Lawrence Kao on the importance of Kai’s story in Walker Independence
By Sabrina Reed
Walker Independence, the prequel series that follows Cordell’s ancestor, Abigail Walker, premieres Thursday, Oct. 6 on The CW. The spin-off is set in the 1800s and has repeatedly been referred to as a “remix” of history by the creators and cast behind the show.
However, that’s not to say it’s an anachronistic take a la the Mary, Queen of Scots historical drama Reign that aired on the network back in the 2010s. But rather the stories set to unfold in WIndy, as it’s affectionately called by those a part of the Walkerverse, will take a deeper look at communities who are often overlooked by the genre.
One such story centers around Kai, a Chinese immigrant who’d been a railroad worker before moving to Independence, TX. Like everyone else in town, Kai is working to plant roots and build a life for himself. He owns a laundry mat as well as a restaurant and is trying to define his present through his actions not by his past.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Lawrence Kao, who plays Kai in Walker Independence, to talk about the importance of the role and the rich history in the series.
Lawrence Kao on the importance of Kai’s story in Walker Independence
The following transcript has been shortened and edited for clarity and time. For the full interview with Lawrence Kao, watch the video above.
What drew you to the role of Kai and the show as a whole?
I think the show, as a whole, is trying to do something different. When you look at the cast, there’s so many diverse characters already. There’s a queer character. There’s a Black character. There’s an Asian character. Usually, you don’t see those kinds of stories fleshed out in something like this, like in a western. Yeah, these characters would exist but then we would never go ahead and explore the backstories behind what makes these characters human. I think that’s one thing that drew me to the project.
The team behind the project is so amazing, too. Our showrunner Seamus [Fahey], producers, Larry Teng, all the people involved just got me really excited about this. And it’s a western. The opportunity for a guy that looks like me, a Chinese guy to be in a western, it’s pretty awesome.
Right off the bat in the pilot, they open up your character immediately with Abby. There are historical points. They mention that [Kai] was a railroad worker and now he wants to open a restaurant but is currently working as a laundryman. Will we get more bits of Kai’s past or is the show going to focus on his future dreams and what he’s doing in the present?
I think what happens in the present is definitely facilitated by his past and things that happened beforehand. There are so many things about him that the audience will learn to discover as the season progresses.
Kai is trying to find himself again and establish himself in the town of Independence to sort of start over. To absolve himself from a life that he previously lived. I guess that’s all I can give away at this point in time. But, he’s a hard worker. He did work on the railroads and that’s also a cool thing that the show is tapping into. I’m pretty sure–I guess not many people know that the Chinese were about 90% of the labor force that helped build the railroads in the United States.
This is a western so there is a lot of horseback riding and shootouts. Did you get to do any stunt work?
I can’t tease too much, but I think as the series progresses, maybe something will happen. You know I’m learning at the same time with the audience. I think that’s the exciting thing about TV, that while we’re shooting these episodes, it’s fun to learn alongside people that are watching at the same time. We’ll get episodes and we’ll be like “Wow, okay,” and we’ll have to roll with whatever happens, you know? Yeah, who knows what’s in store for Kai, but we shall see.
When you were researching for the character, what did you look into? What did you want to know that you wanted to embody that also you knew you needed to do a little more work on as far as that point in history?
Usually, I just let story spearhead my exploration. Obviously, I looked into the history of railroad workers and how tough it was and how hard and disciplined it must have been for people to try to establish themselves in the 1800s. I just latched onto that and into the nature of how hardworking Kai is and all the things that he has to do to preserve himself, to establish a name for himself and continue to be prosperous, here, in Independence.
He owns a restaurant. He owns a laundromat. He’s a [seamster] as well. He needs to do all of these things, he needs to work extra hard, harder than anybody else around him because he looks and he sounds the way that he does.
Is there anyone else that [Kai] is connected to besides Abby and the rest of the cast? Will we be seeing him with his own community base that he’s starting to develop in Independence?
I think as the series progresses, there will be glimpses of his past. We shall see.
Is this your first period piece?
This is definitely my first period piece.
What has that set been like for you then?
It’s amazing just to be surrounded by all the production design. The set, in itself, is a character already so just working around that and walking around the world–they do such a good job building my space. Production design is so cool. It feels like you don’t even have to act because you’re just walking around in the world. It’s just amazing.
For the foodies, will we be getting a little food action [with Kai and his restaurant]?
Yeah, here and there. Bits and pieces here and there.
So if you had to describe Walker independence in just one word that would hook people into the story? What would it be?
Courage.
Nice. Why courage?
I think all the characters embody it. They’re all running towards something, or they’re running away from something where they’re trying to, like, find themselves again, and it takes a lot of courage to survive in these kinds of environments.
Especially, I mean, even thinking about my character, you know, just the amount of courage it takes to just survive, I guess. Everybody’s got a crazy backstory and everybody has their own specific demons or like issues that they’re dealing with. But, you know, I think courage is the thing that pushes people forward.
Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more Walker Independence news and coverage. The new CW series premieres Thursday, Oct. 6 at 9 p.m. ET. Next day streaming will be available on cwtv.com and the CW App. For a spoiler-free review of WIndy, click here.