The Extras - Walker Season 1 Extras

Episode Date: October 26, 2021

BTS Producer Michael Brosnan joins the podcast to discuss the exclusive extras he produced for the “Walker” season 1 DVD, which releases on October 26, 2021. In “Tragic Hero,” the extra explores the origin and development of the show and how it makes a distinct break from the previous Walker TV series.In “The Edge of the Coin,” the extra explores the moral code that Walker embodies, and how he is neither heads nor tails, left nor right, but rather, his own person with a unique ability to take from both sides of the coin.We also discuss some of the links between "Walker" and the fan-favorite TV show "Supernatural."  And we reveal some of the challenges posed by the pandemic upon the production of the extras for both shows.So whether you are a fan of the new hit show "Walker" or a "Supernatural" fan, you will want to hear the story of the extras. The Extras Facebook pageThe Extras Twitter Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog GroupOtaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals. www.otakumedia.tv

Hi, I'm film historian and author John Fricke. I've written books about Judy Garland and the Wizard of Oz movie, and you're listening to The Extras. Hello and welcome to The Extras, where we take you behind the scenes of your favorite TV shows, movies, and animation, and their release on digital, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K, or your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Lard, your host. And today we will be discussing the extras for the TV series Walker,

which airs on The CW and stars Jared Padalecki and Lindsay Morgan. The show wrapped up a very successful season one this last August, and the DVD of the first season is being released on the 26th of October 2021. As many of you know, I worked with the TV show Supernatural, which co-starred Jared Padalecki. What you may not know is that I also worked on the home entertainment release for all seven seasons of The 100. So I'm a big fan of Lindsay Morgan, who portrayed the character of Raven Reyes.

Put Jared and Lindsay together and you really have casting dynamite. So I'm excited today to talk Walker Extras with my good friend, producer Mike Brosnan. Mike, it's good to have you back on the show. Thanks for having me back, Tim. I just wanted to say, like, what a reaction I got from people who listened to that first podcast. I'm super excited that you're getting a big audience, and it seems like people are really loving the content. For those who maybe missed that episode, we talked to the TV show Vikings, which was a ton of fun. That's episode 11. If you want to go back and look through that and find it. We even had producer

Jerry Duffy join us from Ireland and he's a hoot. Yes. A hoot is a good description of Jerry for sure. And I'm still waiting for that pint to have with him at some point. Hopefully he'll make it over here to LA or even better. We should go to Ireland. I'm all for that. Well, today we're going to talk about the TV show Walker. There's a little funny story there. I was trying to find out, you know, who worked on Walker and that's because I worked on Supernatural and I knew Jared and there's a whole tie in there, which I'll get into in a second. But I was asking our good friend and producer, Emily Paul, if she worked on it, because I know she'd worked on some,

some other stuff with that studio. Then, uh, you and I were chatting and you said you actually had produced extras for Walker, uh, just a couple of weeks ago. And I got like really excited, right. And, and asked if you'd come on the podcast to talk about it. So I know you're extremely busy right now. So I really appreciate you on the podcast to talk about it. So I know you're extremely busy right now. So I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. Yeah, no, I'm happy to make time to do it. Yeah, Walker was a really great project to work on. I'm really fortunate to work with my good friend,

Angelo Dante, who works at CBS slash Paramount. Angelo and I have done some other really great titles. We got to work on the extras for The Stand for the Stephen King limited series on Paramount Plus, which was amazing. Super grateful to him for trusting me to create content for him and his titles. And yeah, Angela is great and love collaborating with him. So the link I kind of mentioned to Supernatural, obviously Jared Padalecki was the star of Walker, was one of the stars of Supernatural. And I worked with him when I covered the show for

Warner Home Entertainment. Of course, when it was announced that he, you know, that the show was coming to an end and he had a new show, Walker, I was very interested, a little disappointed to see it was not a Warner Brothers show because then I knew I wouldn't necessarily be involved with it. But of course, I kept following it. And there's an interesting story, I think, that ties into one of the previous episodes of the podcast for listeners who might be interested. And that's episode three called Documenting Supernatural. There you can hear the story of how the pandemic pushed off the production of the last two episodes of Supernatural. And that then impacted the filming of Walker because their production was supposed to start

in the fall of 2020. And that meant that Supernatural was one of the first shows that came back to production in the summer, fall of 2020, because they needed to get those last two episodes done so that Jared could go on and start filming Walker. That's episode three, Documenting Supernatural, if you want to hear more about that story. But there's, you know, there's kind of all this tie in. And we'll get to that too, how the pandemic impacted your production of The Extras as well. But before we dive into that, for listeners who are not familiar with the show Walker, let me just read a synopsis on the show. Walker is a reimagining of the long running series Walker, Texas Ranger, and it stars Jared Padalecki as Cordell Walker,

a widower and father of two with his own moral code. He returns home to Austin after being undercover only to discover there's harder work to be done at home. He'll attempt to reconnect with his creative and thoughtful son, played by K.O. Culley, and his headstrong, somewhat rebellious teenage daughter, played by Violet Brinson, and navigate clashes with his family. An ADA brother, played by Keegan Allen, who stepped in during Walker's absence, his perceptive mother, played by Molly Higgin, and his traditional rancher father, Mitch Pelleggi. Walker's former colleague is now his ranger captain, played by Cody Bell, and Walker finds unexpected common ground with his new partner, one of the first women in Texas Rangers history, played by Lindsay Morgan,

while growing increasingly suspicious about the circumstances surrounding his wife's death. The show also stars Jeff Pierre as Trey Barnett. Walker premiered on The CW on January 21 of 2021 and scored The CW's largest audience for a new series premiere in five years. In February, The CW ordered three additional episodes, bringing the season one total to 18 episodes. And they also announced the renewal for a second season. That's very early in the process. Walker wrapped up a very successful season one this last August. So that's kind's very early in the process. Walker wrapped up a very successful season one this last August. So that's kind of the background on the show. I think you have a

story about the additional three episodes that they added to the show. Yeah, it was, it was interesting for me because in this COVID situation, I was not allowed to go to set, which I typically do. We talked about that on Vikings. I was on set quite a bit for short periods of time. And, you know, one of my favorite things to do is to go to set and get to interview some of these actors who I've gotten to see perform on the show, but then also who, you know, most times I'm a big fan of. So I get to meet and interact with them. And that was just not possible this time around. But what really did help us was the extra three episodes gave us the time to plan and to get our Austin crew on set and get interviews with three of the main cast, which was really key to creating some great extras. We did also get to interview EP Anna Fricke and one of the other writers and producers, Lindsay Libertor in Burbank. So I got to actually do some of the interviews, but I didn't get to do as many as I would have hoped to have in a typical non-COVID

year. So that's really interesting how those three additional episodes actually bought you some time and everything. I was just thinking, you know, season ones of any show, let alone during a pandemic, season ones of any show can be a real challenge when it comes to planning extras and executing the extras. You know, working at Warner Brothers, typically they film a pilot and that pilot gets reviewed by the network. And when it gets picked up the series, then the production can get started in earnest. You know, the writer's room can be brought together and they start writing the first episode after the pilot and planning out the whole season. And even then, those of us working in home entertainment, you know,

maybe we see the pilot and we think, wow, this show has a lot of potential. But then we're kind of sitting on our hands for a while. Like I might call you and say, hey, Mike, there's an exciting show I think we should work together on. And we both start watching the show and following the show. But there's months that go by where we have no idea if it's actually going to have a home entertainment release or if it's going to have any budget for extras. And, you know, that can go on for six months, eight months or whatever, depending. So Walker was picked up though very early in the run, which is kind of interesting. When did they actually talk to you and you start concepting and things of that nature?

Well, a lot of times, you know, we like to be good partners to the studios. And so Angela will call and we'll kind of talk and we'll say, you know, nothing's definite yet. But do you have interest in this title? Which, of course, I do. And then we start talking about it. Sometimes I'm watching episodes like the regular audiences, like I'm watching the pilot on the CW, just like everyone else. And then we start to think about what kind of content we can create for season one. And to your point, Tim, season ones are exciting and they're interesting, but there's no guarantees, as you said. And so when you're coming up with content like giving examples of our past work together, when you come up to a season nine of Shameless, season 10 of Shameless, and the cast knows you

and the producers and the writers know you to see you, you know you have people who are partners in creating content at that point. You're definitely in the groove and life is a lot easier than approaching people who are very, very busy with the first season of television, Life is a lot easier than approaching people who are very, very busy with the first season of television, which is a really intense thing to do. 16 hour days and long nights and weekends work. So you don't know how much time they'll have or how engaged they are in the process. Yeah, the season ones are always they're really fun. And the good thing is that, you know, in the work you and I would do, we would have some season ones and then we'd have some shows that were maybe mid series and some that were, you know, like shameless. I went eight, nine, 10 seasons.

Very rare, of course. But those season ones, there's so much initial excitement. I at least I recall when I would watch a pilot and I was like, yes, I would love to work on this show. And I'm so looking forward to it. But then it's really about the fans and the fans and how they react. So with Walker, the fact that the show premiered with such a big audience, the biggest audience in five years for the CW was a great sign. And then that led to that early pickup. And so I think with that second season pickup that allowed the production and the writers

and the producers and everybody to have a little bit of a, okay, let's do this now. Let's build this show the way we envision it without a little bit of that intense pressure of, are we going to get that second season pickup? Yeah, exactly. The other thing that I think is tricky from a season one to season two is you usually get a green light kind of late in the process. Like, okay, we're going to create this content. So we like that challenge. We like to be efficient and to create stuff on a tight schedule that keeps us creative. But it is nice in season two where a lot of times you're going in and you're like, okay, we know this is a proven show and we're going to have content for the second season.

And we have the whole season to kind of think about and maybe get some coverage of some key scenes or some key action sequences. Usually a season two is a bit of a deeper dive. Right. And that's going to be exciting as you look forward to the next season. So with season one, when did Angelo reach out to you and say, we are going to have some extras on this release and ask you for some concepts? I think, you know, with me, the way that I work is when someone says, there's a chance you'll work on this, concepts start coming there and I start kind of bullet pointing and putting down some thoughts and some ideas.

You know, there's so many cool stories to tell about this show that we were talking about the positives and the negatives. The positives of the season one is, you know, when you get to season 10 of Shameless, you're like, what haven't we done in 10 seasons, right? Yes. But the benefit of a season one is you're like, wow, we can really kind of dive into a lot of top line things that, you know, by the time we get to season three or season four, everybody knows all those stories, but now we get to introduce that. So we were concepting that. And of course, you know, it depends how much time, how much access we have to do those.

So we knew we weren't going to be able to get every single actor. We weren't just going to have that kind of time on set. So we were trying to be very focused. Of course, we wanted Jared. Of course, we wanted Lindsay, who plays his partner. And then we were also able to get his brother on the same day, Keegan Allen. That's not to say we didn't want the rest of the cast, but certain people work on certain days. We have one Allen. That's not to say we didn't want the rest of the cast, but certain people work on certain days. We have one day we can get on set and we can get COVID clearance for the crew who went there. Again, it wasn't me. It was a really talented camera crew from Austin, Texas, who I hired. And again, Katie Henthorne from the crew company helped me find these great people. I had a producer by the name of Kim Daniels, a camera person by the name of Brian Nelligan, and the audio operator was Martin

Peterson. And these guys were amazing. They went in, they did all the COVID tested. They probably COVID tested for two, three days just to go on set for one day. And in that one day, they got interviews with the three main cast, which as Tim and I can tell the audience, you might be lucky to get one interview in a day with the schedule being as busy as it is because the actors aren't there just to interview with you. They're there to work. Right. And you're getting them in their off time. So the crew did an amazing job of getting a really great interview with Jared, a great interview with Lindsay, and then also with

Keegan. And in addition to that, they were able to film some of the behind the scenes process. So to get all of that in one day was to film some of the behind the scenes process. So to get all of that in one day was really remarkable. My hat's off to them. Yeah, it's just you try to pack so much in a day. The interviews are the priority. If you can get some B-roll, that'd be great. You know, if there's some time when the actors are not available and you can go and do that,

that's a lot of fun to get. But it's really challenging during this COVID time to get more than a day. It's just so expensive and it's so time consuming. Yeah. And nerve wracking too, because you don't know until the day of filming that someone's going to test positive or have a false positive or any of those things that could kind of stop it. And if you're in a five-day cycle of testing and someone has a false positive in day four, you can't start over. So that date has to push or else you're not going to get it. So it is until it happens in these times, you have to be so cautious. Things are kind of always moving and you're always adapting to that. things are kind of always moving and you're always adapting to that.

So let's talk about the extras on the DVD release. The first one is Walker, Tragic Hero. Maybe you can take us through that extra. So what we thought was really interesting about this incarnation of Walker is that the main character is not just a family man, but he recently lost his wife. So the idea that he's a widower is central to the entire first season. Not only is the sense of loss something that he's dealing with all season. And that's a real tightrope because people want to watch television as an escape. So you want to deal with this sense of loss and this sense of grieving, but you also, you want to deal with this sense of loss and this sense of grieving, but you also, you don't want to dwell too much in it. So I thought that was an interesting balancing act that the series did really well. And we wanted to talk to Anna and Lindsay about the writing

process and how they walked that tightrope. So that was really great. We talk about that. One of the other things we talked about is, you know, you worked with Jared for 15 years on Supernatural, which is remarkable. And, you know, you worked with Jared for 15 years on Supernatural, which is remarkable. And, you know, he's obviously in a different stage in his career now, you know, this show happens because of him and he's number one on the call sheet, but he's also very much an executive producer. A lot of times someone might have an executive producer title in that they found the property, but they don't really do things day to day. That is not the case on this series at all. And we get to talk to Jared in his interview about all the things he does as an executive producer.

And that was really interesting. Yeah, I noticed that in the extra, Jared talks about that this was really a project and character that he wanted to portray. Once Supernatural was coming to an end, he obviously probably was offered many things and had the chance to look at different opportunities. This one obviously appealed to him on a number of levels. And this feature, it goes a little bit into that. And you hear that from him, which is very, very interesting. Yeah, it was really cool to hear him say that.

His interview was really enlightening. And, you know, he's someone who's really involved and give notes on the edit and talks to the writers about story. And he, like I said, was in the edit session. And one of the things that they revealed was that he was really involved in kind of picking guest stars because you have key actors who are in, you know, say one episode or two episodes that he was really involved in that. But it was, it was really neat to see the evolution of a guy who's been on TV for so long to, you know, step into this role to be number one on the call sheet, the lead actor, and the person who's really

driving this as a producer as well was, was really interesting. And I was really grateful that he told us that story. Yeah. And I think to grateful that he told us that story. Yeah. And I think to your note about the guest stars, one thing we didn't mention is that even though the show is a family, you know, about him and his loss and his family, how they're going through that together, the challenges that that creates not having for the kids, their mom around and the personal turmoil that Cordell Walker character is going through. While you have that, most of the episodes are actually a mystery. So because of that, you're going to have a fair number of guest stars. Yes. That's the balancing act that the writers have to do and that they have this ongoing story about the family. You know, we hear a lot of stories about single mothers. And this was one of the things that Anna

had said was really interesting to her as a modern woman was to see a man have to juggle what we see women do a lot as a single parent. So that was really interesting. So you have that as the through line of the entire season. Also, the through line of the entire season is what happened to his wife and how did she die? That's an ongoing mystery for the entirety of this season. And they talk a little bit about that as well in the extras. So I think what's great about the show is that it has that element that gets resolved each episode in that there's a mystery or a case they're dealing with. But then you're going to come back week after week because it has this interwoven family drama that I think is really the heart of the show. Right. And that was a formula that works in television and it worked terrifically on

Supernatural where they would have a case. There's being a little bit more on the Supernatural side of things, of course, but they would need to solve that case or deal with that week's monster. And in the case of Walker, they solved the case because he's a Texas Ranger. And that's the fun part of a serialized TV show. You can sit down and you know that by the end of that episode, there's going to be some conclusion. Someone's going to be brought to justice. And that's a very satisfying element of television. The show does wrap up the mystery of the Emily Walker death. So I thought that was kind of neat that they didn't string it out beyond the season, but they did give you that also satisfaction

at the end of the season of getting an answer to that. And then season two, it opens up a whole new number of questions as to who was behind some of the other elements of the drug cartels and things, which is really going to be a fun element of season two. One more thing I want to point out was also Jared makes his home. He made his home for a long time with his family in Austin, Texas. It's no coincidence that the show is filmed and takes advantage of the amazing crews in Austin. And Jared wanted the show to be something he could watch with his family. That was something that they revealed in the extra.

And him being close to home and not in Vancouver and away from his family for long periods of time was a silver lining to the project for certain. Yeah, I know. I think that was a big consideration for him as he looked to his next project is wanting to be closer to his kids. They're at an age where you want to be spending a lot of time. And he was gone for so many years to Vancouver. And you just, you just miss huge chunks of, uh, of, uh, your kid's life. And as a father,

and you and I are both fathers, you don't get that back. So that's pretty cool that that worked out. Really cool for the industry too. Cause, cause Austin has just such a great set of crews. And I think they even said that some of their older crew members cut their teeth on the original series, which was also filmed there. That is interesting. I know with Supernatural, we also interviewed Jared in Austin because we didn't get him up in Vancouver due to the restrictions of getting, you know, across the border and everything during that time.

So it was nice to see that there's more work going out that way to Austin and to the crew people out there. There's a lot of good crew people there. Yeah, a lot of talented people. Why don't we talk about the other big feature on the release, The Edge of the Coin. What does that title refer to? So Edge of the Coin refers to Cordell Walker himself. He's not heads. He's not tails. He's the edge of the coin. He could go either way on any issue. And that was something that the

executive producers told us that Jared was very, very interested in. And in his interview, one of the things that really sticks out in my mind, and I find so true, in a world that's full of identity politics, the idea of the edge of the coin lets you stand in the face of that. So he was kind of telling a story like in Austin, it's kind of interesting. You could go to direct quote from him, you could go to an LGBTQ fundraiser in the evening and that morning you were at a gun range. Now, those two things seem like this would be left and that would be right or vice versa. But he liked the idea of going against identity politics. And I can make a decision that might be classified right or left one day. And I can make a decision that would be the opposite the other day.

And he was interested in Cordell Walker seeing things from the point of view of different people. And sometimes it might be heads, sometimes it might be tails, but he himself is always the edge of the coin. That's a really fascinating element and a really interesting choice for a season one extra. a really interesting choice for a season one extra, but it's so tied into what the show is and what it means to Jared and what it means to the producers that it's a great way for the fans to hear from them of their intention of writing or sitting on the edge of the coin, not only from the character, but in all of the writing and how they approach all of the issues within the

show. Yeah. And Lindsay Morgan is featured in both of the, in both of the pieces that are on the release, but she's featured more heavily and we get to talk specifically about her and her character within the edge of the coin piece because she offers a different perspective. So they, they talked about the writer's room and, and the way that Lindsay's character was born was to offer a different perspective and to have that point of view. And that's really cool. And then they also talk about her and what an

amazing actor she is. And there's some great behind the scenes footage of her just doing what she does on set that I think is a good glimpse into the process. So that's really interesting because the Lindsay Morgan character is in the show, the first Mexican Texas Ranger. And so she set up ideally to deal with those kinds of issues. Latinx Rangers was something that was interesting to them. They definitely wanted to put that story on screen for their audience. But then also, I was asking, how much does the locale play into it being near the border? And Drug Cartels and things like that. And they said it was an element that came into it. But what they really wanted to do is tell authentic stories about people we see every day. And Lindsay's character provides that. It's interesting in that Cordell would probably be considered more old school than most of the characters.

But like we said, he's the edge of the coin. He could go either way on any decision. I remember how Anna Fricke in this feature had talked about how they wanted to approach the issues that they really did want to touch and tap into things that they can go a little bit deeper on. And that I think will give the show that substance that keeps people very interested in it. That really adds depth to a TV show when the writers will go in and tackle issues like that. One of the things that I thought was really cool that Anna Fricke shared with us in one of the featurettes was that the previous incarnation of the series, you know, it was really building to

that last act showdown. Whereas for their series, they're interested in relationships, familial connections and things like that. So for them, the biggest and best scene of the episode could be 10 minutes in a scene at the breakfast table between father and daughter. So I think that that was really cool. And I think it's an interesting way to steer this series that has a rich history into a new direction. Working with Jared on Supernatural, one of the things that was surprising to the producers and writers they found out very early on was just how fans connected with when the brothers would talk. After all of the action was over, after the monster or vampire had been vanquished, but then they would talk. And what it proved was that people really want to see those moments, that intimacy, that family, and that people really find that just as interesting as the fight. Maybe certain members

of the audience don't, but that's where the heart and the connection to the show really takes place. And I see that in the Walker episodes where the family is talking and there's somebody you can identify with either in the family or you see something that reminds you of your own family, your own brother, your mom, your dad. And I really like that element of the show and the fact that they really made it a different show than the previous Walker, Texas Ranger. Yeah, it's definitely multi-generational. You know, you have his parents who are compelling characters and who don't always see eye to eye. That's an interesting thing for a couple who's together and have been together for so long to see that and how they navigate that. And then you have him as the widower who's going to pick up his life and take a more active role in his kids' upbringing and their adolescence. So there's

a lot of drama just on a daily basis and going to high school. You have that element that he's dealing with as the father, but then also his kids in the generation that follows. So that I find really compelling. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Hi, this is Tim Millard, host of The Extras Podcast. And I wanted to let you know that we have a new private Facebook group for fans of the Warner Archive and Warner Brothers Catalog physical media releases. So if that interests you, you can find the link on our Facebook page or look for the link in the podcast show notes. You can find the link on our Facebook page or look for the link in the podcast show notes.

One of the things that the longer featurettes that you have created allows for is that when you go in and you interview the cast and the producers, rather than going in with questions that typically are needed by the promotional department to sell the show. Hey, we're promoting an upcoming episode. It's going to be about this, or we're promoting some of the certain elements of the show. It's after the season has been written, after the season is even done. Was that the case here? Was it after the season one was completed? We were doing interviews in like the second to last episode, but we knew where things were going. And one of the real benefits to the kind of content we create is we get to have that conversation of everything and anything. You know, a lot of times when we

sit down with actors and producers, they'll say, Oh, I can't go there because that's a spoiler. Right. And that's because they're used to doing promotional. So it's going to promote the series before we see that episode. But in our case, the assumption always is, and if you're not doing this, you should do this. You should watch the series before you watch the content, because there are always spoilers. Early on when we did this, we would sometimes put warning. Like if you haven't watched the series, I think we did that on Sarah Connor Chronicles back in the day too, you know, where we, where we had a warning that literally said, if you have not watched the series, you're, you're watching this out of order. But yeah, that's, that's the great benefit to us is we know that people who purchase the DVD

watch the entire series and then they get their dessert, which are these extras. You know, if that's the main course, this is certainly the dessert. And there's a lot of good stuff that they dive into and talk about that you would never see in a pre-release piece. And when it comes to a featurette like the edge of the coin, where you're talking about the issues, where you're talking about playing in that gray area sometimes, and in the interviews, the producers talk about being in that gray area, actually seeking it out actively. That is not always promotable. So when a featurette like this, when they're talking about the season and people talk about being in that gray area, actually seeking it out actively. That is not always promotable. So in a featurette like this, when they're talking about the season and people have

seen the episodes and they see how well they do that and how well they execute being in that gray area, raising the questions, it's fun to then hear and see in a featurette like this, how that was all planned, how that was all pre-thought out and the execution happened. It makes for a very satisfying extra and not just feeling like something is coming at you to promote you to watch. For sure. I would agree with you. And I'm always fascinated by that process. For me, it's always like the writer's room process and the mapping of that story to get to that satisfying conclusion is such an intricate puzzle. And to be able to talk about all that without fear of spoiling anything is a real benefit to the home entertainment content.

And I don't know if we mentioned it yet, but these feature ads are exclusive to the DVD release. They're not available. I checked HBO Max. There wasn't anything there. I checked the CW. There was nothing there. So these featurettes are exclusive to the physical release. And in addition to the featurettes, you get a three and a half minute gag reel, which is Jared doing his typical funny outtakes and the the jokes coming fast and furious in a gag reel is the way to go. But across every episode, there was just tons of moments where they're having fun and enjoying each other. I like when he's being sworn in where his fellow cast member who plays his boss is swearing him in. And, you know, he has to repeat after him and he's making him say ridiculous things. Everybody seems to be enjoying that way too much, which I love. But it's fun. You can tell these people like each other. You can tell they spend a lot of time together.

You know, it's fun to kind of see those moments that don't make it to the episode that are when they break character or when they give each other playful good time. You know, I think it's good. Yeah. The gag reels are always fan favorites. And I think there were also deleted scenes. Is that right? Yeah. There are a lot of different deleted scenes, you know, like with any pilot things change. So I think the largest amount of deleted scenes were probably from the pilot because those are the things that tend to get reworked. And when they're planning out the rest of the season, certain elements work and certain don't. So there are some really interesting deleted scenes across the whole series of episodes that gives you a glimpse into a storyline they might have told but decided against.

I'm a big fan of deleted scenes. And whenever a showrunner is willing to have the deleted scenes put on the home entertainment release, to have the deleted scenes put on the home entertainment release. I think it's great because it gives fans a peek into either, as you said, storylines that couldn't be completed or alternate takes where they thought about going one direction, but they decided to go a different direction. But I think for the fans, it's kind of an interesting thing to see the process of the decision-making and maybe somewhere just cut for time. And for those fans who really like to go a little bit deeper, the deleted scenes are a fun thing to watch. Yeah. It's definitely reveals that whole crafting of the story process by seeing what didn't make the cut. Right. Well,

there's so many challenges that go into a season one and the filming of the extras, but I do know that from the studio side, if you buy the DVD of season one, it goes a long way with the studio and letting them know that there's an appetite out there from the fans for the studio to release the next season with an even bigger budget for extras. And that's when it can really get fun because then you can have a little bit more time on set. And hopefully in season two, there won't be some of the restrictions that the pandemic has had on production and getting behind the scenes footage on the sets. I think we're probably going to operate in this model for a while. But having had the benefit of the experience of figuring it out in season one, I think we can probably accomplish even more in season two. So fingers crossed that we'll be having a conversation about this next year. So fingers crossed that we'll be having a conversation about this next year.

One other note I did want to kind of touch on is that Walker is an example of some of the challenges that I think fans have in tracking their favorite shows in this age of streaming. And I did a little bit of look into it. The current season episodes had their initial run on the CW, which is a broadcast network as commercials, and they have an app, the CW app. So you could also watch episodes there with commercials. Now it's also available on a streaming service, HBO Max without commercials, but of course you have to have a subscription for that. Meanwhile, it's still available on the CW app with commercials. Neither one of those places have any real extras. The CW app, I think, had a few trailers and things of that nature, but nothing that goes in depth. HBO Max had no extras. So you can watch the episodes, but if you want to get all of the behind the scenes extras, if you want to hear from the

showrunners talking about the show and the stars, this DVD is going to be the only place that you can get that content. If you want to see the gag reel, you want to see the deleted scenes. I think that makes owning the DVD something that any real fan of a Walker, they're going to want to do. That DVD comes out October 26th and you're definitely going to want to buy it and own it so that you can have everything on the show and start collecting for this show. Cause I can see the show going for quite a few years based off of what I've seen of season one. Yeah. And the fan base is there. It's, it's a incredibly popular and I'm excited to play a very small part in bringing that to the fan base. Well, season two premieres on October 28th, and I'm looking forward to that

and keeping track of the show in its second season. Well, Mike, it was great having you back on the show to talk Walker. I'm looking forward to hearing about the fun extras you have for the upcoming seasons. Thanks, Tim. As always, it's great to talk to you. For those of you who are wondering whether you should buy the Walker Season 1 DVD, I hope that today's discussion with the producer of The Extras helps you make that decision. If you're interested in learning more about the titles discussed on the show, there's always more information on the website at www.theextras.tv. Also, follow the show on Facebook or Twitter at TheExtrasTV or Instagram at TheExtras.TV. Also follow the show on Facebook or Twitter at TheExtrasTV or Instagram at

TheExtras.TV to stay up to date on the latest episodes and for exclusive images and behind the scenes information about the episodes and upcoming guests. And if you're enjoying the guests we have on the show, please subscribe and leave us a review at iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast provider. Until next time, you've been listening to The Extras with Tim Millard. Stay slightly obsessed. The Extras is a production of Otaku Media, producers of podcasts,

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