Following the renewal of Walker for a third season, The CW has ordered a prequel series called Walker: Independence to series.
Walker: Independence will feature Katherine McNamara as Abby Walker, an ancestor of the parent show’s titular character, and will be set in the 1800s. Abby Walker is a wealthy Boston woman who sees her husband’s death. She then embarks on a revenge expedition with “a lovely rogue” named Hoyt Rawlins, played by Matt Barr, that brings her to Independence, Texas.
The new show will be a spin-off of The CW’s Walker, which stars Jared Padalecki as Cordell Walker and is a modern-day reboot of Chuck Norris’s 1990s series Walker, Texas Ranger. Anna Fricke created both the reboot and the prequel. Fricke has worked on shows like Being Human, Minority Report, and Wayward Pines as a producer and writer.
McNamara and Barr will play the lead roles in Walker: Independence. McNamara has been in shows such as Shadowhunters, The Stand, and a prior CW show called Arrow. She has also starred in films such as The Maze Runner: The Death Cure and Natural Selection. Barr appeared in the first season of Walker as a minor character with the same name, and would probably represent the character’s ancestor in this prequel. He’s also recognised for shows like Blood & Treasure and Hatfields & McCoys, as well as movies like The Layover.
Seamus Fahey co-authored the story with Fricke and wrote the script for Walker: Independence.
Both will serve as executive producers, with Fricke doing so through her production company Pursued by a Bear. Padalecki will also serve as an executive producer on the prequel series, with Rideback’s Dan Lin and Lindsey Liberatore and Pursued by a Bear’s Laura Terry. Larry Tend, who also serves as an executive producer, directed the pilot episode.
Keep an eye on Collider for more information on Walker: Independence, and read the official synopsis below.