Walker Independence Boss on Show's Renewal Outlook at CW: We're 'Hoping for the Best, Planning for the Worst'

Vlada Gelman
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Walker Independence will wrap up its freshman run with this Thursday’s finale, but it remains to be seen whether the episode will be the final one to air on The CW following much turnover at the network.

In August 2022, local-TV giant Nexstar Media Group acquired majority ownership of The CW, after which network boss Mark Pedowitz exited and was replaced by TV executive-turned-venture capitalist Dennis Miller. Nexstar execs indicated that the plan for The CW’s future includes targeting older viewers and a focus on low-cost unscripted programming. But “there may be a couple of shows that distinguish themselves this year that we want to hold over to next year,” CEO Perry Sook said.

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Walker Independence showrunner Seamus Kevin Fahey is hoping that the prequel spinoff is among those series to get a renewal. (Only All American has thus far been picked up for the 2023-24 season.)

“It’s been an interesting time. It’s been an interesting past couple months,” Fahey tells TVLine. “What’s going on in town, there’s just a lot of reinvention and restructuring, and so we’re waiting still for the dust to settle a little bit [to] figure out where we really stand.”

Fahey notes that there’s “a lot of fans at The CW. A lot of folks love the show. A lot of folks are very honest it’s their favorite show on The CW… We have a lot of support at [CBS Studios]. Everyone loves the show. We’re all proud of what we did on the show.”

That said, “it’s still coming out of a fog of speculation to figure out [if], hopefully, we have a home,” Fahey says, adding that Independence is “a great show to pair up with Walker mothership. I think there’s still a lot of opportunity to feed off each other, work in a lot more Easter eggs and crossovers and stuff like that.”

But given these uncertain times at the network, “there’s definitely a Plan B,” Fahey shares. “We just all want to keep telling these stories… Everyone’s just anxious to get back to it. Mentally, that’s where we’re at: hoping for the best, planning for the worst, and just honestly happy with what we’ve done and hoping for more.”

And should the worst happen, does Plan B involve finding the show a new home?

“I don’t know how much I’m allowed to talk about it, but yes,” Fahey says. “If The CW isn’t ready to move forward, what are the other options? So naturally, it would lead to that. But again, we’re still very hopeful. There’s still a lot of champions over there for it. So we’ll see what happens. No one wants it to go away, long story short. We’re going to do what we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Want scoop on either Walker show? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.

Launch Gallery: 2023 Renewal/Cancellation Scorecard: What's Coming Back? What's Already Axed? What's Still on the Bubble?

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