Walker is back from its midseason break, and Season 2 is wasting no time. The Texas Ranger and his family are on the defensive from all sides -- including from within their ranks. As Cordell Walker and his family deal with the fallout of his brother Liam filing a false police report against their old rivals, the Davidson family, the threat of Serrano and his crime syndicate the Northside Nation remains as deadly as ever. In the face of mounting pressure, the Walker family is definitely not on the same page on how to face these threats together.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Walker showrunner and executive producer Anna Fricke teased what fans can expect from Season 2. Fricked also delved into how the Davidson family challenges the Walker family's cohesiveness and commented on Liam's future role.
Coming back from the midseason break, this is really a circle-the-wagons episode for the Walker family. Northside Nation is still out there and the Davidsons' presence is still felt. How was it coming back after the break with the stakes so high?
Anna Fricke: Bret VandenBos and Brandon Willer, who wrote the [midseason finale], were both very excited when they saw where it fell in our viewing schedule with this three-week break. They were like, "What if we wrote a Christmas episode?" [laughs] The [midseason premiere] is where we all are now in this point in January, in a post-holiday haze, coming out of that and heading back to work. We played that out in real-time with what Liam did, filing the false charges against Dan Miller. We thought because of the holidays, there would be a lag in how the lawyers are processing this and now here we are picking it up again. This episode is about consequences, from what happened with what Liam did, Micki's departure, and how both the department and the greater Walker family are reacting to that.
Liam is not in a good way when we see him. It's more than just him continuing his season-long feud with Dan. As a character that endured PTSD and being shot in Season 1, there's a lot going on under the surface and this feels like the next level of that. How is it working with Keegan Allen on developing his character's arc?
It's been so exciting. Keegan has been such a fantastic collaborator, and he's been so down to go on this messy journey. Liam was so straight and narrow in the first season -- he was clean-shaven, picking Cordell up off the ground and running for D.A., and then he fell apart there at the end. We're finding a messier Liam this season and we've -- I feel mean saying "enjoyed" -- but we've enjoyed seeing this side of him [laughs]. Keegan has got a lot of range and he's just great. I will say, I've never seen a better drunk [laughs].
He looks good with the scruff.
He looks very good with the scruff! Part of it started with us wondering if he could be scruffier, it was great. It's been really fantastic working with him on this stuff and he's really tuned in to what Liam has been going through and how that's affecting him. This episode is rock bottom for him, and he's really going to look inward and start pulling himself out of it.
I was surprised how quickly Serrano was arrested at the start of the season, given he's the head of Northside Nation who have been targeting the Walker family since the start of the series.
They're Texas Rangers so we always need some sort of threat. We didn't want this to be wrapped up too neatly, which is why we're stretching the Serrano story out in a way we think would happen. There's a lot of corruption. At the same time, we don't want to be sending the message that all law enforcement is corrupt. That's not our agenda. We're trying to take a balanced view. We think it's important to show these cases, especially with sprawling networks like this, are not cut and dried. Serrano has a lot of connections, so it's harder to put him away than one might think. We'll see more of that in some upcoming episodes.
While the adults fight, the kids are able to play nice, be it Trevor Strand in Season 1 or Colton here in Season. How is it building that contrast?
We love playing with generations, and we really loved having the three generations of Walkers and Davidsons to play with. The kids from the beginning were like, "We don't really care about this feud. You're cool so let's be friends." That's definitely been a big part of it and the legacy and feud between these two families run so deep, however, that the kids can't help but get caught up in it a little bit. This season is so much about legacy and the various Walkers doing what they think is best for the family. We still discover that it's not always the best choice. The kids will always try to prevail and rise above this nonsense, but there will be some complications that even they can't ignore.
If Season 1 was about the family coming together, the Davidson family directly challenges that in Season 2 as the Walkers react differently to this feud. Where is Cordell's head at during this point of the season?
At this point, he's just going to keep playing peacekeeper for as long as he can. He's got his own inner guilt about leaving the lantern in the barn that night. He just wants to do right by the Davidsons and have peace between the families. That's going to prove to be difficult [laughs]!
What I like about this family feud is, with Clint West and Trevor, it was pretty cut and dried. Clint and his guys come and take the Walkers hostage. They're just out to kill them. With the Davidsons, it's a more complicated situation and there's infighting between the Walkers on how they're handling it. There are things that Abilene and Bonham know, from back in the day, that the kids don't know, and there's stuff that Bonham knows that Abilene doesn't know that will come out in this latter half [of the season] that will have them go, "Why are you handling it that way? I want to handle it this way!"
There is some infighting, and the Walkers are tested, but we always like the triumphant story [laughs]. We want them, if not to win, to at least come together with each other. We love this family so much and we will test them, but what we really love is to see how the Walkers react to a challenge.
Anna, what else can you tease about the rest of Walker Season 2
You will see the Walkers be tested and they will be very challenged and have to overcome some obstacles. We'll see some unexpected romances, and some big secrets will be revealed about what exactly happened that night with the fire!
Developed for television by Anna Fricke, Walker Season 2 airs Thursdays at 8 pm ET/PT on The CW.