfront presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers in May (2020)". However the shutdown of filming across the US in March due to COVID-19 changed the schedule. On May 14th 2020, it was announced by the CW that it would launch its new season of original scripted shows in January 2021, pushed back from October 2020.

In October, 2020 showrunner Anne Fricke described the show in comparison to the original "Walker, Texas Ranger":

It’s still a love song to Texas and the character is still obviously a Texas Ranger and somewhat of a maverick character with a very strong moral compass. I’d say that is a powerful carry-through ... This show, I’d say, is even more of a family drama just because Walker himself now is living on the ranch with his own parents, so it’s a real multi-generational story.

But the racial reckoning and cries for police reform within the United States in the months prior also inspired the writers to dig deeper into conversations about changes that need to be made:

This was always supposed to be a show that was set up to have conversations on both sides of the fence and that Walker is a character that can see things both ways — we call him the edge of the coin. We realized that unwittingly we were set up to have those conversations in the characters of Captain James, who is a Black man, and in Walker’s new partner, who is a Latinx woman. Given that we had the extra time, we tweaked the pilot slightly in that Captain James, as a newer captain who was promoted while Walker was gone on a case, is really here on a mission to bring progress into the department and to keep an eye on corruption.

On December 14, 2020, The CW released the first official trailer for the series.

Due to ongoing winter storms in Texas resulting in power outages and freezing temperatures, filming had been delayed in February 2021, and after the February 18th episode "Duke", the show went on hiatus until March 11th 2021 with the return of episode 6, "Bar None". This hiatus had already been planned by the network and was not impacted by the storm. There were numerous other brief hiatuses over the course of the first season due to the ongoing COVID pandemic and record rain/heat during the summer months.

On May 26, 2021, it was announced that the season 1 finale would air on August 12, 2021.

On August 10, 2021, it was announced that the first season of Walker would be released on DVD on October 26, 2021.

On August 19, 2021, HBO Max listed their September lineup, with the entirety of Walker season 1 joining the streaming service on September 11, 2021.

Casting

On February 5, 2020, it was announced that Lindsey Morgan had joined Walker in the role of Micki , Walker's new partner in the Texas Rangers. That same month, Keegan Allen was cast in the role of Walker's brother, Liam , while Mitch Pileggi and Molly Hagan were cast as Walker's father and mother, Bonham and Abeline, respectively.

On February 28, 2020, it was announced that Coby Bell had joined the series, playing the role of Texas Ranger Captain Larry James.

On March 4, 2020, Jeff Pierre was cast as a series regular.

On March 12, 2020, Violet Brinson and Kale Culley joined the cast as series regulars.

On September 14, 2020, Genevieve Padalecki, Jared Padalecki's wife, was cast in a recurring role.

On October 30, 2020, Odette Annable was cast in a recurring role. In November 2020, Chris Labadie and Alex Landi joined the cast in recurring roles.

On December 4, 2020, Gabriela Flores was cast in a recurring role.

On December 7, 2020, Matt Barr joined the cast in a recurring capacity.

On January 7, 2021, Rebekah Graf joined the cast in a recurring capacity.

On February 9, 2021, Austin Nichols was officially announced as having joined the cast.

On February 19, 2021, Alex Meneses was officially announced as a recurring guest star, playing Micki's mother Adriana Ramirez. It was speculated for a few weeks that she'd been cast in this role before being officially confirmed.

Statistics

The show has prided itself on showcasing diversity in its cast and crew, and thus we would like to include a list detailing how many female and non-binary writers/directors have worked on the show so far. It's a breath of fresh air to see so many different types of folks working behind the camera, as well as working as writers.

Blue for women and our non-binary pals, Red for men

Episode	Director	Writer
1.01 Pilot	Jessica Yu	Anna Fricke
1.02 Back in the Saddle	Steve Robin	Anna Fricke
1.03 Bobble Head	Randy Zisk	Seamus Kevin Fahey
1.04 Don't Fence Me In	John T. Kretchmer	April Fitzsimmons
1.05 Duke	Steve Robin	Bret VandenBos & Brandon Willer
1.06 Bar None	Amyn Kaderali	Casey Fisher & Paula Sabbaga
1.07 Tracks	Bola Ogun	Casey Fisher & Paula Sabbaga
1.08 Fine Is A Four Letter Word	Stacey K. Black	Katherine Alyse(*)
1.09 Rule Number 17	Steve Robin	Bret VandenBos
1.10 Encore	Stacey K. Black	Blythe Ann Johnson
1.11 Freedom	Alex Pillai	Geri Carillo
1.12 Back in the Saddle	Steve Robin	Seamus Kevin Fahey & Anna Fricke
1.13 Defend The Ranch	Alex Pillai	Seamus Kevin Fahey & Anna Fricke
1.14 Mehar's Jacket	Diana Valentine	Casey Fisher
1.15 Four Stones In Hand	Tessa Blake	Paula Sabbaga
1.16 Bad Apples	Joel Novoa	Aaron Carew
1.17 Dig	Richard Speight Jr.	Seamus Kevin Fahey & Anna Fricke
1.18 Drive	Steve Robin	Seamus Kevin Fahey & Anna Fricke

Episode	Director	Writer
2.01 They Started It	Steve Robin	Seamus Kevin Fahey & Anna Fricke
2.02 The One Who Got Away	Richard Speight Jr.	Seamus Kevin Fahey & Anna Fricke
2.03 Barn Burner	Joel Novoa	Aaron Carew & Blythe Ann Johnson
2.04 It's Not What You Think	Jackeline Tejada	Casey Fisher
2.05 Partners and Third Wheels	Aprill Winney	Geri Carillo
2.06 Douglas Fir	Steve Robin	Bret VandenBos & Brandon Willer
2.07 Where Do We Go From Here	Amyn Kaderali	Anna Fricke & Katherine Alyse
2.08 Two Points for Honesty	Bosede Williams	Blythe Ann Johnson
2.09 Sucker Punch	Amyn Kaderali	Aaron Carew
2.10 Nudge	Steve Robin	Seamus Kevin Fahey & Casey Fisher
2.11 Boundaries	David McWhirter	Geri Carillo
2.12 Common Ground	Charissa Sanjarernsuithikul	Maya Vyas
2.13 One Good Thing	Ben Hernandez Bray	Bret VandenBos
2.14 No Such Thing As Fair Play	Jensen Ackles	Katherine Alyse
2.15 Bygones	Phil Hardage	David James
2.16 Champagne Problems	Kelli Williams	Casey Fisher & Blythe Ann Johnson
2.17 TBA	TBA	TBA
2.18 TBA	TBA	TBA

• Percentage of directors that are women or non-binary: 32.35%
• Percent of writers that are women or non-binary: 50%

(*)PLEASE NOTE: Katherine Alyse uses they/them pronouns. We do our best to be respectful of all gender identities/expressions (one of the admins is enby so we sort of have to be lol), but obviously we don't have personal access to the lives of the cast/crew and are only posting what is readily available to the internet. Please keep this information in mind whenever referring to Katherine, and we will update anything if more information becomes available (though honestly it's not any of our business). All genders are valid and we love you all. Thank you.

Season 2

On February 3rd 2021, after only two episodes (and very strong ratings for the network, including the largest delivery of any telecast for The CW since October 2018, and also the best L+7 P2+ delivery for any CW series debut since DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on Jan. 21, 2016), The CW announced Walker would be renewed for a second season and the series would also increase the number of season 1 episodes by 5, bringing the total episodes for season 1 to 18.

On June 15, 2021, The CW released the season 2 premiere dates for their fall lineup, including Walker, premiering on October 28, 2021.

Season 2 was originally scheduled to film from September 1st 2021 to April 22nd 2022, but filming was pushed from September 1st to September 2nd. Though no official reason was given, it is widely believed that this change was due to the death of Keegan Allen's beloved mother, Joan Allen.

On September 23rd 2021, it was announced that Jensen Ackles (Jared Padalecki's previous co-star from Supernatural) would direct episode 7 of season 2. It has since been re-scheduled so he will be directing a later episode sometime in February/March.

On December 9, 2021, it was announced that the show would return after holiday hiatus on January 13, 2022, as opposed to January 28 as initially announced.

On January 24, 2022, Jared Padalecki announced on a podcast that season 2 would have 20 episodes.

On March 22, 2022, Walker was renewed for a third season!

Casting

On April 29, 2021, Odette Annable was made a series regular for season 2!

On August 31, 2021, it was announced that Dave Annable had joined Walker in the role of Dan Miller, Denise’s husband, brimming with bravado. Dan is fiercely loyal to the Davidson family and very protective of his wife. He has taken on the Davidsons’ distrust of the Walkers and is clearly not going to settle into Austin without a fight. He’ll first appear in episode 201.

On October 14, 2021, in the episode description for episode 2 (The One Who Got Away), it was announced that Jalen Thomas Brooks would portray the character Colton Davidson.

On October 15, 2021, it was announced that Bryan Craig had joined season 2 of Walker, in the role of Spider. He previously worked with Lindsey Morgan on General Hospital, as well as working with Walker guest star Matt Barr (Hoyt Rawlins) on Valor.

On October 16, 2021, we confirmed that Amara Zaragoza (Tamara Feldman) was cast in the role of Denise Davidson for season 2 of Walker.

On October 29, 2021, it was announced that Lindsey Morgan would be exiting Walker sometime during season 2.

On December 9, 2021, it was announced that a Walker prequel titled Independence was in production, with Jared Padalecki set to executive produce.

On February 22, 2022, Ashley Reyes was made a series regular opposite Jared Padalecki, as his new partner Cassie Perez.

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