Supernatural remains one of the best examples of a modern cult show. The quirky, ambitious series about the two demon-fighting Winchester brothers Sam and Dean, played by Jensen Ackles as Dean and Jared Padalecki as Sam respectively, ran for fifteen seasons, surviving imminent cancellation in its ‘younger’ days and becoming a staple of The CW schedule. The series wrapped up with a finale that was broadcast in November last year after the final episodes were delayed in completion and broadcast by COVID.
Jensen Ackles has gone on to filming the upcoming third season of Amazon‘s The Boys and Padalecki is currently playing the title role in The CW‘s Walker (a revamp of the lawman series that starred Chuck Norris in its original incarnation).
But it now looks like the Winchesters may ride again – or at least the parents of Sam and Dean. A prequel show featuring younger versions of the two parents John and Mary (originally played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Samantha Smith) is now in the works with Ackles and his wife Danneel set to be executive-producers and with Jensen narrating the series. It is described as… ‘the epic, untold love story of how the Winchester parents met and how they put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world‘. Ackles told industry site Deadline that “When Danneel and I formed Chaos Machine Productions, we knew the first story we wanted to tell was the story of John and Mary Winchester, or rather the Supernatural origin story. I always felt like my character, Dean, would have wanted to know more about his parents’ relationship and how it came to be. So I love the thought of having him take us on this journey.”
That should have got fans very excited, but the news that quickly followed seem to cast some wrinkles into the concept as it turned out that Padalecki might have been somewhat blindsided by the plan and deal. In a response that fans initially thought was joking, Padalecki complained that the Deadline news item was the first he’d heard about it, but the brusque wording suggested he was serious.
“Dude. Happy for you. Wish I heard about this some way other than Twitter. I’m excited to watch, but bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever.” he tweeted. When asked if he was joking by a fan following the account, Padalecki responded “No. It’s not. This is the first I’ve heard about it. I’m gutted.” A third post, aimed at executive producer Robbie Thompson, the Supernatural co-executive producer who will also be involved in the new series was posted and then deleted, but read: “Et tu brute? Wow. What a truly awful thing you’ve done #Bravo you coward.”
On Friday morning, after Padalecki appealed to fans not to send messages of hate to anyone, he explained that he and Jensen had talked and things seemed to be a lot calmer…
