Jeffrey Dean Morgan Reacts to Supernatural Co-Star Jared Padalecki's Walker Reboot: "I'm Damn Proud"

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is 'damn proud' of his friend and former Supernatural co-star Jared Padalecki, [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is "damn proud" of his friend and former Supernatural co-star Jared Padalecki, star and producer of the Walker, Texas Ranger reboot now airing on The CW. Before he was Negan on The Walking Dead, Morgan played dad to Sam (Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) on the long-running Supernatural, which aired its series finale on The CW in November. In Walker, Padalecki returns to the network as Cordell Walker, the role originated by Chuck Norris in the original series that aired 200 episodes across eight seasons on CBS.

"Just wanted to say congrats to my boy @jarpad. I'm damn proud of him for bringing #Walker back to life as the man, and the exec producer," Morgan tweeted during the Walker series premiere on Thursday. "Well done. And @GenPadalecki to boot?! Pretty damn cool. Love you."

Padalecki's real-life wife, Wildfire and Supernatural actress Genevieve Padalecki, plays Cordell's late wife and mother to children Stella (Violet Brinson) and August (Kale Culley).

After 15 years as Sam Winchester, Padalecki says his re-imagined Cordell Walker is "a bit more Han Solo than Luke Skywalker."

"He's not necessarily the super-pensive, super-research-oriented, read-the-instruction-booklet guy. He's more a shoot-from-the-hip guy. He trusts his instincts. He's also very much a father and a widower," Padalecki told Entertainment Weekly. "What drives him is trying to figure out how to exist as a father after having lost his partner, who was doing all the heavy lifting at home, and still having a job that demands a lot. It's a lot of what Jared was going through. I'd get home from Vancouver and [my wife] Gen had been with the kids for two weeks sometimes and I was like, 'Where do I fit here because, I gotta fly back to Vancouver in 24 hours to film for another two weeks?' So I'm trying to do the best I can, but my kids are used to my wife. The parallel feels very real."

Padalecki added Sam and Cordell are "both haunted. They both went through a terrible loss, and they have a really difficult job. Sam, in a strange way, probably dealt with it in a healthier way than Cordell. Cordell probably drinks a little bit too much, and he's more caustic than Sam would be."

In a spoiler-free review of Thursday's series premiere, ComicBook.com's Russ Burlingame praises Padalecki's "flawed hero" and the "terrific cast" that includes Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files) and Molly Hagan (iZombie).

New episodes of Walker premiere Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW. Morgan also stars opposite his real-life wife, Hilarie Burton Morgan, when The Walking Dead Season 10 returns to AMC with six new episodes on Sunday, February 28.

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