Deadline reports that Jared Padalecki will remain at The CW for his next TV series, as the in-development Walker, Texas Ranger reboot has landed at the network.
Anna Fricke (Wayward Pines, Minority Report, Being Human) will write and executive produce the series which is titled simply “Walker.” Padalecki will star in the titular role, described as “a man finding his way back to his family while investigating crime in the state’s most elite unit. Our broken widower and father of two returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years for a high profile case – only to discover that there’s even more work to be done at home. In a nod to the original series, Walker and his new partner — one of the only women in Texas Rangers’ history — are the modern day heroes our world needs, following their own moral code to fight for what’s right, regardless of the rules.”
Created by Albert S. Ruddy, Leslie Greif, Paul Haggis, and Christopher Canaan, Walker, Texas Ranger premiered in 1991 and ran for eight seasons and over 200 episodes. A made-for-TV follow-up, Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire, premiered in 2005. The police procedural series was most notable for its excessive use of martial arts as a tool for police work, itself born from Norris’ own background in martial arts. Norris led the cast which also included Clarence Gilyard, Sheree J. Wilson, Gailard Sartain, and Noble Willingham.
Padalecki is in the midst of filming the fifteenth and final season of Supernatural for The CW, meaning the Walker, Texas Ranger reboot will likely premiere in Fall 2020 or later. The actor has consistently been on a series at The CW since it was previously “The WB,” working on Gilmore Girls from 2000 to 2005 and then on Supernatural from 2005 to the present.
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