Walker star Kale Culley talks playing August, says to 'expect the unexpected' in episode 7
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Warning: This post contains spoilers about Thursday's episode of Walker.
Ever since Walker (Jared Padalecki) returned home from being undercover, August (Kale Culley) has been the easy kid. While his sister Stella (Violet Brinson) was getting arrested, August was keeping his head down, trying to play peacemaker at home. But when he came across a box full of his dad's undercover gear, he got angry. It resulted in Walker having to go back undercover, before ultimately, getting out of the game for good.
This week's episode of Walker ended with Cordell and his kids coming together to say goodbye to his undercover life, but there's still a lot we don't know about his time away. There's also still the mystery of what happened the night Emily (Genevieve Padalecki) died.
EW spoke with Culley about August's journey so far and what comes next.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This is the longest you've lived with a character as an actor. What has that experience been like for you compared to other roles you've had?
KALE CULLEY: For the costars and guest stars that I've done, I had a week that I spent with the character. For this, we are starting [to film] episode 8 so I've had this character sit and simmer. The one really exciting thing that I've noticed about this, compared to working shorter days on set, is that I'm really finding a lot of connections between Kale and August. I'm finding a lot of new things that pop up.
Is there a side of August you'd like to see more of?
He's kind of gone through all of the emotions, especially in episode 5 he really started to lash out. In episode 5, August kind of becomes Stella and starts being a little angsty teen. But I want to explore more of August's take on being in love and how to deal with it if Ruby doesn't say yes. What's August gonna do? More things like that.
In the end, does the undercover situation in episode 5 bring Walker and his kids closer together?
Well, I cannot tell you much but it leads right into episode 6 and I will tell you that August and his dad still have a lot of tension between them after this moment. I think at the very end of the episode, yes, it really does bring us together, and yes, me and Stella are closer. I think it's just trying to find that happy medium with dad and August.
Are we still going to explore how dad's time away affected August?
Oh yeah. We really get to see more and more of August. The first couple of episodes he definitely puts on a mask. But he has to uncover his emotions. Even up to episode 8 we're still bringing up those motifs. The whole father-being-gone thing and Emily, we still bring it up every now and then. It's a forever unfolding discovery. We have to find out who's behind everything.
I think about that every time someone brings up Emily's death. That's going to do a number on her kids!
It's all unfolding. I can tell you that August and Stella do go off and do our own little thing. We're going to think that we can do all this stuff on our own but really we always have to have the center of the family, which is dad and uncle Liam and everybody keep us in check.
Do you have a favorite episode coming up?
Seven. Episode 7 is ridiculous! All I can say for it is expect the unexpected. I'm gonna leave it at that.
The show's a hit, you already have a season 2 pickup. What's the audience reaction been like for you?
I'm loving every second of it. People are making Instagram and Twitter accounts and fan pages of August. It's great to see all that and the love for the show is just incredible. People enjoying it is the best thing we can receive.
Did Jared give you any advice for handling a fandom?
All he's said is if you're ever out to dinner, out in public, obviously whenever the public opens back up, but whenever you're out to dinner, if they come up to you, be respectful, be nice, handle it well. I'm only 15, I don't want to be mean to anybody. I'm just gonna enjoy it.
Walker airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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