The new CW show Walker has made a social media announcement teasing Jared Padalecki of Supernatural as the upcoming series lead. Walker is a reboot of the original Walker, Texas Ranger, series starring Chuck Norris, which ran on CBS in the mid-'90s. The CW reboot was ordered to series earlier this year, planning to begin production after the end of Supernatural.
The Walker, Texas Ranger reboot is a highly anticipated project, since the role of Walker was so iconic for Norris. Since Norris owns the rights to the character, the CW had to get explicit permission from Norris to produce the series. And now that Padalecki has finally finished his work with Supernatural, the Walker series appears to be going ahead with production.
A tweet posted to Walker's Twitter account yesterday included a short video teasing Padalecki as the main character of the show. While Padalecki himself is not featured, the video includes the spinning image of a coin, a ring, a poker chip, and a Sheriff’s badge that reads “Texas Rangers.” The teaser video states that the show will be coming sometime in early 2021. While the tweet itself promises a January 21st release date for the series, that date may be a bit more uncertain due to the ongoing coronavirus epidemic that has affected the production schedules of many different television shows.
This character on the CW’s Walker show will be Padalecki’s first major role after the conclusion of Supernatural. The horror-thriller series has been one of the CW’s most popular TV programs of the past decade and a half, running for an impressive 15 seasons. The long-lived show finally debuted the last few episodes of its final season recently, bringing the demon-hunting adventure to a close. Padalecki has expressed how important Supernatural has been to him personally, and saying goodbye to the show this season has been an emotional experience. However, it’s also a chance for the actor to move on to the next step of his career.
In many ways, the role of Walker is the perfect next step with Padalecki. The actor has had plenty of television experience with Supernatural, and the roles of demon-hunter and Texas Ranger will require a lot of the same acting skills. Fans of Norris’ old role will hopefully be satisfied with Padalecki’s performance when Walker premieres on the CW next year.
Source: Walker on Twitter