It looks like Jared Padalecki doesn’t want to take a TV break after spending 15 seasons on Supernatural. With that series set to air its final season soon, Padalecki is already looking towards his next project and it’s something that is very familiar.
Jared Padalecki is set to star in and executive produce a reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger that is currently in development. The project is being viewed as more of a reimagining than a reboot and it is written/executive produced by Anna Fricke (Valor) and executive produced by Dan Lin (Lethal Weapon).
Currently, the project is being shopped to CBS TV Studios with The CW, home of Padalecki’s long-running series Supernatural, having emerged as a leading contender for the new show, with CBS, which aired the Chuck Norris-starring Walker, Texas Ranger, also considered a possibility. This may scream like its CBS more than The CW but the reason The CW is a leading contender is because Supernatural has been an institution, with its stars, Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, revered by CW fans and enjoying a very close relationship with the network’s president and big Supernatural fan Mark Pedowitz. The CW is said to be very enthusiastic about the project and Pedowitz has made it known publicly that once Supernatural wraps its run that he would love to have Padalecki and Ackles continue on at the network in new projects.
In the reboot, Padalecki will be getting a female partner but it will follow much of the motif of the original. The series will 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.
CBS actually had a big hit with Walker, Texas Ranger, which originally starred Chuck Norris. The series ran for eight seasons and spawned a follow-up TV movie, the 2005 Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire. The network has also had success with reboots of classic procedurals like Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver and Magnum P.I.
