Mark Sheppard Gushes About Walker Independence, Katie Findlay, And The Supernatural Family

Did you write the [Looper] piece? Kat McNamara comes up to me in the middle of a street and goes, “I did an interview with Looper, and this is the takeaway. Kat McNamara says, “I need more Mark Sheppard in my life.”

[Laughs.] Oh yes, that one. I was so excited to write that piece.

“I gave a whole interview, and that’s the takeaway?”

I wrote eight pieces from that interview. That was one of eight takeaways. [Laughs.]

Yeah, that one is running around the world. That’s being reposted by every single news outlet. I was cracking up laughing.

I don’t think fans expected to say goodbye to Hagan so soon. Did you know about his departure when you signed on, and if not, how did you react to the script?

I’m lucky enough to be great friends with Larry Teng, Seamus Kevin Fahey, Anna Frick, and a multitude of wonderful people at The CW who I’ve worked with on and off for many years. Eight years of “Supernatural” makes me a little biased toward The CW family, and there’s a certain really tall person that’s involved in this that I was like, “I’m definitely going to get into this. [It will be] fun.”

I got a call during the making of the pilot, and it was like, “Call me.” I called Larry, and I’m like, “I’m in.” He goes, “You don’t even know what it is.” And I said, “I don’t care. It’s going to be great.” He said, “I’m doing ‘Walker Independence.”‘ I’m like, “I know what this is. This is great.” And he goes, “And we have this character, we have this centralized character and it’s one line in the pilot.” I’m like, “Great.” He goes, “But we’ve got this little plan. We’re going to tell you what this plan is, and this is how we’re going to do it.”

I got all excited, and I texted Jared, and he goes, “I’m so happy to have you there.” We got all really clever, and I took my name off the pilot. I didn’t want anyone waiting 38 minutes for me to show up and go, “Right, he gives us one line, and that’s it.” As much as I love CW in all their wisdom, [they] put me in the trailer. At the Upfronts, all three of the boys were there, and then my voice [shows up in the trailer], and I appear, and Jerry’s like, “Yeah, Sheppard’s in the pilot.” That was that. The surprise was blown, but in a very good way.