‘Walker: Independence’ Retrospective: An Interview with Lawrence Kao

In 2022, a prequel to The CW’s Walker, titled Walker: Independence debuted. Set in the late 1800s, this beautiful tale, which consisted of 13 episodes, told the story of Abby Walker, whose husband, Liam, is murdered. Abby gets rescued and brought to a nearby town, Independence, as the search for her husband’s killer intensifies and she’s aided by the people she meets along the way. The show was beautifully written and filmed, quickly becoming loved by so many people.

Sadly, the show was canceled after one season after The CW was bought by Nexstar, who decided to go in a different direction with their programming.

When the show was canceled in 2023, the WGA and SAG strikes occurred soon after, and there wasn’t much time for the people involved — or the fandom — to say goodbye.

Now that the strikes are resolved, I got the chance to talk to many of the cast and crew behind Walker: Independence, reflecting on their time on the show, and what they take away from it now, years later.

Brand new interviews will be released throughout the next few weeks, so make sure to keep checking back to read interviews from the cast and crew.

Today, we’re launching the Walker: Independence retrospective with Lawrence Kao.

Lawrence Kao played the loveable and quiet Kai, who had a secret past that started to come to light as the series went on. Let’s dive in!

Editor’s note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Nerds and Beyond: Let’s start from the beginning. How did you become involved with Walker: Independence? How did you hear about it, what was the audition process like, etc.

Lawrence: It all came about through the routine audition process. I put myself on tape and eventually got to the network test through Zoom. All the creatives involved, specifically Larry Teng, who directed the audition session and the first few episodes of the show, made me feel extremely comfortable. An offer came through a couple days later when I was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras!

Nerds and Beyond: What was the first day on set like? Had you met anyone previously?

Lawrence: A few of us had already got together for dinner before we made our trek to Santa Fe to shoot the pilot. Laura Terry was so instrumental in making sure we were all acquainted beforehand. The set culture Larry creates running the ship is something special and you can feel the energy right off the bat. We were family and we were making art.  

Nerds and Beyond: What was your favorite storyline of Kai’s?

Lawrence: My favorite storyline for Kai begins when we see slight cracks in his character. When the facade he’s been putting up in Independence to lay low begins to unravel.

Nerds and Beyond: What was your favorite storyline from the series from a character that wasn’t yours?

Lawrence: I love a good bad guy. The development of Tom Davidson’s character and following his storyline from start to finish was my favorite.

Nerds and Beyond: What was the hardest scene to film?

Lawrence: Kai’s reunion with his past in the form of a lover was probably the most difficult to film. Finding out that Lily wasn’t actually dead was a rollercoaster. Everything culminating in that moment when they reunited was extremely emotional. But working on stuff like that is fun… so maybe hard isn’t the right word. The hardest scene might be the moment where Kai decides to leave the town on horseback. Getting a horse to stop on its mark and not falling off a horse is difficult. 

Nerds and Beyond: Visually, what was your favorite scene (either of your own/another scene you saw)?

Lawrence: The whole series is a beautiful painting. But every time Justin [Johnson Cortez] is on horseback, with his beautiful hair flowing in front of his face, it is visually perfect. Calian is the answer to that question. Calian is my favorite scene.

Nerds and Beyond: Do you have an idea of what your character’s storyline would have been if there was a season two?

Lawrence: Kai & Kate definitely would’ve taken over Hagan’s. Also, I’m pretty sure Kai’s past would continue to unfold, bringing danger to the town of Independence. Maybe another visit from Lily again?

Nerds & Beyond: The Walker: Independence fandom grew as the season progressed, but there was also a lot of intrigue right from the beginning, seeing that it was a prequel from an already-established show. What was your reaction as the fandom grew with the show and started getting more and more attention?

Lawrence: It always feels good to make something that people can connect to. We were always a part of Walker, but I truly do feel like we stood on our own, story-wise. All the characters are so rich and I was so excited to find out more about each character along with the fandom. 

Nerds and Beyond: Speaking of fandom, viewers really loved the way the cast interacted with them through social media – did you see any of the theories coming out of the fandom during the show, and what did you think of them?

Lawrence: Twitter was definitely fun to rabbit-hole fandom theories. I don’t remember any specifically, but we definitely laughed along with them and maybe wanted some to be true.

Nerds and Beyond: Did you get to take anything from the set after the series was over?

Lawrence: I wish I did. If I knew I wasn’t going to set foot in Independence again, I would’ve stolen a little trinket from my restaurant.

Nerds and Beyond: Kai was quiet in the beginning, and then the audience found out more and more about him as time progressed. What was your favorite thing about portraying Kai?

Lawrence: I loved carrying the weight of his past in secrecy. It was so fun to roam around the town with everyone clueless as to what Kai was capable of. There is so much catharsis for a character like this, especially when things come to the surface. Every time a layer was peeled back, I relished.

Nerds and Beyond: One of my favorite Kai scenes was the fight in “Strange Bedfellows” between the clotheslines. Can you talk a little more about that scene and filming it?

Lawrence: We wanted to make his movements not necessarily Kung-fu movie-like. Kai is a fighter and we wanted him to be efficient and practical. Everything was swift and not overly embellished. And Shel, the director of that episode and our producing director, executed it beautifully. The sheets moving around Kai felt like a visual representation of Kai’s true nature revealing itself.

Nerds and Beyond: Fans loved Kate and Kai together – what was your favorite part about their relationship?

Lawrence: I loved their similarities, both Kate & Kai not fully revealing themselves to the town, and in that, being able to truly see the other person for who they really are.

Nerds and Beyond: At the end of the day, when you look back on your experience on Walker: Independence, what do you take away from it?

Lawrence: As an Asian American actor, being able to dive into a period piece especially a Western, was so special for me. These kinds of opportunities don’t come about often.  Also, I have a new WINDY family now. We’re all getting windmill tattoos.

Nerds and Beyond: Anything you’d love to say to the fans of Walker: Independence?

Lawrence: Audience members, fans especially, are all part of a show. And you guys were amazing. We were all just getting to know each other and I’m so upset that we couldn’t continue this journey together. Thank you so much for all your fervent support! It definitely didn’t go unnoticed.

Nerds and Beyond: Finally, a tradition we have for interviews at Nerds & Beyond – if you could choose what color your lightsaber would be, what color would you choose?

Lawrence: Black.

Walker: Independence is available to be streamed in its entirety on MAX. Make sure to check it out (rewatch it!) and stay tuned for more interviews from the cast and crew of WIndy.

You can read our previous interviews with some of the Walker: Independence cast and see all of our reviews and recaps of the series, here.