WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Walker Season 1, Episode 18, "Drive," which aired Thursday on The CW.
Within weeks of its premiere this past January, The CW's reboot of Walker received a second season renewal from the network, guaranteeing another year of adventures for its reimagining of the iconic Texas Ranger. Ever since the series premiere, Walker and his family were haunted by the murder of his wife, Emily, putting a strain between Walker and his teenage children while taking the lawman through numerous twists and turns to learn who was truly responsible for the tragedy. And while the Season 1 finale had Walker finally bring his wife's killer to justice, it ended with a cliffhanger revealing that the family is far from safe, even in the comfort of their own home.
While the bulk of Season 1 revealed that a man named Carlos Mendoza had pled guilty to murdering Emily and was incarcerated for the crime, the conviction never quite sat right with Walker, who personally felt there was more to his wife's death. These suspicions proved true when it was revealed that Emily was murdered by the local crime syndicate, the Northside Nation, when she stumbled across a drug deal near the Texas-Mexico border, with someone else apparently killing her. Though family friend Geri Broussard killed the Northside criminal claiming to be responsible during a shootout with Walker, the season's penultimate episode revealed that family friend Stan Morrison, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, paid off Mendoza to take the rap for murder.
The Season 1 finale ended with Stan going one step further, confessing to be the one to personally finish off Emily when she was grievously wounded by Northside, with Stan himself providing the gang with drugs he confiscated while working for Texas' DPS. With Northside Nation still active throughout Texas, Stan prepares to become an informant but is shot by a sniper apparently working for the gang. And as Walker comes back home to the family ranch after an admittedly rough day at the office, the final scenes of Season 1 reveal that a shadowy figure has secretly placed surveillance cameras all over the ranch and is quietly observing the entire family, potentially putting them more in harm's way than ever before.
Though Walker and his family are unaware of the danger they are in, the Texas Rangers aren't sitting on their laurels while Northside Nation remains a threat. Captain Larry James privately approaches Walker's partner Micki Ramirez with an offer to go undercover and learn who exactly is targeting Walker and shot Stan. While Micki appears to be open to the possibility, she is aware that it will impact her blossoming relationship with serious boyfriend Trey Barnett, after they both met their respective mothers and Micki has finally begun to reconcile with both mother figures in her own life. Should Micki accept, this would also mirror Walker's own decision to take a lengthy undercover assignment immediately after Emily's murder to help him bury the grief in work.
There are other, smaller loose ends that will likely carry into Season 2: Walker's father, Bonham, is ready to finally come clean about his cancer diagnosis with the family as he prepares treatment; Liam feels his political aspirations may have taken a toll on his personal life as his attempt to rekindle his romance with his ex, Bret, are rebuffed; and Stella's boyfriend, Trevor Strand, remains incognito after his father took the Walker family hostage. But, in contrast to the start of the series, the Walker family will face any threats that come their way in Season 2 together.
The first season of Walker is available to stream on The CW app. Season 2 premieres Oct. 28 on The CW.