Walker's Jared Padalecki Previews Cordell's Harrowing and 'Grueling' Kidnapping: 'I Really Did Feel Beat Up'

Walker is taking Cordell to a dark place in this Thursday’s Season 3 premiere (The CW, 8/7c).

Following his shocking kidnapping in the closing minutes of last season’s finale by a mysterious enemy, the Texas Ranger finds himself “going through the most emotional and physical strife that he’s had to go through since we started the show,” star/executive producer Jared Padalecki tells TVLine. “He is away from his family and out of sorts, and not being treated well, so to speak, and he doesn’t have anybody to turn to. He can’t even really rely on himself, because he doesn’t have the tools to get out of the situation.”

More from TVLine

• Walker Independence's Matt Barr on 1800s Hoyt: This Version Is 'Equally Charming,' But 'More Dangerous'

• The Winchesters, Walker: Independence: Watch Trailers for CW Prequel Series

• The Winchesters Casts Smallville Veteran Tom Welling

As a result of that isolation, “as has happened in times of real physical or emotional turmoil, he needs to kind of go inward,” Padalecki previews, “and get to a place in his head where he can rely on the person he always trusted the most, which brings my real-life wife [Genevieve Padalecki as Cordell’s late wife Emily] back on camera with me to bounce ideas off of.”

While Emily is a source of comfort for Cordell, she also “brings him more pain, because now that she’s kind of back, he doesn’t want her to leave again,” Padalecki says, adding that Cordell is “in bad shape, and it only gets worse.”

As you can probably tell, the episode was an especially taxing one for the actor to film, given the emotional and physical torment that Cordell is put through while being held captive.

“When I read the script, I was like, ‘Awesome! I love it! This is going to be so fun!’ And then it was a couple of long days, because the best way to shoot it, just scheduling-wise, is kind of once you’re there, getting it all done,” Padalecki shares. “So it was a couple of grueling days, and I’m just wearing my running gear, shorts and a really thin shirt. So for some of the more physical pain parts, I can’t really wear kneepads or elbow pads or anything because they would’ve shown up.”

“So I felt like it was good acting by default. I really did feel beat up,” Padalecki continues with a laugh. “I didn’t have to act like I felt beat up, because I felt like I was actually beat up. So hopefully some of that translated on camera.”

Want more scoop on Walker, or for any other show? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.

Best of TVLine

• Saved by the Bell Revival: Everything to Know About the Peacock Sequel Series

• 2020 Renewal Scorecard: What's Coming Back? What's Already Cancelled? What's on the Bubble?

• The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More

Get more from TVLine.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter

Click here to read the full article.