Walker showrunner Anne Fricke reveals the plans for James Van Der Beek’s villain in the now-cancelled season 5. A reboot of the famous ’90s western drama series Walker, Texas Ranger, this CW crime drama centers around the titular character, Cordell Walker, a legendary Texas Ranger who must wrangle the criminals of his hometown of Austin after spending two years away on undercover duty. After four relatively successful seasons, which garnered substantial viewership, The CW announced that Walker season 5 would not be moving forward.

Now, speaking with TVLine, Fricke shares details of what would have come from Van Der Beek’s character, who made a cameo in the Walker season 4 finale. The showrunner explained that Van Der Beek was expected to play a cult leader in season 5 of the show, and his character was going to be “quirky bad,” amusing and pretty whimsical. Read her full comments below:

That whole process was so exciting. We always wanted to leave some threads for Season 5. We were going to do the cult next door. So he was supposed to be a cult leader. Ever since James Van Der Beek moved to Austin, we’ve been like, “How do we get him into the show? What can we do?” and this just seemed like the perfect thing, and we finally got him for this part. A small-known fact is that we had actually approached him to be Clint West [in] Season 1, which Austin Nichols, ultimately played, and Austin was so excellent in that role. I would not have it any other way. But James had been on that list for a possible villain. We were sort of circling him, like, “Is this possible? Can we get James?” and Jared and James are friends, and Dawson’s Creek was, of course, my first job in this industry. So it was a very beautiful full-circle thing.

I’m not going to lie, part of me wanted to leave people mad. [Laughs] Part of me wanted to have like a big, splashy ending, so then people would be like, “How could you end this?!” No, it was going to be a lot of fun, and to me, personally, I think there was something profound in James Van Der Beek with Jared on this show, sort of like a great throwback to the original WB, and the commentary on the evolution of this network, which I was maybe reading too much into, but I enjoyed it. [Laughs]

Oh, gosh. I talked to James, and it was so last-minute. He’s a saint. I think it was truly like the day before we were shooting. It was really, really insanely last-minute, so thank God he lives there. He loved the idea of the cult leader, and I think, actually, half those clothes are his own clothes. [Laughs] He was super into it and super into the dynamic he would bring, and he was really into the idea of playing a fun character, an interesting character, a bad character. He was going to be kind of quirky bad, but amusing. He was going to be a really whimsical, amusing character. We were not going to do blood cult, bad, bad, bad cult. We were going to do like kooky cult.

Walker Could Have Used An Extra Season

Walker Still Had More Story To Tell After A Shortened Season 3

The news of Walker’s cancellation was controversial among viewers of the crime drama. However, it isn’t too surprising considering The CW’s recent direction, which has seen other beloved reboots like Dynasty and Charmed get axed. Even though Walker managed to amass a sizable viewership audience and boasted high ratings – two key reasons why it survived the initial cuts at The CW in 2023 – it’s been reported that the studio could not keep up with its budget and licensing fee.

Regardless, there was interest in seeing Walker come to a more suitable conclusion. The recently aired Walker season 4 had only 13 episodes, a much smaller number when compared to its predecessors, which had about 18–20 episodes. This was largely due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. While this isn’t necessarily a negative thing, it indicates that the showrunners had even less time to wrap up a show that arguably still has a couple of loose ends.

In spite of the abrupt cancelation, the recently aired Walker season 4 finale “See You Sometime” did its best to conclude the series, with Cordell, Geri, and the kids driving off into the sunset. However, the ominous Van Der Beek appearance at the end of the series serves as a reminder of what could have been, as the show still had enough plotlines and material to carry on. An additional season would have ensured every storyline reached its proper end, and that Van Der Beek’s cameo could be more than a brief bit of fan service.

Source: TVLine