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 Julie Zhan. Julie appeared in episode 9, “Strange Bedfellows” as Lily, a tie to Kai’s past that brings about trouble to Independence.

Editors 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.

Julie Zhan: It was a truly kismet experience. Lawrence Kao (Kai) and I have been long-time friends and collaborators, so I was beyond excited to audition for the show. On top of that, I had worked with Sheelin Choksey (Co-Executive Producer and Director of my episode) on The Resident, and he is a stellar director. So going into the chemistry read, it felt like a room of friends wanting to make cool stuff together instead of a big scary callback.

Nerds and Beyond: What was the first day on set like?

Julie: Usually going onto a set as a guest star feels like you’re the new kid in the middle of the school year. But I think I automatically gained some cool points by being cool guy Lawrence’s friend (and also, the entire cast and crew are genuinely some of the nicest people of any set I’ve been on), so I was immediately welcomed into the family with warm hugs. It was WILD seeing the set! I love period pieces because it’s true Hollywood magic—you’re transported into a different world. I was surrounded by horses and saloons, and immediately, the character of Lily and the world of Walker: Independence became so much more real. And shout out to the costume department for making a gorgeous costume from scratch! I think my first production day was like a 6am call time, and we pretty much hit the ground running, filming some of the most challenging scenes first!

Nerds and Beyond: What was your favorite line or scene from the series of your character?

Julie: Lily’s negotiation scene leading to Kai coming in with a checkmate! Everyone’s badass, there are so many shifts of power, surprises, action—it’s a roller coaster!

Nerds and Beyond: What was the most difficult scene to film?

Julie: The scenes with Mandarin [were] definitely challenging. I’d say the other hardest scene to film was actually the negotiation scene with Greg [Hovanessian] and Tim [Granderos] (brothers Tom and Shane) because we had to hold our death gazes at each other to give camera some runway out of the scene and we were just trying not to crack up every single time.

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

Julie: I was overjoyed to find some very legit Chinese ingredients in the soup Kai is making before I handcuff him. His entire space was so well thought out by art department and props, down to the very last detail. Watching the finished product… it felt like a home that Kai and Lily could’ve built together… but alas!

Nerds and Beyond: Lily’s story in “Strange Bedfellows” centered around your relationship with Kai and the Tong; can you talk about working with Lawrence?

Julie: Lawrence is an absolute gem. I don’t even need to speak on his insane talent because it’s so obvious. His dedication to his craft is inspiring, and it’s so easy to work with him because he’s such a generous partner, I really just need to react to all that he’s giving. But I will say he’s so even-keeled, his random oners always come out of nowhere and usually has all of us dying from laughter. He’s as professional and humble as he is a big ‘ol weirdo. I’m very grateful to call him a friend and long-time collaborator.

Nerds and Beyond: What did you love most about portraying Lily?

Julie: So much! Major kudos to Grace Ding who wrote the episode and hats off to Sheelin for collaborating with me to find the balance in all her nuances. I was so drawn to Lily’s strength and resilience, despite all that she has been through. And yet, there’s still a tenderness underneath that I really wanted to preserve in her. I do believe she truly loves Kai, but she’s dealing with something bigger than the two of them; bigger than her own personal joy. My way into resonating with her noble cause is fighting for her people (even if you have to make personal sacrifices). They can’t beat the game, so they have to join it. It was a dog-eat-dog kind of world back then, especially as second-class citizens, and though her methods are questionable, she’s ultimately trying to reclaim power for her people.

Nerds and Beyond: I love how authentic Walker: Independence was with using different languages; was it difficult to switch between the languages during the dialogue?

Julie: Yes! Mandarin is technically my tertiary language. I was born and raised in Guangzhou, China so I speak Cantonese fluently. Then I learned English when I immigrated to America. Then my mom put me in Chinese school where I learned Mandarin, so luckily, my pronunciation is pretty on point, but I hadn’t practiced it in a while. So basically, I didn’t sleep for the three days that I had to learn and memorize all the Mandarin lines and repeated them hundreds of times until it sounded fluent so that I could do the story, the character, and the show justice! It was a challenging and incredibly rewarding experience. We got to portray not one but two Chinese-speaking characters on network television, giving voice to a community that was essentially shut out of history books.

Nerds and Beyond: If Walker: Independence would have carried on, what would you have loved to see with Lily’s storyline?

Julie: I would’ve loved Lily—the savvy business woman she is—to come back to. Independence, armored with money and muscle, and start laying track for new businesses that she will build and therefore run. She’ll start drawing bigger crowds and the town will have no choice but to work with and respect her as an equal. With this newfound freedom away from the Tong, she’ll come into her full power. And of course, her and Kai will continue their will-they-or-won’t-they tango.

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?

Julie: This experience was a rare trifecta: working with good people, telling a good story, and getting paid for it!

There is nothing more fulfilling to me than collaborating with good people. When someone like Seamus [Kevin Fahey] and Anna [Fricke] bring together a group of talented, hard-working and humble people, it’s a recipe for good art. The environment was so collaborative, supportive, loving, and fun. I couldn’t have asked for a better cast and crew.

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?

Julie: I would choose green because just like Yoda, I’m tiny and fierce!

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.