Jared Padalecki isn’t holding back about his thoughts on the cancellation of his latest CW series, Walker. The 41-year-old actor, who portrayed the titular character, recently opened up about the network’s decision to end the show after four seasons. As the series finale airs June 26, Jared shared his unfiltered views on the show’s cancellation and the future direction of The CW.
In an interview with Variety, Jared explained the conversations he had with the executives at CBS and Nexstar, the parent company of The CW. “I talked with the head of CBS and the head of Nexstar/CW, I talked with the other [executive producers] on Walker, and I think it was a multivariate kind of issue,” he began. “My understanding is — and again, this is just what I’m told — that Nexstar is going in a different direction with The CW.”
Jared expressed his bewilderment at the new programming choices for the network. “I mean, they have an hour of Trivial Pursuit and an hour of Scrabble coming up,” he said. “I don’t know why you wouldn’t just download the app or grab a board game and play with your friends, but they’re clearly just — what’s that great quote? It’s like, ‘If somebody tells you who they are, ask questions. If somebody shows you who they are, believe them.’”
Reflecting on his long association with The CW, Jared noted the significant changes happening within the network. “I feel like The CW that I was a part of last year is not The CW that I was a part of under [former chairman and CEO] Mark Pedowitz for that entire, almost 20-year stretch,” he continued. “They’re just changing the network around, where it’s not really going to be a TV network as much as it’s going to be, ‘Here’s something fun for an hour that you’ll never watch again, but hopefully you watch it. And it’s cheap!’”
Jared didn’t mince words when describing his thoughts on the network’s new direction. “And I hate to say that, but I’m just being honest. I mean, f–k it. They can’t fire me again. I’m just being brutally honest. I think it felt to me like they were looking for really easy, cheap content that they could fill up time with.”
Jared’s career has been closely tied to The CW and its predecessor, The WB. He first gained fame as Dean Forester on Gilmore Girls, a beloved series that aired on The WB. Following that, he starred as Sam Winchester on Supernatural for an impressive 15 seasons. More recently, he took on the lead role in Walker, a reboot of the classic Walker, Texas Ranger, which he has led for the past three years.
