The first trailer for the Walker, Texas Ranger reboot somehow has zero roundhouse kicks

Usually, when the words “Walker, Texas Ranger reboot” are used, it’s to describe Chuck Norris roundhouse kicking somebody for the second time. But hold onto your Stetsons because in 2021 we’re getting an actual reboot of the aging martial arts star’s legendary drama series, with Supernatural alum Jared Padalecki pulling on Norris’ well-worn action jeans. And now the young actor has shared the first teaser trailer for the upcoming show.

The newly retitled Walker will see Padalecki as Texas Ranger Cordell Walker, “a widower and father of two with his own moral code who returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years, only to discover there’s harder work to be done at home. He’ll attempt to reconnect with his children, navigate clashes with his family and find unexpected common ground with his new partner (one of the first women in Texas Rangers history), while growing increasingly suspicious about the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death.” That sounds a lot more dramatic than Norris’ show and the teaser trailer seems to confirm this with not a single roundhouse kick being thrown. I’m not joking!

Yeah, that looks all kinds of lame. I mean, the original show wasn’t exactly ushering in The Golden Age of Television either, but it had cheesy martial arts action and dopey lines from Norris and co that kind of gave it some fun charm. This just looks bleak and uninteresting with heavy handed CW-styled drama. Hell, like the simplified title appears to suggest, there doesn’t even appear to be much Texas Ranger-ing going on here. As Darryn put it, the show should just have been named “Walker, Guy With Dead Wife”.

The original show aired on CBS for 200 episodes over eight seasons – plus a TV movie, and a short-lived spinoff – between 1993 and 2005 and was a gigantic career revitalization for 80s action star Norris, turning him into a hero for older audience members around the world. Padalecki is coming off his own long-running fan-favourite show with Supernatural which wrapped up its fifteen-season run just a couple of weeks ago. Based on this teaser trailer though, I don’t expect Walker to last anywhere nearly as long.

Then again, the modern day reboots of Macgyver and Magnum P.I. are somehow still going strong, so what do I know?

Walker also stars Lindsey Morgan, Keegan Allen, Mitch Pileggi, Molly Hagan, and Coby Bell. It will premiere on The CW in the US on 21 January 2021.

Last Updated: December 15, 2020