The CW’s Walker prequel, Walker Independence, is set to premiere on October 6, 2022 at 9pm ET/PT. The new series takes place in the 1800s but shares a character – and actor – with the original show. Matt Barr stars in Walker Independence as Hoyt Rawlins, an ancestor of the Hoyt Rawlins he plays in Walker.
Speaking to TVLine, Barr described his Walker Independence character as made of the same DNA and heart as Walker‘s Hoyt. “But [Walker‘s] Hoyt was more of a talker, and this guy is a man of action. He’s a little more dangerous,” said Barr.
Katherine McNamara stars as Abby Walker, Justin Johnson Cortez plays Calian, and Katie Findlay is Kate Carver. Lawrence Kao is Kai, Philemon Chambers stars as Augustus, and Greg Hovanessian is Sheriff Tom Davidson.
Season one episode one was written by Seamus Kevin Fahey and directed by Larry Teng.
The “Pilot” Plot: In the late 1800s, Abby Walker, an affluent and tough-minded Bostonian, embarks on a journey out west with her husband Liam (guest star Brandon Sklenar), when her husband is murdered before her eyes. After crossing paths with Calian, a curious Apache tracker, Abby arrives in the town of Independence, Texas, where she encounters diverse and eclectic residents running from their pasts, chasing their dreams, and keeping their own secrets, including Kate Carver, an idiosyncratic burlesque dancer with perhaps too keen an interest in Abby’s origins, and Kai, a soulful Chinese immigrant who runs a local restaurant/laundry and offers Abby friendship without agenda.
Abby also literally runs into Hoyt Rawlins, a slippery rogue, thief and con artist with a dented heart of gold who quickly eyes Abby as a mark, until she turns the tables on him. In seeking justice for her husband, Abby encounters Independence’s noble deputy sheriff, Augustus, and his new boss, Sheriff Tom Davidson, who she has reason to believe is a very bad man indeed.
Abby and Hoyt soon find themselves precariously aligned, both seeking to uncover the truth about the identity of Abby’s husband’s killer, and vow to save Independence – a frontier boomtown where nothing is what it seems.
