It is a chilly day in February 2005, and Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles are huddled over a thick pc monitor in a Los Angeles elementary faculty library, showing on set for the primary time because the demon-hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester. Padalecki, rocking shaggy hair and a coffee-colored hoodie, and Ackles, radiating bad-boy bravado in a sharply tailor-made jacket, aren’t absolutely conscious of the duty they’ve taken on as main males anchoring a contemporary new style sequence for The WB — the identical community that housed fan-favorite reveals like Charmed, Smallville, andRoswell, together with the genre-defining Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel.
“Wanting again at it now, it has a lot which means, however on the time, it is like, ‘OK, you are doing a pilot. Do not eff it up,'” Jared Padalecki recalled in a latest interview with TV Information.
“You are only a child attempting to do the work and never mess it up,” Ackles agreed.
Ackles and Padalecki could not have identified then that they had been embarking on a journey that might span 15 seasons and greater than 300 episodes.
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On the heels of his short-lived WB sequence Tarzan, creator Eric Kripke pitched the community a brand new challenge — a highway journey anthology sequence primarily based on his obsession with city myths and legends. Describing the present as “X-Information meets Route 66” and “Star Wars in truck cease America,” Kripke’s 2004 pitch centered on Sam Harrison, a Luke Skywalker-like determine dwelling together with his aunt and uncle after his father, Jack, supposedly killed his mom in a drunk-driving accident. As Sam prepares to begin Harvard Regulation Faculty, his older brother, Dean, reveals up with the information that their father escaped from a psychological well being establishment and has gone lacking. The boys hop of their ’64 Mustang to research and shortly study that their father is not loopy — and that demons really killed their mother. The Supernatural that truly made it to display screen the next 12 months sticks to the identical fundamental sample, however the now-iconic adjustments make all of the distinction: Sam and Dean Winchester, who drive a modern ’67 Impala, had been raised by their demon-hunting father, John, who goes lacking whereas out on a hunt.
The premise caught the eye of each Padalecki and Ackles, who had been already a part of The WB community after they heard about Supernatural. Padalecki starred in Gilmore Girls as Rory’s (Alexis Bledel) boyfriend Dean, whereas Ackles had been terrorizing Clark Kent (Tom Welling) as soccer coach-turned-kidnapper Jason Teague in Smallville. Each actors hopped on board Supernatural, although Padalecki admitted he had some reservations initially about signing on to a style sequence.
“I had watched Buffy and Angel and Roswell and Charmed, after which they had been speaking a couple of new present — Supernatural — and I used to be like, ‘You recognize what? That is not likely the sort of present I wish to be part of if I’ve the selection.’ I hadn’t learn it. I did not know something about it,” Padalecki defined. He reversed his opinion after studying the script and realizing Supernatural was aiming for a darker tone than he anticipated.
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Ackles, in the meantime, was already effectively versed within the style house and instantly latched onto the strange-but-grounded actuality Kripke envisioned. “I used to be first interested in the sort of world that it was being instructed in, after which as I learn the script and heard Kripke’s tackle what these characters had been loosely primarily based on, which was sort of a Luke Skywalker and a Han Solo, then I used to be absolutely in,” Ackles mentioned.
Supernatural premiered on Sept. 13, 2005, becoming a member of a crowded style TV panorama that already included the massively standard sequence Lost and would quickly add Heroes. And earlier than Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram grew to become fandom powerhouses, Supernatural needed to discover its viewers the old school manner. The present’s devoted fanbase grew organically by way of word-of-mouth campaigning, Fb, and on-line message boards, changing into a tight-knit group and an integral a part of the present’s aptly named SPN Household.
“It was actually sort of like lightning in a bottle,” Padalecki mentioned of the followers’ assist. “In the event you’re watching a present like Misplaced or CSI: Miami, you are not going to name your buddy and be like, ‘Dude, you gotta watch this present,’ since you sort of assume they already learn about it. However as a result of we had been sort of fringe for some time, our supporters actually fought for us and actually put in groundwork. They knocked on doorways, proverbially, to say like, ‘Hey, this present is actually high quality. I will do you a favor and inform you to observe it.'”
Added Ackles, “As a result of we had been just a little off the radar for lots of people, it made folks get enthusiastic about one thing that they thought they found.”
Supernatural‘s earlier seasons had been rooted in city lore, with Sam and Dean taking up basic creatures like ghosts, werewolves, and vampires. Alongside sequence stars Ackles and Padalecki, different key gamers — just like the Winchesters’ surrogate father, Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver), no-nonsense hunter and bar proprietor Ellen Harvelle (Samantha Ferris), and her feisty daughter, Jo Harvelle (Alona Tal) — rounded out the forged in supporting roles. The present discovered its groove in these first few seasons, dispensing enthralling installments that seamlessly blended horror with comedy, like Season 2’s “All people Loves a Clown,” through which the Winchesters rattled off humorous one-liners whereas investigating a killer clown. Nonetheless, Supernatural’s tone drastically modified in Season four with the enlargement of the present’s mythology to incorporate angels and ensure the existence of God, taking the sequence to an entire new stage. Though the sequence had teased a possible flip in that course in earlier episodes — resembling Season 2’s “Homes of the Holy” and the Season three finale, “No Relaxation for the Depraved,” which ended with Dean in Hell — Padalecki admitted that he was apprehensive about how this new course would have an effect on the present.
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“I feel my preliminary concern, actually, was that it was going to shut some doorways, that we had been going to grow to be sort of this non secular present,” he defined. “But it surely ended up opening so many doorways, not the least of which is the truth that folks can die and are available again as a result of we now have assist from up above and typically down under. So it ended up being the most effective transfer we made, and that was a important level.”
Ackles credited the present’s followers for getting on board with its new course. “We knew we had been setting out onto a distinct path or a bigger path, not simply punting monsters and ghosts and creepy crawlies,” he mentioned. “Now we had been coping with Heaven and Earth and Hell and demons and angels, and so it simply sort of blew it huge open. That was definitely an enormous shift in simply the tonality of the present. Fortunately, the viewers believed in us and so they trusted us and so they got here together with us.”
Audiences embraced the brand new mythology, together with the arrival of Castiel (Misha Collins), a stone-faced angel who speaks in a monotonous tone, wears an ankle-length trench coat, and is simply too far faraway from humanity to grasp issues like sarcasm and empathy. Dean and Bobby first encountered Castiel in an deserted barn within the 2008 episode “Lazarus Rising.” The jaw-dropping scene featured highly effective winds ripping by way of the air, exploding lights, and a mysterious determine strolling by way of the doorways, unfazed by Dean and Bobby unloading spherical after spherical in an unsuccessful try to cease the formidable celestial being. Collins, who was rigged with exploding packs that used actual gunpowder to mimic gunshots and will really feel the singe of the sparks flying round his head, mentioned he discovered his initiation into the sequence considerably overwhelming. “I believed, ‘Gee, what have I gotten myself into with this present? It is lots occurring.'”
Whereas audiences had been dazzled by Cas’ beautiful debut, Ackles was confused by Collins’ quirky tackle the character. “Misha got here in with this distinctive strategy proper off the bat, which it did not learn like that on the script,” Ackles defined. “It was this bizarre robotic voice, and I am like, ‘What is that this man doing? Has he ever acted earlier than?’ And I bear in mind considering like, ‘Oh, effectively, this character’s not going to final lengthy.'”
Collins himself initially believed that his stint on the present would final only some episodes. However Cas’ immediate reputation earned him a spot within the the rest of the season, and Collins was upgraded to sequence common standing in Season 5.
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That season could be the top of an period, as Kripke stepped down as showrunner when his deliberate five-year story arc got here to an finish. The Supernatural creator’s remaining episode was a love letter to followers that might have served as a sequence finale: The Winchesters defeated Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) and the Archangel Michael, Dean discovered happiness in a traditional life, and Sam managed to flee Hell after sacrificing himself to cease the apocalypse. Because of this, new showrunner Sera Gamble was tasked with primarily rebooting Supernatural when it returned for Season 6. That meant experimenting with large artistic swings like “The French Mistake,” a meta hour that noticed Sam and Dean transported to an alternate universe through which they had been the celebs of a TV present known as Supernatural. These dangers paid off, and followers caught by the sequence because it continued to evolve and develop effectively past its humble horror roots. Following Gamble’s departure after Season 7, the present endured further behind-the-scenes adjustments: Jeremy Carver took the reins for Seasons Eight by way of 11, and Robert Singer and Andrew Dabb helmed the sequence from Seasons 12 to 15.
Because the seasons progressed, so did the present’s ever-growing forged. New fan-favorites emerged, together with the demonic overlord Crowley (Mark Sheppard), tough-as-nails sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes), and witchy villain-turned-ally Rowena (Ruth Connell). Dabb additionally tried to develop the present’s universe, first in 2014 with Supernatural: Bloodlines, a proposed spin-off centering on the conflict between hunters and monster tradition in Chicago, after which in 2018 with the backdoor pilot for Supernatural: Wayward Sisters, a female-centered sequence centered on sheriffs Jody Mills and Donna Hanscum (Briana Buckmaster) and their ragtag group of teenage demon hunters in South Dakota. Like Bloodlines, Wayward Sisters was by no means ordered to sequence. Though neither tried spin-off made it to sequence, they proved that the world of the present was increasing.
Late within the sequence, the core forged of Supernatural grew from three to 4 principal gamers; in Season 13, the Winchesters and Castiel took on the function of surrogate fathers with the arrival of Jack Kline (Alexander Calvert), the Nephilim son of Lucifer and human Kelly Kline (Courtney Ford). Enjoying a newly born human-angel hybrid who takes the type of a naive younger man, Calvert spent his first day on set in, effectively, nothing.
“My first day on set was fairly fascinating as a result of I confirmed up, and I went, ‘The place’s my wardrobe?’ They usually went, ‘There may be none,'” Calvert recalled. “So strolling on set in a gown, close to bare in entrance of 150 new mates, was positively just a little nerve-racking.”
However Calvert says he was embraced by the forged, in addition to by the present’s followers. “Folks had been fairly thrilled in regards to the character, and so they had been very nice about it, although, you understand, my character may very well be the potential finish of the universe for them,” he recalled. “As somebody who goes from job to job, this has been a lot, a lot completely different when it comes to how folks obtain you and the way folks care about these characters and this present. It has been very particular.”
That unwavering and vocal fan assist is a big purpose why Supernatural has grow to be a logo of resilience and longevity within the trade. It survived a transfer to The CW in Season 2 when The WB merged with UPN, and after dwelling on the bubble of cancellation for its first few years, it grew to become a staple of the community and finally surpassed The X-Information because the longest-running style present in American TV historical past.
“We simply sort of stored our heads down and stored trucking alongside, and it was like just a little present that might,” Ackles mentioned.
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Greater than 300 episodes into the sequence, it felt just like the present may go on endlessly. The CW President Mark Pedowitz remarked in January 2019 that the sequence would stay on so long as Ackles and Padalecki had been nonetheless on board. However two months later, stars Ackles, Collins, and Padalecki introduced in an emotional video that Season 15 could be their final.
The sequence confronted a number of challenges in wrapping up its remaining season, because the COVID-19 pandemic compelled greater than 100 reveals, together with Supernatural, to halt manufacturing. The penultimate episode and sequence finale had not but been filmed when manufacturing stopped in mid-March 2020, leaving followers apprehensive about whether or not or not they’d get a concrete ending to the sequence. Nonetheless, taking pictures on the ultimate episodes of Supernatural picked up in late August, and the sequence wrapped filming on Sept. 10.
It has been an extended, life-changing highway journey for Ackles and Padalecki. Of their 15 years on the present, each have married and began households of their very own. They’ve endured lengthy shoots within the freezing Vancouver winter, laughed at themselves whereas delivering 23-episode seasons, watched the world change drastically by way of technological breakthroughs and social upheaval, developed life-long friendships with their castmates and crew, and created reminiscences that may endure lengthy after the present airs its remaining credit. Now on the finish of their Supernatural journey, each actors have had almost two years to say goodbye to their characters, however that does not imply it is easy for them to let go.
“I had sort of been saying goodbye to the present for some time now, most likely ever since we made the video saying, ‘Hey, Season 15’s going to be it.’ I feel that was the primary dedication to love, ‘OK, this is not going to be for the remainder of my life,'” Padalecki defined, including that he cried loads of tears whereas quarantining.
As for Ackles, whereas this can be the top for Supernatural, Dean will at all times be with him. “I have been dwelling with this character for thus lengthy that he’s ingrained in me,” he mentioned. “I do not know that I am going to ever be capable of say goodbye as a result of he is simply going to be part of every part. It is a character that is modified my life. These are characters that we now have gotten to stay with and the followers have gotten to stay with for thus lengthy that I’ll fortunately take this with me endlessly. If I by no means get to play [Dean] once more, I do know he is at all times proper there.”
Although Ackles has hinted at the thought of an eventual revival, and each Calvert and Collins have instructed TV Information that they consider the present can proceed in some type sooner or later, followers must say goodbye to the Winchesters when the sequence finale airs subsequent week. It is nonetheless too early to inform what Supernatural’s legacy might be, however there is no denying it is going to be troublesome to duplicate the present’s longevity, its tight-knit forged and crew, and its followers, who’ve wielded their assist for the sequence as a power for good.
“The group that has coalesced round Supernatural is one in every of empathy, and kindness, and caring for one another,” Collins mentioned. “I feel that the Supernatural household, for the little present that we’re, and the little fandom that we’re, I feel it leaves a fairly large footprint of constructive power on the planet. I am actually grateful to be part of that.”
Supernatural‘s sequence finale airs Thursday, Nov. 19 at 9/8c on The CW. An hour-long retrospective, Supernatural: The Lengthy Street Dwelling, will air prior at 8/7c.
In honor of Supernatural coming to an finish after 15 seasons, TV Information presents Winchester Week, a celebration of Sam, Dean, and all the SPN Household. Learn how the celebs really feel about saying goodbye, look again on the most effective episodes and moments, and be part of us in sending the Winchesters off in model.