How many episodes are in Walker Season 1?

Walker Season 1 will not be its last at The CW! The show has officially been renewed for a second season, and not only that but Deadline reports that the first season has been extended by five episodes!

The first season of the series will explore Cordell Walker’s (Jared Padalecki) gradual journey back to normalcy approximately one year after his wife, Emily (Genevieve Padalecki), was murdered. Shortly after her death, Walker took off on an undercover assignment that separated him from his kids for 11 months.

Needless to say, when he returns to town, things don’t immediately go back to normal. His son August and daughter Stella have had to adapt to life without their parents for almost an entire 365 days. In particular, Stella feels abandoned and unsure of whether Walker will truly stick around for the long haul this time.

Plus, Walker has to adapt to having a new partner, Micki (Lindsey Morgan), one of the only women on the force. There’s a lot at stake in Texas throughout the first season.

But given the pandemic and all the production problems the television world has faced over the past year, it’s been hard to predict how many episodes new seasons would have. Luckily, we finally have some answers, at least where Walker is concerned.

Walker Season 1 will consist of 18 episodes in total

Per Deadline, CW president Mark Pedowitz is very happy with Walker Season 1’s success, saying, “As The CW’s 2020-2021 season kicks into high gear, we are thrilled creatively with the direction of our first new shows out of the gate, Walker and Superman & Lois, that we wanted to order the additional episodes to complete their first seasons.”

Originally only ordered for 13 episodes, Walker has received a backorder of five additional scripts. I’m surprised that Padalecki, who just spent 15 years working on Supernatural—which had 20-22 episodes throughout almost its entire run—is willing to tackle another show that could be just as long per season.

That said, Walker films in his hometown of Austin, Texas, which I assume is why he was more than willing to tackle the role. He doesn’t have to travel all the way to Canada and be away from his family for extended periods anymore. Even his wife Genevieve works on the show with him!

And speaking of Supernatural, Padalecki recently chatted with TVLine about Walker and said he would love to have his long-time co-star and real-life pal Jensen Ackles come on for a cameo or guest star role.

"“I cannot wait for Jensen to be on the show! He’s doing The Boys right now with [Eric] Kripke in Toronto, so he’s not even in the same country. But one of these days, he’ll have to come on and be my bow-legged friend. We’ll put him on horseback and give him a cowboy hat,” said the 36-year-old."

With an 18-episode first season, it’s possible that Ackles could wind up being in Walker Season 1, but I expect that if Ackles does make an appearance, it won’t be until at least Season 2 or beyond.

New episodes of Walker Season 1 air Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT on The CW.