With popular features like the Missing In Action trilogy, The Delta Force 1 and 2 among others in his wake, it was in 1993 when martial arts star Chuck Norris brought the hits to television with hit series, Walker: Texas Ranger.
The show ran eight seasons from 1993 through 2001 with Norris delivering on screen with Walker’s own brand of justice, along with his own initial theme song composed by Tirk Wilder to boot. Fast forward to 2019 with CW series, Supernatural, well on its way to an end after fifteen seasons and apparently whose own Jared Padalecki is poised to star in a Walker: Texas Ranger television reboot according to the trades reporting on Monday.
As a follow-up report from Variety notes, network attachment hasn’t been found yet as Padalecki makes his segue into potentially filling the shoes of a well known martial arts hero to many; Nellie Andreeva at Deadline confirms the show will be more in the vein of reboots like MacGyver and Magnum P.I., and will position Padalecki’s Walker – a descendant of the previous title character – with a female partner (the show’s original creators, Albert S. Ruddy & Leslie Greif, had Clarence Gilyard as partner to Norris’ Walker), as well as “explore morality, family, and rediscovering our lost common ground.”
…At the center of the series is Cordell Walker (Padalecki), 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.
Padalecki will also exec produce with Rideback’s Dan Lin and Lindsey Liberatore, and with Dan Spilo. Anna Fricke (Valor, Wayward Pines) is penning.
I’m not familiar with Padalecki’s physicality so I’m not aiming to judge until I see some training featurettes and learn more what the show will entail. It’s definitely in the market though as with the continuation of the genre on television with programs like Warrior and the CW’s Waragami feeding the niche.
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