Jared Padalecki’s Walker reboot is only in its second season, but The CW is pulling a Yellowstone and looking to the past to tell a spinoff story! Get ready to go to the 1800s in a new potential prequel series, and the Supernatural alum is involved despite the story being set more than a century in the past.
According to Deadline, The CW is developing a Walker prequel called Walker: Independence. The potential series comes from Walker star and executive producer Jared Padalecki, who will serve as an EP for the Independence prequel if it scores a series order. And he's not the only one from Walker branching out for the developing spinoff either, as creator and showrunner Anna Fricke is also on board as an EP, as well as Walker EPs Seamus Fahey, Dan Lin, and Lindsey Liberatore.
Walker: Independence is set to tell the story of Abby Walker, whose husband is murdered right in front of her while they are on their journey out West. The affluent Bostonian crosses paths with lovable rogue Hoyt Rawlins. Their journey together takes them to the town of Independence, Texas (hence the name of the series) and it will be a story of troubled pasts chasing dreams.
Currently there is no telling on what connection that story will have with the current one unfolding on Walker, and whether or not there’s a straight connection to Molly Hagan’s Abeline Walker and Matt Barr’s Hoyt Rawlins. It is impressive that there already is a spinoff in the works, considering Walker is about to air its midseason finale for only the second season.
Independence hasn't received a series order yet and is currently only in development, but with Walker as one of The CW's most high-profile series not set in the Arrowverse, its chances at becoming a show are probably pretty good. Interestingly, Walker isn't the only show with spinoff intended to take place in the 1800s. Yellowstone's new spinoff, called 1883, is set in the late 19th century. It does look like the potential Walker prequel will mirror its predecessor just a tad, as it involves a murder and the story of the surviving spouse.
Despite Supernatural ending in 2020 as The CW’s longest-running series, the two stars are maintaining ties to the network. Along with Jared Padalecki’s Walker, former co-star Jensen Ackles is also developing a series for The CW: a Supernatural prequel called The Winchesters that would center on John and Mary’s past before becoming parents to Sam and Dean.
Walker, meanwhile, is getting ready to say goodbye to one of its own, possibly during the midseason finale. Shortly after Season 2 premiered, Lindsey Morgan announced that, due to personal reasons, she’d be leaving the series. In recent episodes, we’ve seen Morgan’s Micki slowly start to reconsider her life following a tragedy that happened on the job. And in the midseason finale, a “new chapter” is previewed for the Texas Ranger.
Since Walker: Independence is still in the development stage, it’s hard to tell whether or not The CW will actually pick it up to series. Walker has been doing pretty well on the network by CW standards, so it wouldn’t be surprising if we’re traveling to the 1800s with the spinoff on the network.
