The CW has released a number of promotional photos from the upcoming TV pilot for Walker, the contemporary reimagining of Walker, Texas Ranger starring Supernatural's Jared Padalecki. The series will debut later this month on The CW, along with the series premieres of Batwoman, Riverdale, and Nancy Drew and just ahead of most of the network's other "fall" premieres. Each of the series was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although Walker had a particiularly strange path to production since Padalecki had to delay shooting the pilot while he completed work on Supernatural, which ended after 15 seasons on the same network.
Now, just about two months after Supernatural wrapped up its lengthy run, Padalecki is back in action on The CW as Cordell Walker. Ironically, a 2011 episode of Supernatural ("Frontierland," written by Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin, and directed by Guy Norman Bee) may have foreshadowed the role, as the Winchester brothers traveled back in time to the Old West, and Dean (Jensen Ackles) introduced Sam (Padalecki) as "Walker, Texas Ranger" as a joke.
This new Walker, Texas Ranger is said to be a reboot of the original series, so it will be as though the events of the original, Chuck Norris version never existed in the Padalecki continuity. This is the same sort of approach taken by recent revivals of Magnum PI and MacGyver.
You can read the official synopsis below.
SERIES PREMIERE – Texas Ranger Cordell Walker (Jared Padalecki), a widower and father of two with his own moral code, returns home to Austin, TX, after being undercover for two years, only to discover there's harder work to be done at home.
As Walker attempts to reconnect with his creative and thoughtful son August (Kale Culley) and his headstrong, somewhat rebellious teenaged daughter Stella (Violet Brinson), he finds that he needs to navigate clashes with his family – Liam (Keegan Allen), Walker's ADA brother who stepped in during Walker's absence, his perceptive mother Abeline (Molly Hagen) and his traditional rancher father Bonham (Mitch Pileggi).
Walker's former colleague, Larry James (Coby Bell), is now his Ranger Captain. And Walker finds unexpected common ground with his new partner Micki Ramirez (Lindsey Morgan), one of the first women in Texas Rangers' history while growing increasingly suspicious about the circumstances surrounding his wife's death (guest star Genevieve Padalecki).
The episode was written by Anna Fricke and directed by Jessica Yu. Walker will premiere on Thursday, January 21 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.
