Fresh on the heels of the news that The CW’s Walker has been renewed for a fourth season on the network, we got the chance to talk to the show’s star and executive producer, Jared Padalecki.
With his work on Gilmore Girls, Supernatural, and now Walker, Padalecki has been a staple on the network for over 20 years, amassing a dedicated and passionate fanbase. Walker has steadily been a network hit, often topping the ratings consistently for years. Tonight, Walker will air its season 3 finale, which is sure to leave fans excited for the next season.
In our interview below, Padalecki talked to us all about getting that renewal news, his process of getting into character each season, working with Colin Ford, Matt Barr, Justin Johnson Cortez, and more.
Editor’s note: This interview was edited for clarity.
Nerds & Beyond: We all just got the news that Walker will be renewed for season 4! Congratulations!
Jared Padalecki: Thank you! I found out today as well.
Nerds & Beyond: That was my first question; when did you hear and were you as excited as we all are right now?
Padalecki: Oh my god, I’m so thrilled. I think maybe the Sam Winchester in me or something tries to just convince myself that the worst is gonna happen so that I don’t get disappointed. I don’t recall the last time I was on a TV show in the last 23 years where we didn’t know by May 8 whether we were going or not, certainly not with Supernatural. I was nervous. I was concerned, I love the show. I love my character. I love my cast. I love my crew.
The whole entertainment industry right now is changing, the writers are on strike and the directors and actors are due to negotiate at the end of next month. And so everything just kind of felt so wonky for life afterward. I just felt like I don’t know which way is up. And so I got into a mindset of, “Okay, well, if Walker doesn’t go, then what’s next? What does life look like?” I talked for many years about wanting to retire after Supernatural, and that wasn’t a lie. I was very honest. Like, “I’ve had 20 years in the industry and my wife and I were living in Austin and, I want to see what being a dad is like. I’m 40 at the time and got 3 kids, I’m gonna spend time with them.” I was thinking I was gonna walk away and hopefully be behind the camera producing and developing. And then when Walker happened, I kind of found a love for acting again and storytelling, and I think partially because I get to be a voice as a producer. So I was like, “Well, this is a lot more interesting to me than just getting lines and hitting my marks and saying them,” and so I really kind of fell in love with acting again. The style that we shoot on Walker is a lot [of] handheld and we play around and we improv a little bit. It really felt like I was in high school again, just discovering a love for acting.
I really fell in love with Walker as a show and the character, the cast, the crew and I get to sleep in my bed in my home with my wife every night and see my kids and so I was like, “Man, I’ll do this forever.” So, not having heard before today, I was trying not to get a little nervous. Obviously getting the news today with the rest of the world, well, I got it a little bit before, but getting the news, it took probably two or three hours to sink in, like, “Hey, you’re going back, you get to do it again.” I’ve had a barrage of text messages and phone calls, as I’m sure you can imagine, from friends and fellow castmates. My phone just dinged and Jake Abel just texted, and [Richard] Speight just texted, and Robert Benedict texted. I’m getting a bunch of love and support and I’m getting really excited.
Nerds & Beyond: So you get the call a little bit before it was released to the rest of the world – are you allowed to say anything at that point? Are you able to tell the cast?
Padalecki: So, they played a trick on me, [it was] just kind of really funny. I got a text message saying, “Hey, since the writers are striking, none of the writers can do press for the finale this week. Do you mind hopping on a phone call and doing some interviews?” And I was like, “Sure. All I have today is kid stuff, but I can be available whenever.” So then I went and did a hyperbaric chamber session, [and] I didn’t have my phone with me. And when I got out of the hyperbaric chamber, I had a bunch of missed texts. “Hey, they’re trying to contact you to get a quote,” this and that from Lindsey Liberatore, one of our producers at Rideback, Steve Robin, and so on and so forth. So I was like, “Oh shit, I didn’t know there was a time,” I was waiting to find out the time. So, I call Brad Schwartz and some of the gang at The CW and [was like] “Hey, I’m so sorry. I haven’t had my phone for the last two hours, I’m here, I’m ready to answer whatever.” And they were like, “Well, we’re sure you’ve heard the news.” I was like, “The news? What?” They imagined maybe Anna [Fricke] had called or my manager Dan Spilo or whatever. And I was like, “No, I saw a bunch of missed texts and phone calls, but I figured I’d try and call back soon as possible.” [Then they’re] like, “So you don’t know that we’re picking up Walker for 13 episodes?” “What?! No, I don’t know that. I literally thought I was going to answer some questions about what the finale was about and what I’m excited for the audience to see and whatnot.” [laughs] I was certainly not in the headspace to think I was having a work conversation. But they told me how excited they were to have Walker back and have us back once all the negotiations are done with the unions and AMPTP, and get working on what will be our fourth and best season so far.
I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes, the first thing I did is text my wife, and I just wrote, “It’s official,” with a heart emoji, and she knew what that meant. She was out running an errand, and so she just sent back, “Oh my god, congratulations. I’m so excited.” It was almost like I was floating above myself. I knew what was going on, I knew it was cool, and it was gonna hit me, but it just takes me a while sometimes. So by the time she got home, I had asked Brad Schwartz on the call, “When is this going to be announced?” And he said, “Well, we’d love it if you could add a quote or a statement in the press release.” And I was like, “Of course, I’ll grab my computer right now.” And so they were like, “Well, once you send back your quote, we’ll give it to trades.”
I think I had asked him several months ago when I first kind of met him over the phone … we kind of have a tradition on Walker, and we kind of had it on Supernatural as well, if you know yea or nay whether we are coming back or not, and in Supernatural‘s case, will you let me and Jensen tell the cast and crew? It can be half an hour before it’s announced or whatever. But in Walker’s case, I basically said, “Hey, if it’s yes or if it’s no, will you let me go to my cast and crew and give them the news?” And he said, “Yeah, that’s a great idea.” And so, on the phone call today, I said the same thing. I reiterated, “Hey, is it okay? I’ll tell them all to be discreet and obviously not say anything until it’s public in an hour or so. But can I tell my cast?” And he says, “Absolutely.”
We have a cast text thread that’s called the USS Walker, and it’s all the cast from the series. So, I sent out a couple of texts like, “Hey, so you know, mum’s the word, don’t say anything for an hour or two [or] whenever it’s released, but looks like we’re going to be spending thirteen more episodes together. So buckle up, saddle up.” Mitch is in Italy right now, and it’s evening there. I think he’s gonna pour himself a nice glass of Italian wine or Prosecco or something. I think Keegan is out in California, Ashley is in California, and a lot of the gang’s here, so everyone is just very excited.
Nerds & Beyond: Now with Season 4 confirmed, can you share how you prepare to step back into Cordell’s shoes? Is it something that’s easy every season, or do you start over every time?
Padalecki: With Cordell, it’s been very different than with Sam Winchester. I think part of that is because when I was Sam Winchester, I was often just Sam Winchester because I’d go home, and Gen and the kids would be in Austin and I’d be in Vancouver. So I’d go home and not that I walk around with a demon knife in my pocket by any means or some salt in my backpack [laughs], but I didn’t have to be a dad, I didn’t have to be a husband — I didn’t get to be a dad, didn’t get to be a husband.
But Walker, the entirety of it has been in Austin, where I live with my wife and kids. My brother and sister-in-law and nieces and nephews and friends live in town and so I’m Jared quite a bit, with Cordell as my day job. I think it’s good for the family and good for relationships. I’ve gotten better at figuring out who Jared is because I’m Jared more often. So it is a bit more of a transition to go back to Cordell, but I think for season 4, once the writers and the directors and the actors’ unions have all kind of squared away with AMPTP, and the writers go back to the writing room and on those Zoom calls and phone calls and getting scripts, then my preparation to get into Cordell is very similar to my preparation to film as Cordell, or it was to film as Sam Winchester or deep dive, the way I prepared for Dean Forrester on Gilmore Girls.
The kids wake up around 6:30 and I try and be up by 4:45 or 5:00 so that I can get my alone time and read through the material over and over and over again. And I feel most of it sounds like hocus pocus. I feel like I’m kind of one of those [people], and I think maybe you are as well — I’m sure a lot of the readers are — where if I’m reading a funny book, then I’m kind of in a funny mood. If I’m reading a sad book, I’m kind of in a sad mood. If I’m reading an exciting, adventurous book, I’m like, “Oh, I want to go for a walk, or I want to go to Mount Everest or something.” So the more I read through the materials, the outlines, and draft, the revised draft, the more I get a feel of how Cordell will react. And then you get to set and it probably takes about an hour or two and then you’re back in action. I’m certain no matter when we go back for episode 1 of season 4, I’m sure we’ll all see each other and laugh and hug and catch up.
Nerds & Beyond: So, the news actually just came across that The CW canceled Walker: Independence. I’m so sorry about that, so many of us love it.
Padalecki: It’s a fucking great show. And, canceled on The CW doesn’t mean canceled everywhere. So we now have the ability to go present it to different streamers, [and] different outlets. I’m so proud of that cast. I’m so proud of the writing, I’m so proud of storytelling. And I think it’s a show that needs to be seen, and we are committed to finding a place for it to land.
Nerds & Beyond: Absolutely. And I think the fans will definitely fight for that too.
Padalecki: Yeah, big time.
Nerds & Beyond: Switching to season 3, this season had a pretty big rollercoaster of a story with Grey Flag, and how that not only affected Cordell, but the entire Walker family and crew. What was that like getting to explore all of that?
Padalecki: Yeah, that was great. That’s something that has always interested me as a person. A lot of entertainment is just that: entertainment. Something kind of easy. You want to watch some reality show or just to take your mind off of your own struggles, but what really interests me about entertainment and the industry is when it makes you ask questions about yourself, not just like, hey this is on in the background while I’m prepping dinner for the kids or while I’m working out I have sports news on and it doesn’t really matter because there will be another season next year and the year after that, so on so forth. But some of the things you’re like, “Oh, wow. How do I feel about my own experiences good or bad in the past?” And I love that with Sam Winchester. We had a lot of that with Sam and obviously, that was more of a science-fiction kind of realm. I love exploring through Cordell some of the things that a lot of people are going through.
On a creative note, it was amazing working with David B. Meadows. He’s an awesome guy. One of our country’s finest, ex-Seal and whatnot. And then getting to work with Jake [Abel] again, getting to work with Colin [Ford] again. I love the scenes in last week’s episode, where I got to say “goodbye” to young Cordell, Colin Ford, who I adore, and to my other mentor, Clay Cooper, David B. Meadows. That was fun.
A few episodes back we said goodbye to Jake in a different way [laughs]. I remember that day shooting the scene in that little hangar when he realized his brother was still alive, and it was all a ruse. Jake’s a phenomenal actor, a great guy, and a great storyteller. So being there on set with him and sharing a screen with him as he was going through all the emotions that a brother might go through finding out something like that, makes you really reflect on what’s going on in your own life. And obviously not everybody out there has been in a marine unit where their father figure/commander, fakes his own death and then comes back 20 years later, and is the possible head of an anarchist organization. But in whatever realm, we get surprised by things that come back into our lives in our later years. It’s fun to explore.
Nerds & Beyond: Speaking of Grey Flag, did you ever see any of the theories floating around about whether Coop was alive or not, whether he was Kevin’s brother or father, etc.?
Padalecki: Wanna know something funny? I didn’t see that, but I will say this, before season 3 started shooting, Coop was dead.
I’ll go back to Supernatural season 4, 15 years ago. So originally Genevieve’s character was only supposed to be in like three episodes of Supernatural. Obviously, she ended up doing the whole season and coming back for later seasons. But, credit to our writers, when we shot the scenes with David and Colin, the flashback scenes, David was just so fucking awesome and amazing, and he and Colin’s chemistry was so amazing that the writers were like, “Well, maybe he’s not dead. What would that look like?” That’s happened in every season of television I’ve ever done.
I was originally on Gilmore Girls contracted for four episodes and then I was out the door. I ended up doing five seasons, so I think the writers, credit to them, they watch and they go, “Well, shit, there might be something here. Well, this is a lot better than we anticipated.” Initially, it was going to be that Jake’s character was avenging the loss of his brother. And it still was that, but now the further chess move layer was, well, he’s avenging the loss of his brother, who wasn’t actually lost. It added so many layers to the storytelling. So, a credit to the writers and credits to Colin and David. Their early episode scenes were so great together but it was like, well, “Maybe he’s still alive!” And so he ended up being still alive.
So y’all’s theories were probably similar to what happened in the writers room before the scripts were written. “Is he dead? Maybe not?” But, yeah, maybe you can point me to some places to go see what the real-time theories were.
Nerds & Beyond: You mentioned Colin Ford. What was it like getting to work with him again? One of my favorite scenes was the one from the last episode where the two of you talk.
Padalecki: Young Sam Winchester was written into Supernatural because, in the summer of ’08, I shot Friday the 13th in Austin. And contractually, I had to have a week, the week before Thanksgiving in November of ’08, to come do reshoots and pickups. It’s not uncommon for movies to be like, “Hey… we might need three more scenes, or we might need to add a fight or something.” So, Supernatural was going to be shooting in Vancouver, but I had to be in Austin for the week before Thanksgiving. And so the writers of Supernatural at the time had to write an episode where adult Sam Winchester wasn’t in the scenes. So they were like, “Well, fuck it, let’s do a flashback thing.” And so that’s why in “After School Special” they went back in time to young Sam and young Dean.
So, I didn’t really meet Colin then, I met him later when we ended up being on set in Vancouver together. But long story short, he was a boy, he was younger than my oldest son. And now he’s like this tall, built, handsome man. He’s in his mid-20s. He’s the age I was when I got married, essentially. He’s gracious and I couldn’t be more proud of the guy. And for better or worse, even though we’re inexorably tied, we really only ever got to share a screen on Supernatural when I was detoxing from demon blood in that room when I saw my mom and I saw young me. So, we didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time on screen together, but I love acting with him. He had this way, even back then, and he has it to this day, where he understands my mannerisms. I don’t know his method, I don’t know his process, but he gets on screen, and you’re like, “Oh, that’s something that would bleed into what 20-year-older Cordell does.” That was a lot of fun, a joy to watch, and a joy to work with. He and I have known each other now for 15 years, give or take, and it’s just an honor to work with him and to see him grow. I’m so proud of him.
That was another funny thing because we knew again before season 3, when we thought Coop was dead, we were casting young Cordi. A ton of auditions came in and they sent out the casting call to all the 20-something actors in LA and a lot of them looked like me-ish. They had long hair, they were tall, or similar enough where we could be brothers, and I didn’t watch a single one. I just sent an email back to Anna Fricke, casting, and Steve Robin and just said, “Hey, I’m going to watch these, but just something to think about because a lot of Walker fans were Supernatural fans, and were kind of aware that Colin Ford played young Jared Padalecki in Supernatural. Just something to think about. We’re not going to find anybody that looks exactly like 20-year-old Jared. But, I think the fandom would love this easter egg. And he’s played young me before. I would love to have Colin Ford.” And they emailed me back, “Well, do you think he’d be up for it? Is he available?” And I was like, “I’ll shoot him a text.”
So I shot Colin a text and was like, “If this happened, would you be interested in heading down here to Austin and playing young Walker?” and he shot a text like, “Hell, yeah. Let me know, man, I’d be totally up for it.” So I went back to the other producers and said, “Hey, Colin’s in.” And then that was the end of that search, it just made the most sense. If I can work with Colin for the rest of my life, with him playing young me, I’ll be a happy man.
Nerds & Beyond: There have been quite a few others appearing in this season that have been a lot of fun. For example, Matt Barr returned for some flashback scenes. What was it like having Matt come back?
Padalecki: He is one of the most amazing human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet, much less call my friend. We were just at his wedding a couple of weeks ago. Just the kindest, most talented, hardest-working guy. Walker: Independence had finished season 1 filming so he was free, and we thought it’d be a great idea to add this storyline where he has a daughter that he didn’t know about … or did he? … and go back into the kind of the genesis of Emily and Cordi and Geri and Hoyt. We had all just seen him as the OG Hoyt Rollins on Independence and he’s phenomenal, and it’s fun to have him back in the 21st century — back on the set of Walker in Austin, where he had been seasons prior. He came back to raucous applause and a bunch of hugs from people who loved him from where he was on the show. It was just nice.
Supernatural was famous for it, because everybody died. The death scenes and the death episodes sucked to film. They’re sad to watch and they fucking suck to shoot because you’re with somebody on set, you spend so many hours, and you get to know people, and hear about their family, and their hobbies, and their friends, this and that. And then it’s like, “Oh shit, does this mean you’re gone?” It’s like saying goodbye at the end of summer camp. Like, “Oh, this sucks. When am I gonna see you again?” So the fact that he got to come back after being killed in such an untimely fashion by Clint West.
It was great to have him back and you learn more about Hoyt, you learn more about Cordell, you learn more about where they draw the initial thrust of this show. Cordell is bound by law, driven by his own moral code. So exploring why he does what he does, why he allows what he allows with friends, with family, and where they can go right and where they can go wrong. Seeing him and Hoyt and Geri 20 years ago, you get to really flesh out all the characters.
Nerds & Beyond: In the finale, Justin Johnson Cortez appears on Walker. Can you tease a little bit about his role and getting to work with him on the show?
Padalecki: Well, that was really funny. Randomly, I was actually in Rome when he was shooting [laughs]. So, we ran through the phone call together about how it was gonna go, but we didn’t actually get to share a set together. The cast and crew loved him, obviously, he’s an awesome guy. And season 4, we hope and intend to see more of him.
In the season finale, Justin plays a detective in a different precinct. And he calls Walker as a favor to say, “Hey, you know this cold case that was never solved, that we thought was solved, turns out there’s another death that kind of matches the MO of this case that Larry James and Cordell Walker had chased down years and years ago.” And so he ends up saying, “I’m just doing this as a favor, we think it’s all done.” And we find out that maybe this cold case, the serial killer was called the Jackal, or that was our nickname for him or her, never found out the exact identity, but might still be alive and might still be operating. That certainly tees up season 4 to figure out if it is the same person and how we can get to this person once and for all.
Nerds & Beyond: As you get into more and more seasons of Walker, how has producing been? Do you find it becoming easier or are there things popping up that might make it a little more challenging?
Padalecki: That’s a great question. I have a great appreciation for all the producers that I’ve worked with prior to producing and there are different elements to it. There are elements that I would be willing to do, and happy to do, it’s in my job title, but my time is not best served there. For instance, having budget calls or talking about release dates. If I’m not filming, then I’ll happily be there. But I think where I do better is more in the logistics, more in the casting, the route the story is going, more in ideas, for instance, the David B. Meadows kind of scenario with like, in the first couple episodes from my recollection, he was still going to be dead. We watched the dailies, and we watched the edits, the cuts before they aired, and [were] like, “Guys shit, this is really good. There’s another way we can go with the story.”
I love being with a pile of Legos and trying to figure out how to put them together, the best way to put them together, and how else you can put them together. I think I’m probably most involved in the casting process, trying to figure out who would vibe well with who on screen, and in the story process of like, “Hey, let’s not forget that in season 1, Stella’s said this, so let’s keep true to that character.” So it’s almost like … I don’t want to say quality control because it comes in at the highest quality. Obviously, with Supernatural, we had a very distinct canon, and there are a lot of fans out there that know it even better than I do. But there were certain things, especially getting into seasons like 8, 9, 10, and beyond, where it’s like well, no — angels can’t do that, we established this in season 5, so we got to figure out a different way.
And so to that extent, there’s always something — there’s always an edit to watch, there’s always a couple casting videos to peruse, some storylines that we’re fleshing out and figuring out how to best make an episode, locations, and how to make it logistically possible. I think it has become easier just in that I’ve done it, but it doesn’t mean that there’s less work, if that makes any sense.
Nerds & Beyond: Absolutely. What have been some of your favorite moments of the season and some of your biggest challenges?
Padalecki: Maybe I’m a masochist, but I really enjoyed episodes 1 and 2, being tied up and tortured. I was like, “Oh shit, Sam’s done this 1000 times. I’m gonna get right into it.” One of the funny things is that this went through my head, especially because it was just after hiatus. You’ve had two or three months off, and you’re going back and you don’t want to fall back on your habits. I was like, “Well, shit. I gotta remember how to act, I gotta remember how to act as Cordell, I can’t just go back to the way Sam was when he was tortured.” But it was a pretty surreal experience because it was concrete floors and metal bars. Obviously, I love the dynamic of two brothers trying to support each other the way they can. So when Liam gets tossed in alongside Walker and you know two partners going like, “Alright, what are we gonna do? How are we gonna do it? Okay, I’ll take the lead now, you take the lead then.” That was a lot of fun.
It was great having Gen on set, then and at the end. I loved, loved, loved the Cordell/Cooper storyline. I loved playing with that because we’ve established over three seasons that Cordell has a deep and abiding love for his parents, for his mama, for his daddy, and for that father figure that we saw. I thought it was so interesting being a father myself and having young boys who will be young men and so on and so forth, the importance and the impact of another parental figure in a developing child’s life and how that affected Cordell. Again, maybe I’m a masochist, but I love playing with the pain and PTSD of what happens then and what happened to him along the way. I loved working with David, I loved working with Colin.
I loved the bachelor party, we got to ride horses all day long. I think that was a specific joy for all of us except for Coby [Bell], poor Coby [laughs]. He had hurt his back doing something right before he had to fly in from LA. So he had a back injury, and then he got on a plane for three hours. So his back was just seizing up. And he’s, I would say, the least comfortable among us on horseback. Joshua Brockington was great, and Kale [Culley] and Keegan and Jeff and I were all like wanting to gallop and want to lope and really move around. Coby wasn’t really feeling it, so one of the times we were going back to our mark, I was at the back of the pack, and we were just running back up to our marks, and Coby and his horse were right in front of me on the right side. And so I just trotted up a little bit and slapped his horse on the ass, and his horse bucked a little bit and took a few rapid steps [laughs]. Coby was like, “Nope, nope. Jared, nope, don’t do that, don’t do that.” [laughs] Like Captain James admonishing Cordell Walker like, “Nope, nope, none of that.” So we’re all laughing, but it’s fun. But by and large for those two or three days that we were doing it, we were just looking at each other like, man, someone’s paying us to ride these horses and play football. We got a pretty cool job.
Nerds & Beyond: The part with the snake with Jeff [Pierre] was amazing. Jeff was so funny that whole episode.
Padalecki: It was great, good, I’m glad, we were laughing as well. And what’s funny is that, oh my god, we were all even saying, because it was just a fun couple of days, we were like, “Man, we gotta have pretend parties with pretend friends more often.” We were just sitting around and when they called cut, sometimes they bring in a second team, stand-ins, and do lighting. We’re like, “We’ll just sit here and shoot the shit,” and we made a few actual smores and ate them and then we’d shoot. But, that whole sequence was a lot of fun. And, Jeff doesn’t like snakes. We didn’t have an actual snake on the day, that was done in a different location just because there was actually a poisonous snake. And so we had to use stunt boots and this and that. It literally felt like we were just a bunch of dudes, building tents and like we were gonna get in the tent at the end of the night and go to bed and wake up in the morning and shower in the river or whatever.
Nerds & Beyond: Looking back at Walker overall, what is something that you are most proud of with this series?
Padalecki: I think what I really appreciate about Walker … I’m trying to think about it as an outsider. Obviously on the inside, as a producer, and as the titular character, my gut is to go like, “People bought houses and paid their bills,” and we started working during COVID. We were like a beta test for CBS and The CW, we were one of the first shows to go in 2020. People had been out of work for a month and they were worried and panicked, and now they have a job. Our Walker family, famously, they call it … we don’t call it this on Walker, but other crew members from other shows will call crewmembers on our show and be like, “Hey, how’s Disneyland?” They call it Disneyland. We all get along famously and support each other and are friends with each other and have a good time on set, [and] get our work done. So as someone who’s a part of Walker, part of the family, it would be that. It would be the face of the people who love what they’re doing and enjoy their work.
On the outside, I would say I love that the show helps display how people are complicated. No one’s all good, no one’s all bad. We don’t have mustache-twisting villains or sparkling-clean heroes. I think it’s a great representation of how people really are. We all have our moments. We’re all trying to do our best and we all fuck up, and then hopefully we’re forgiven by our family and friends, and hopefully, we get by with a little help from our friends and they help put us back on the right track to be better and be more pure to the kind of person we want to be. For me, it’s been great to explore not just with Cordell, but with the other characters as well, that people are complicated, and that’s okay.
Nerds & Beyond: Absolutely. I think that’s one of the things that a lot of people connect with Walker about, is every character, but especially a main character like Cordell, you see him mess up but you see him learn and grow from that and that’s how people are.
Padalecki: Yeah, that is how people are. I had watched the original Walker, Texas Ranger with Chuck Norris. Growing up in Texas, that was like a rite of passage, it was on TV, you know? That show was great in its time obviously, it went 10 seasons or something. But that was a little more like, I am hero, hear me roar, I don’t do anything wrong ever. He’s always perfect. And I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of friends in law enforcement or military. And, they’re just people. They cry at their daughter’s funeral, they care for their favorite team and they laugh at dumb jokes, and they pick their nose [laughs]. I think people see a uniform sometimes and are like, “Oh, that’s a robot.” Like, “No, it’s not. This person has relationships, feelings, family and love, and fears.” So I think being able to explore the juxtaposition of this guy who’s in this position of power, and he’s got kids and he’s big and strong, but he also has his fears. He has the things that haunt him. He has his vulnerabilities. I think that’s a much more interesting story to me than here’s the guy who throws on a rubber suit and fights bad guys.
Walker will air its season 3 finale tonight on The CW. You can catch up on Walker the next day on The CW app, and it will return for season 4 on The CW. Read all of our coverage for the series, here.
