Jared Padalecki's Walker threw out the Chuck Norris formula, and it worked

Some series just beg for a lazy Sunday binge. Walker, The CW's recent update of the old-timers' favourite Walker, Texas Ranger, is very much in that camp—Texas dust, family skeletons, and a copper who spends nearly as much time talking around the dinner table as chasing criminals. It never got the universal acclaim of the classic '90s show, but honestly, it holds its own, especially if you're partial to a bit of Yellowstone-style drama or that trusty Law & Order format.

Here's a bit of curious trivia for you. Before Taylor Sheridan became TV's king of Western melodrama, he was picking up scraps as a jobbing actor. His very first telly appearance? A 1995 Walker, Texas Ranger episode, playing a juvenile drag racer who gets a ticking off from Chuck Norris. Sheridan barely had time to blink on screen, but fast-forward a couple decades, and he's practically running the genre. Poetic, maybe. Slightly hilarious, definitely.

The Setup: Family First

So what actually happens in this new Walker? Well, Cordell Walker—a Texas Ranger with a year undercover behind him—returns to Austin only to find his wife Emily has been murdered. His own kids barely know who he is, the family has enough problems to fill a therapy retreat, and Cordell carries enough grief to make even Jared Padalecki tone it down a notch after 15 seasons on Supernatural. You end up waiting for him to crack, and when he finally does, it lands hard.

Showrunner Anna Fricke gave the original's karate chops the elbow and aimed for something a bit more emotionally tangled. Forget eight years of Chuck Norris kicking people through various bits of Texas scenery—in this version, Cordell is busy trying to rebuild his relationship with his teenagers, salvage what's left with his parents Bonham and Abeline (played by Mitch Pileggi and Molly Hagan), and work out who really killed his wife. The murder plot ticks on in the background, but the real draw is all those awkward meals and thirty years' worth of family bruises being dragged into the open.

The weekly crimes do feature, but they're mostly an excuse for everyone to wind up back at the Walker family kitchen being suitably dysfunctional. The vibe is one part Yellowstone ranch disputes, one part Law & Order case-of-the-week. Early doors, it was a modest CW hit—the January 2021 premiere did the network's best numbers for a debut in half a decade—which proves there was still plenty of nostalgia (and probably not a little curiosity) kicking about for Walker.

All four seasons of Walker, totalling 69 episodes, are streaming now.

The CW and the Axe

If you're a completionist, a word of honesty: season one is patchy. Opening episodes are weighed down with backstory, and the show can't quite decide whether it wants to be pure melodrama or more traditional cop show. By season two, though, it sets a decent pace—the murder mystery gets more teeth, and by season three and four, the whole thing feels a lot sturdier. In fact, series four—the moodiest, with Cordell risking a bit more than his comfort for once—was easily the best of the lot. Shame that's when The CW decided to pull the plug.

The show got cancelled in 2024 as part of the network's big reshuffle, which was less about Walker itself and more about new owners wanting to wipe the slate. The last episodes at least tie off Emily's story and give Cordell something resembling closure—no cheap cliffhangers left hanging over you. Still, the timing stings; the writers spent half a decade working out their formula, just to be told to pack up as soon as they'd nailed it.

That said, streaming’s given it a proper second wind. By late August 2024, Walker had snuck up to number nine in HBO Max's global top ten, so either nostalgia is back in fashion or people have finally clocked it's actually pretty watchable. All the episodes are sat there waiting—if you like your family drama with a cowboy hat and the occasional car chase, you could do a lot worse.