‘Supernatural’ Prequel ‘The Winchesters’ Shifts The Focus To The Parents Of The Demon Slaying Brothers

Fifteen years was not enough for Supernatural fans, no doubt. Or at least The CW is hoping is the case, as the network launches the prequel series to Supernatural, The Winchesters, on Tuesday, October 11 at 8 p.m. ET.

Supernatural, of course, followed the demon slaying brothers, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) as they hunted demons, ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural beings. It debuted on the former network The WB in 2005 and concluded on The CW in 2020 after a mammoth 327 episodes.

“At the end of every playback, I’ll go, okay, that was great, 326 more to go,” joked The Winchesters executive producer Robbie Thompson at a virtual press conference. “We would love to see this go the distance. As writers and then as producers, we want to give ourselves flexibility so that we can be nimble as things change and adapt.”

While Jared Padalecki (who is now headlining Walker, Texas Ranger reboot Walker on The CW) won’t be back on screen on The Winchesters (at least not at press time), Ackles appears briefly in the pilot and will narrate and executive produce. The last time we saw him as Dean Winchester was in the series finale of Supernatural, when his character perished before Padalecki as Sam met him in heaven. But long before Sam and Dean were their parents, John and Mary Winchester.

Set in the 1970s, The Winchesters focuses on Drake Rodger as John and Meg Donnelly as Mary. While Mary tends to work alone, she is part of a larger network of hunters that includes trainee Latika (Nida Khurshid, Station 19) and the easygoing Carlos (Jonathan “Jojo” Fleites). Together, the foursome fight against all sorts of supernatural threats, including a centuries-old demonic force hell-bent on destruction.

“I am so proud of the inclusivity that’s involved in this show, and the diversity that we’re bringing onto it,” said Jonathan Fleites. “And the space that I’ve been given as an LGBTQ identifying person on this show, not to mention also being non-binary.”

Told from the perspective of Ackles’ Dean Winchester, The Winchesters is described as “the epic, untold love story of how John Winchester met Mary Campbell and put it all on the line to, not only save their love, but the entire world while in search of their missing fathers.”

“There have been two attempts prior to this one that didn’t make the cut, but here we are,” said Jensen Ackles at the press conference. “The third time’s the charm, I guess.”

The CW had previously tried twice to spin off Supernatural via backdoor pilots titled Bloodlines and Wayward Sisters,

“It really came about as Supernatural was wrapping up and the pandemic hit, and my wife and I were forced to sit together and figure out how to be creative within the confines of our house,” he said. “We started kicking around ideas and this was one that we talked about for quite a long time.”

Ackles’ wife, Denneel Ackles, had the recurring role of Anael in later seasons of Supernatural.

Early in Supernatural’s run, it was established Mary was killed by a demon exactly six months after Sam was born, which spurred John into avenging her as well as raising his sons as hunters. At the onset of The Winchesters, Mary, then 19, nixes a departure from demon slaying following the death of someone close to her, when her father goes missing.

John, meanwhile, returns from the Vietnam and partners with Mary.

“At the end of the day, Supernatural was about the relationship between these two brothers,” noted Jensen Ackles. “You could paint as many ghosts and demons and vampires and ghouls and as you wanted on that canvas, but it really came back to the relationship that these two guys had; how they fought, not only for the greater good, but for each other.”

“We want to tell that with the characters of their parents, John and Mary, and also have their love story be kind of the kicker,” he added. “You can dress it up with all the frills and thrills, but it has to have that relationship and the cast of characters that you really want to keep coming back week to week to watch.”

The Winchesters was one of the numerous TV show panels featured at Comic Con in New York in this first weekend of October, joining other featured dramas including Chucky, Manifest, Pennyworth: The Origins of Batman’s Butler, The Walking Dead, and the Star Trek universe.

Like Supernatural before it, which never was a mass appeal hit based on the traditional Nielsen ratings, the interest – or lack of – on social media for The Winchesters could make or break the series. Given the impact of its predecessor socially, and the interest from the fans at Comic Con (”I have been waiting two years for this,” said one enthusiastic viewer) count on the former.

“Without spoiling the first half the season, the integrity of the mothership is certainly something that is of vital importance to us that we do not want to tamper with,” noted Jensen Ackles. “We also want to make sure that this show is given its space to be what it needs to be and what we all want it to be. I’m excited for when we can actually talk about it and dissect it.”