The CW’s Walker reboot had very little martial arts in its series premiere, something which greatly disappointed fans of the original Walker, Texas Ranger. Although the reimagined series carries the name of the famed character originally introduced in the ‘90s drama, there is a distinct reason as to why Walker won’t include a plethora of roundhouse kicks and punches.
Walker establishes that the titular character — whose full name is Cordell Walker, but he likes to go by just Walker for short — is first and foremost a family man. He loves and adores his wife Emily, who was killed while dropping off supplies to migrants crossing the border, and his two teenage kids August and Stella. He is also close with his brother Liam and parents despite the fact that he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with his dad on certain issues. While Walker likes his job as a Texas ranger, he isn’t so embroiled in it that he doesn’t make time for his family. At its core, the reboot is more of a family drama than an action-packed series centering martial arts and this is apparent from the very first episode.
What’s more, Walker seems like it’s taking less of a simplistic approach with regards to his job as a ranger. In the original series, Chuck Norris’ Cordell Walker found, often chased down, and beat up whomever happened to be the bad guy in each episode. The “bad guys” in question were often painted in a negative light and the narrative nearly always uplifted Walker as the hero for taking them down. It was certainly a one-dimensional and conservative approach to crime-fighting, especially by today’s standards.
Walker seems to be making a conscious effort to avoid stereotypes and police brutality as much as possible, which gives the series a bit more nuance than the good guy vs. bad guy approach of the original. Plus, Walker himself doesn’t seem to have studied martial arts at all, with the only roundhouse kick in the series thus far being delivered by his partner, Micki Ramirez. Speaking with San Antonio Express-News, Jared Padalecki explained that “no one wants to see a police officer walking around randomly kicking people” in 2021. Yes, the reboot capitalizes on the familiarity of the Walker name, but there are generational differences between the original show and the reboot.
The altered dynamics and updated ways of thinking have greatly affected the show and it’s evident in some of the commentary and lack of stunts and martial arts. In short, Walker “isn’t about karate” or about how many roundhouse kicks there are in any given episode. With these new standards and updates to the show, Walker is a reboot in the truest sense — it takes the basics of the original show and aligns it with the modern day. While the loss of Walker’s karate chops might dissuade fans of the original Walker, Texas Ranger from possibly watching in the future, the new Walker series is at least carving out its own space in its existence as a family drama.