Jared Padalecki Rips New CW Management After 'Walker' Cancellation

Jared Padalecki was "being brutally honest" when it came to his thoughts on how the 'Walker' cancellation went down with The CW.

By Megan Behnke

Jared Padalecki is not happy about how the Walker cancellation was handled. The actor spent 24 years on The CW, initially named The WB, having appeared in Gilmore Girls from 2000 to 2005, starred in Supernatural from 2005 to 2020, and starred in and executive produced Walker from 2021 to 2024. Due to the network's Nexstar takeover, there has been a large overhaul of original scripted series in recent years. After it was reported that Walker was in danger of cancellation, the reboot was officially canceled not long after and came to an end on a cliffhanger this week after four seasons.

During an interview with Variety, Padalecki shared some details about how Walker's cancellation went down and it isn't pretty. "I talked with the head of CBS [Studios] 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," the Supernatural alum explained. "My understanding is – and again, this is just what I'm told – that Nexstar is going in a different direction with The CW. I mean, they have an hour of Trivial Pursuit and an hour of Scrabble coming up. 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.'"

Related:

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(Photo:

Walker -- "Maybe it's Maybelline" -- Image Number: WLK402a_0392r -- Pictured (L-R): Jared Padalecki as Cordell Walker -- Credit: Rebecca Brenneman/The CW -- Copyright: © 2024 The CW Network. LLC, All Rights Reserved

- Rebecca Brenneman/The CW)

Padalecki continued by looking back at his time on the network and how things have changed over the years, noting, "I feel like The CW that I was 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. 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!' And I hate to say that, but I'm just being honest. I mean, f--- 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."

The actor certainly is not wrong about that. The CW used to be known for steamy teen dramas, superheroes, and the supernatural, literally. The network would also renew its entire lineup consisting of over 10 shows at one point and has been drastically cutting down on content recently. It also has to be hard knowing that Jared Padalecki has basically seen it all, having been on The WB and then The CW for almost 25 years. It's definitely upsetting that Walker didn't get the proper finale it so rightfully deserved, especially since Padalecki, the rest of the cast, and the crew worked so hard on it. The CW is winding down, and it's possible there may not be any scripted shows in the near future. We are entering a new era on the network, and viewers will only be yearning for the past.

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