Spoilers ahead for the Season 3 premiere of Walker, titled “World on a String.”
The Season 3 premiere of Walker introduced some important questions, all while being filled to the brim with intense action. In the stressful hour, we finally saw the aftermath of the Season 2 finale, in which Cordell was kidnapped. Now that fans know where things currently stand, Jared Padalecki has opened up about the Texas Ranger’s ongoing struggles after the shocking premiere.
It’s a no-brainer that Cordell Walker has gone through trauma and more hardships on the series in just over two seasons so far, and anyone hoping for them all to go away is likely destined for disappointment. Padalecki tells TVLine just what will be in store for Cordell after the whole ordeal is solved, and how it will mentally affect not just the character, but also his family:
We’ve seen Walker go through a lot, and when he lost Emily, that we flash back to in Season 1, we’ve seen him kind off flee and try and avoid. And then we saw Walker realize how him avoiding and being absent affected his family. So he doesn’t want to make that same mistake. It doesn’t mean that he’s not going to make another mistake of a different type… He knew when he signed up, whether he was in the Marines or now in law enforcement, his life’s in danger. He’s got a target on his back, and he accepts that to some degree. But now that it’s become much more clear that his job and his lifestyle has put his family and his loved ones in danger, he’s going to be scrambling a little bit with how to make everybody feel better and safer, and we see him kind of spiral in a different direction.
After his wife’s murder, we saw flashbacks of Cordell going off the deep end and breaking away from his family. It sounds like once Cordy is finally saved, he’s going to be scrambling to make things right with his loved ones, as they will surely be worried about his mental state even after he’s come back home. He’s gradually been trying to get more involved in his children’s lives and take on a more active parent role, but such a traumatizing experience like this could either upend that goal or make it even more important to grow closer to his family. However it goes, it'll no doubt change Cordell moving forward.
And speaking of being closer to family, the premiere episode was not without an additional shocker. The final seconds of the episode saw Cordell get a new roomie: his brother, Liam. It’s safe to assume that Liam was kidnapped while he was trying to dig deeper into Cordell’s kidnapping, and by looks of him, he was already beat up pretty badly before the reunion. Just like the audience, Cordell was shocked to see his brother, and Jared Padalecki previewed what the realization will mean and how it might just motivate him to try to escape:
More than anger or relief, I think it’s just concern. I think Walker was, especially in that first episode, when we find him, he’s resigned himself to be there as long as it takes. He’s not going to break; he’ll deal with the torture, he’ll deal with the mind games. He’s been through it before. And then once his brother shows up as well, now he’s going, 'Oh, crap, there’s a ticking clock. This isn’t going to get any better with me in here, with us in here.' Walker can deal with physical pain and mind games, but he doesn’t want to deal with the same things happening to the people he loves. So that’s what kind of kicks up his urgency a notch, to make him realize, 'Hey, I got to do something, and I got to do it now.'
Obviously, having Cordell talk to someone that isn’t his dead wife will be a nice change of pace while he's still kidnapped, but the fact that it’s Liam just raises the stakes so much higher, since he isn’t used to dealing with these types of situations. Not that Cordell is a seasoned vet at being kidnapped and tortured, but this is the life he signed up for. Liam is an ADA, which makes him that much more vulnerable because he’s not so invested in this particular lifestyle.
However, with the two captured, that means that we will likely be getting some heavy brotherly scenes between Jared Padalecki and Keegan Allen. Expect a lot of emotional angst, but hopefully the kind that will motivate Cordell to make their escape happen. Cordell is no stranger to danger, but Liam's involvement isn't helping anyone's nerves.
As of now, it’s unknown just how long the two of them will stay captured, but with both Walker boys gone, it will only heighten the search. New episodes of Walker air on Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST on The CW! Check out CinemaBlend’s 2022 TV schedule to see what else is coming out soon.
