Jared Padalecki Slams ‘Supernatural’ & ‘Walker’ Network, The CW, as ‘Cheap’ Amid Changes

Jared Padalecki is speaking his mind about The CW’s changes. During a recent interview, the 41-year-old actor got “brutally honest” about the new direction of the network, which distributed both of Jared’s most popular shows Walker and Supernatural.

“I feel like The CW that I was a part of last year is not The CW that I was a part of under [former CEO] Mark Pedowitz for that entire, almost 20-year stretch,” Jared explained to Variety in the interview that was published on Wednesday June 26.

He went on to claim that The CW is “just changing the network around, where it’s not really going to be a TV network as much as it’s going to be, ‘Here’s something fun for an hour that you’ll never watch again, but hopefully you watch it. And it’s cheap!'”

“And I hate to say that, but I’m just being honest,” Jared continued, before adding, “I mean, f**k it. They can’t fire me again. I’m just being brutally honest. I think it felt to me like they were looking for really easy, cheap content that they could fill up time with.”

Walker was recently canceled after four seasons on the air. The show joined a string of other series distributed by The CW that were also not renewed, including The Winchesters and Gotham Knights. Jared’s former Supernatural co-star Jensen Ackles produced The Winchesters, and Misha starred in Gotham Knights. Both shows were axed after one season on the air.

Nexstar Media Group acquired a large percentage of The CW in 2022 and has introduced unscripted shows to the platform. During his new interview, Jared pointed out that he spoke with both the head of CBS Studios and the head of Nexstar/The CW, calling the network’s new direction a “multivariate kind of issue” from his perspective.

“My understanding is — and again, this is just what I’m told — that Nexstar is going in a different direction with The CW,” the Gilmore Girls alum said. “I mean, they have an hour of Trivial Pursuit and an hour of Scrabble coming up.”