Exclusive Interview: Katherine McNamara Talks Walker: Independence, Abigail’s Journey, and Her Connection with Her Fans

Katherine McNamara is an accomplished storyteller who is best known for her ability to transform and disappear into a role. Her previous credits include projects like Shadowhunters, Arrow, Untitled Horror Movie, and The Stand. As an artist, she has made it her mission to continuously challenge herself by embodying different characters that transcend genre or time.

Her latest series, Walker: Independence, is a must-see Western that follows Abigail Walker (McNamara) whose husband is brutally murdered before her eyes. On her quest for revenge, Abby crosses path with Hoyt Rawlins (Barr). Abby and Hoyt’s journey takes them to Independence, Texas, where they encounter residents running from their own pasts.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Katherine about Walker: Independence, reimagining the genre, and her connection with her fans.

PC: Tell us about Walker: Independence and your character Abigail.
Katherine: It’s the origin story of the Walker, Texas Ranger franchise. It’s about the first Walker in Texas who happens to be Abigail Walker. We find Abigail when she’s journeying from Boston to Texas with her husband. Within the first fifteen minutes of the show, her entire life literally burns up in front of her.

But what’s interesting is we get to see a woman of this time make a choice whether to fall victim to her circumstance or to create her own life and start fresh. Even though it might not have been the life she imagined for herself, it’s perhaps the life she was always meant to have.

PC: Like you were saying, when we’re introduced to Abby, she’s presented with this horrible tragedy and has to make a choice. You’re handling that journey with so much nuance. As an actress, how did you create the space for yourself to dive into the emotional arc that’s going to unfold in Season 1?
Katherine: It’s very human. Grief is something that everyone can relate to on some level. It’s very interesting to see a woman of the time get to go through this but in a very different way than you would normally see, or at least what we hope to be building is different from what we’ve seen in the past. Every single person on this set puts so much heart and passion into it as we’re building these characters, this town, the community, and how all the characters interact. Each character’s relationship brings out different colors in each of us.

As you peel back the layers of these characters, you get to learn so much more about them and why they’re in Independence, and what drives them. But what’s interesting about Abby is, yes, she’s this very straight-laced Bostonian woman of society and has a very strong moral compass, but as we know, justice in the West is never clean-cut. It’s messy. It forces you to make decisions and sacrifices and to do things that are not necessarily morally sound all the time. It’ll be interesting to see as we progress what Abby is and isn’t willing to sacrifice.

PC: This show brings such a fresh take to this beloved genre. It’s representing the world as it is and was. In what other ways is Walker: Independence reimagining Westerns? Did you feel that responsibility as you brought that much-needed representation to the screen?
Katherine: 100%. What people love about Westerns is the danger, romance, and nostalgia that comes with this genre. But what I thought was so brilliant that Larry Teng brought visually and that Seamus Kevin Fahey is bringing with the story is that, as you said, we hope to be a much more historically accurate version of what the West actually was. It’s not sepia tone. It’s not bland. It’s so brilliant and beautiful. The richness of the color that we’re bringing, the wardrobe, the set, the literal nature around us, and the music is adding so much energy. Then also, the fact that we’re getting to shed light on different perspectives and stories that existed but which have never been properly told—or at least from what we’ve seen. We’re hoping to reinvent the Western genre in a lot of ways in that respect.

PC: Because of the pandemic, you did all of your chemistry reads over Zoom, which I imagine is a challenge in itself, but you would never know that based on the chemistry that we’re seeing on screen. Was there a moment on set while you were filming where you realized you all were creating magic and that you had that special bond needed for each of these individual relationships?
Katherine: It’s so interesting that you asked that question because it wasn’t in person. It happened before. The first person that I met was Matt Barr. We met over Zoom while doing a chemistry session. I wasn’t expecting this, but I instantly went, “This is someone who is going to be an amazing partner in this. I would love to work with them for years.” Matt has been nothing but incredible since. He’s the loveliest human being, but he also puts so much heart and soul into what we’re doing.

I remember before any of us got to Santa Fe, we all got on Zoom together to say hi and talk through how production was going to go and what we all needed to do. I’ll never forget that Zoom because for some reason there was this energy and synergy from moment one. I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to be on the trail with from the cast to our crew to everyone else involved.

PC: You’ve brought so many dynamic and powerful female characters to life. Who were the women in your own life who shaped the artist you are today?
Katherine: It’s a twofold answer for me. I was raised in a family of women that are incredibly resilient and intelligent. They never asked the question, “Career or family?” Whatever each of them wanted for their lives, they pursued it with reckless abandon. Not only are they incredible scientists, doctors, artists, and everything in between, but they’re also mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, and people that dedicated so much heart to their family, as much if not more than they dedicate to their careers. Growing up in that environment was so instrumental to not only the person I am but the characters that I play.

If you want to talk solely in the entertainment industry, one of the first jobs I ever did outside of Kansas City was A Little Night Music on Broadway. We had Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury as our leading ladies. They left and Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch came in. I was fourteen years old at the time, and I got to work with these four powerhouse women who were brilliant examples of how to be caring and compassionate towards everyone they were working with but who also brought this fire to the stage every single night, eight shows a week. It taught me so much about how to balance that and how to play characters that followed in their stead.

PC: This is a character unlike any that we’ve seen you do in the past. Is there a particular scene or episode that you’re really excited for your fans to see as this season unfolds?
Katherine: That’s so interesting. There is something in Episode 2 that I’m very excited for audiences to see. There’s at least a scene in every episode. I’d say Episode 7 is particularly interesting in terms of the steps being taken by Abby. But what’s exciting about this show is that we get to meet each of these characters and see their relationships form and see how the West shapes them but also how they shape the world that’s building. Because the West is so nuanced and so reckless in so many ways. You get to see people in this unincorporated home in Texas build the world that they want to live in and the world they want to leave behind. The set, world, and environment is a character in itself. It’s exciting to see how that unfolds and how everyone develops throughout the series based on that.

PC: You were part of such a unique project last year with Untitled Horror Movie, which found you stepping behind the camera as well. Has your experience working on that project changed the way that you’ve now approached your work on screen?
Katherine: 100%. I shadowed some directors on Arrow. I’ve been talking since Shadowhunters about directing something. I’ve done a lot of studying, and something that I definitely would like to do very soon. But Untitled Horror Movie was entirely different because I had to learn so many of the technical things about filmmaking that I had seen and asked questions about. There’s a big difference between watching the professionals who do this every day and understanding what they’re doing versus being in my apartment trying not to mess up this movie, figuring out where to put the lights, how to place the camera, and how to transfer the footage onto the hard drive and not lose everything that everyone’s worked so hard to do. But moving forward, it’s definitely something that’s changed the way that I work and the way that I do self-tapes, the way that I set up for interviews, and hopefully, the way that I look at and think about directing and filmmaking moving forward.

PC: I don’t think you get enough credit for the genuine connections that you’ve made with your fans and the community that you’ve fostered through all of your projects, specifically with Shadowhunters. When you signed on for that project in particular, could you have imagined the legacy that you would’ve created?
Katherine: I don’t think I even did. We knew it was going to be special. We knew it was highly anticipated if nothing else. I grew up reading YA fantasy fiction. I know what those characters mean to people. I grew up with characters like that. I hadn’t read The Mortal Instruments until I was in the audition process, but I knew how special those characters are to people and how special this particular story is to so many. I instantly fell in love with the world and story. I was so grateful that the book and film fandom welcomed us in and came on this journey with us. Since then, we’ve accumulated so many other wonderful folks. I have to credit the Shadow fam with it, honestly.

We got the opportunity to tell this beautiful story, but they took the fandom beyond us, the story, and the show, and created this beautiful space of love, acceptance, joy, and art in so many other ways that still exist. That’s the reason we still do Comic-Cons. That’s the reason that the podcast exists. That’s the reason that so many people have found friendships, support groups, and so many things that mean more than the story that we got to tell. That to me is the most special and biggest responsibility that I’ve ever had in my career.

PC: You’re always finding new ways to connect with your fans, whether that’s through conventions or podcasting, and you’re also a lead of your show. How do you have the time? How do you balance all of this?
Katherine: I don’t sleep much. [laughs] I’m lucky in that I’ve never needed much sleep. But to give a more serious answer, I dedicated my time to things that I care about and things that are extremely worthwhile to me. It’s the Marie Kondo time management philosophy. If it sparks joy, if it means something to myself or to someone else, then to me, it’s worth doing. It’s not always easy, but it’s worth it in the end because you get to build something, whether it’s making a TV show, a podcast, my own projects, doing Fan Art Friday for a few minutes on social media, or going to a Comic-Con on the other side of the world. It means something in the end and hopefully will leave something that is a source of positivity for someone in this world.

PC: You’ve had so much success already in your young career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
Katherine: I hope it hasn’t happened yet. I know it’s something that I’m always trying to build as I grow and challenge myself and challenge the people that I’m building things with to create stories that continue to push the envelope and boundaries and cause us to grow as artists and people as well. But if I had to pick a moment so far, our first New York Comic-Con will always be super special. It was our first Comic-Con. We had just finished filming Season 1 of Shadowhunters. Nobody had seen any of the show or anything we’d done. We hadn’t had a chance to really interact with the fandom yet. I remember we saw the first seven minutes of the show for the first time in reverse, standing behind the screen that the fans were watching on the other side.

We were about to go on stage for our panel. Getting to not only see the first seven minutes of this thing that we’d work so hard on and poured our blood, sweat, and tears into but to get to hear the fan reaction for the first time live and hear their gasps, laughs, screams, and cheers and feel that passion that we had put into it be reflected in the joy that they felt in watching these tiny tidbits, I’ve never felt magic like that. That was the first time, and it’s continued since. I’m eternally grateful and truly humbled by every single one of those experiences.

PC: You’re such a dynamic storyteller. As you look ahead to the next five to ten years, is there a dream role or story that you would love to bring to life, either as an actor, director, or writer?
Katherine: There are a lot of them. There are certain ones that I’m working on and chasing as we speak. I hope there are others that I couldn’t tell you about because I’m sure they haven’t even been written yet. But I think what I look for are things that challenge me. Things that when I read them are things that I’ve never done before, whether it’s a certain type of character, head space, emotional arc, time period or genre, or director, producer, or writer that I find particularly inspiring. I want to keep growing, learning, and being the chameleon that I’ve gotten to be up until this point. That’s the only goal that I have in my career. I hope to be able to continue to do that.

To keep up with Katherine, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Watch Walker: Independence every Thursday at 9/8c on the CW.

Photo Credit: John Russo