Katherine McNamara Says Canceled ‘Walker: Independence’ Had ‘Barely Hit the Tip of the Iceberg’

Walker: Independence - Katherine McNamara as Abby Walker
Jeff Neumann/The CW

The CW announced on Tuesday (May 11) that it was canceling Walker prequel series Walker: Independence after just one season, and the show’s star Katherine McNamara had resigned herself to this unfortunate fate.

“When it comes to this year specifically, I knew that everything’s changing at The CW; everything’s changing in television in general. And there are so many options and opportunities and unorthodox ways in which shows stay, continue, get canceled, get renewed somewhere else entirely,” McNamara told Collider on Monday, May 10, a day before the cancellation was announced.

“I have become so resigned when it comes to these things; I just leave it up to the television gods,” she continued. “I’ve gone, ‘You know what? I’ve put my heart and soul into this show; I’ve had the best time with this cast and crew.'”

Developed by Seamus Kevin Fahey and Anna Fricke, the series was a prequel to Walker, a reboot of the 1990s western drama Walker, Texas Ranger. McNamara starred as Abby Walker, an affluent Bostonian whose husband is murdered before her eyes while on their journey out West and who crosses paths with Hoyt Rawlins (Matt Barr), a lovable rogue searching for purpose.

The first season aired from October 6, 2022, until March 2, 2023, and McNamara said the show had “barely hit the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to its characters and their stories. And while it hasn’t yet been confirmed whether the show will be shopped elsewhere, the Arrow alum said the cast and crew are “chomping at the bit” to keep going.

“That’s so much of what Walker: Independence is, the spirit of this town, which for us includes our crew and our writers, and everyone else. And so, moving forward, I’m hoping for the best, but ultimately, whatever is meant to happen will happen,” she stated.

“But I mean, if I could go back and be in that playground of a 15,000-acre ranch with that amazing group of people again, I would give my left foot for it,” McNamara concluded.