Entertainment TV Scripted TV Shows Jared Padalecki Secures First TV Role Following Surprising Walker Cancellation Padalecki will be playing a SoCal firefighter in a guest role on CBS hit 'Fire Country' By Liza Esquibias Liza Esquibias Liza Esquibias is an Editorial Intern at PEOPLE. She is a rising senior majoring in Journalism at Pepperdine, where she is the editor-in-chief of the school's magazine. People Editorial Guidelines Published on August 13, 2024 09:41PM EDT Comments Close Jared Padalecki. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Jared Padalecki has found his next project! The actor, 42, will be appearing on season 3 of CBS’s Fire Country in a guest role, PEOPLE can confirm. This news comes just three months after The CW hit Walker, a reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger starring Padalecki, was canceled. Deadline was the first to report the news. Padalecki will be playing Camden, a "SoCal firefighter and maverick with a surfer swagger who is a force to be reckoned with and immediately recognizes Bode's (Max Thieriot) raw talent," for three episodes. Jared Padalecki Gets 'Brutally Honest' About The CW After Walker Ends: 'They Can't Fire Me Again' Jared Padalecki. Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images Fire Country follows a young convict named Bode, played by creator Max Thieriot, who joins a prison release firefighting program to work with the local station to fight dangerous wildfires. His mission for redemption comes to a head when he is assigned to work in his hometown of Edgewater in Northern California, where his life fell apart five years before. In addition to Thieriot, the series also stars Stephanie Arcila, Billy Burke, Kevin Alejandro, Diane Farr, Jordan Calloway and Jules Latimer. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The Supernatural alum announced the cancellation of Walker on Instagram on May 21. “It’s a tough piece of news to be sure, but we are SO thankful for the #WalkerFamily that has been built, both on set and off," added the actor, who also executive produced the show. "It has been a unique honor to be a part of the cast and crew (and fandom!) that helped #Walker tell the stories that we told. I will forever smile on the years I got to spend with the cast and crew and studio and network and fandom that made this all possible. Til we ride again. 🤠❤️" he concluded. Padalecki, who also appeared in Gilmore Girls, has been open about the shocking end to Walker after the series finale aired in June. In an interview with Variety, he said that he could sense a cancellation potentially coming when changes within the network were happening. “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 chairman and CEO] Mark Pedowitz for that entire, almost 20-year stretch [that I worked with the network],” he said. Walker, Texas Ranger Reboot with Jared Padalecki Canceled at The CW After 4 Seasons Jared Padalecki. Sergei Bachlakov / The CW He also explained that he was told they were “going in a different direction,” and moving away from scripted television. “They’re 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!,’” Padalecki told the outlet. "And I hate to say that, but I’m just being honest,” he continued. “I mean, f--- 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.”