looper – Katherine McNamara is the queen of playing empathetic and badass characters all rolled up in one spitfire package. In fact, she was an actual Queen when she played Mia Queen on “Arrow” — and fans can’t get enough of her role as Clary Fray in “Shadowhunters” and Sonya in “The Maze Runner.” Now, she’s playing Abby Walker in the “Walker” prequel “Walker Independence,” where she gets to don some 1800s-inspired corsets and blaze a new, modern trail in the Wild West.

During an exclusive interview with Looper, Katherine McNamara spoke about all things “Walker Independence,” including working with “Supernatural” alums Jared Padalecki and Mark Sheppard, the contemporary twist on the series, and why fans will love Hoyt Rawlins (the OG edition) and her onscreen dynamic with Matt Barr. McNamara also discussed reuniting with Dom Sherwood for their “Shadowhunters” podcast, the biggest unresolved plotline she wants Mia Queen to close in the Arrowverse, and working with Dylan O’Brien and the rest of “The Scorch Trials” cast. 

Jared Padalecki turns another set into a family
Jared Padalecki is an EP on the show, so how much have you gotten to work with him, and what have been some of the highlights of that experience?

While we’ve been dying to get Jared on the show as a character, we haven’t quite done that yet, but he’s been such a wonderful influence. I grew up watching “Supernatural” and got to know him a little bit through The CW world over the last couple of years, and he’s always been so kind. We’ve had a lot of lovely conversations and phone calls, and he has extensive experience leading a show. I have some experience leading a show as well, from “Shadowhunters” and things like that, but he has such wonderful advice, especially when it comes to “Walker.”

I’ve fully gotten the Jared Padalecki Ted Talk on what it means to be a Walker and tried to put as much of that in as possible. What it comes down to is [that] he creates such a wonderful family environment as well and  allows for everyone to have a sense of collaboration and a sense of enjoying the experience of making the show, as well as telling a good story. That’s all any of us want going into this.

Embracing classic Western tropes
What has your experience been like on the horseback riding aspect of the series and some of the other classic Western tropes?

It’s been great — from the corsets to the horseback riding, to running around in 1870s boots in [dusty] deserts of New Mexico. It’s been really fun. I love putting blood, sweat, and tears into productions and getting in the trenches with the crew and with the cast, and having a challenge when it comes to a project. This has [proven] no different than “Shadowhunters,” “Arrow,” or “Maze Runner” in that sense.

It’s been wonderful to build this show with the cast and crew and the creatives. Everyone on this project is so dedicated to telling this story in the way that we want to tell it and to creating a family and creating a world that audiences can really connect [with]. That’s what’s so interesting about our show is that it very much is becoming an allegory for today. We have this opportunity coming into 2023 now, where we have a bit of a reset to the world and a bit of an opportunity to create something fresh and something new.

That’s what people are doing in the West. It’s a bit of a new world where everything is a shade of gray and nothing is really defined fully in society itself, having an opportunity to have a clean slate. These folks have an opportunity to create the world in which they want to live and to create the community that they want to exist in, and the community they want to leave for their [descendants]. It’s very exciting to get to bring this to life with such a wonderful group of people.