After 15 seasons, the fantasy horror drama series Supernatural finally came to an end in 2020. Now it has been confirmed that the show will get a prequel about Sam and Dean Winchester’s parents, John and Mary. The spin-off is headed by former Dean Winchester actor Jensen Ackles and his wife Danneel.
The announcement has caused a stir among Supernatural alumni and fans alike. But what do we know about this spin-off? We have collected all the information so far.
The Winchesters release date
The Winchesters will appear on The CW on October 11, 2022 – production on the show began in New Orleans in April.
The UK doesn’t have a release date yet, but luckily there is a way to watch The CW from abroad.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the series has been picked up by The CW. Warner Bros. however, is looking at a potential sale of this channel, so The Winchesters may eventually air elsewhere if it continues for another season.
Hypable reported that The Winchesters is one of five shows currently in development by Jensen and Danneel – so there could be more Supernatural spin-offs in the pipeline.
The Winchesters Trailer
Here’s the first trailer for The Winchesters, showing how John and Mary meet, their first fights together as fighters, and how Dean Winchester is on a mission to uncover their true past:
The Cast and Crew of the Winchesters
We now have our John and Mary Winchester – Meg Donnelly and Drake Rodger.
Donnelly is best known for American Housewife, the Disney Channel Zombie film series and High School Musical: The Musical. Meanwhile, Rodger is known for The In Between.
Nida Khurshid and Jojo Fleites will join them. The former is a graduate of the Disney Discovers Talent Showcase and has appeared in Station 19 and For The People. The Winchesters will be Fleites’ first TV series, after appearing in numerous theater shows such as Rent, Hair and A Chorus Line.
Khurshid plays Latika Desai, a young, intelligent fighter-in-training who excels at research and problem solving. Fleites, meanwhile, plays Carlos Cervantez, a positive force on the team who is naturally good at fighting demons.
Also on the show will be Bianca Kajlich as Millie Winchester (the wife of Henry Winchester), Demetria McKinney as Ada Monroe and Michael Tacconi as Hank Murphy.
Plus, Supernatural alumni Jensen Ackles return to narrate as Dean Winchester.
Ackles will also be behind the scenes producing the series with his wife Danneel and their company, Chaos Machine Productions. This is the first project to be confirmed for the company. The pair have said they are working with the head of development, Renee Reiff.
Former Supernatural writer Robbie Thompson also serves as an executive producer. Thompson will also write the script for this series. Supergirl’s Glen Winter will direct and perform the pilot.
Supernatural’s original creator Eric Kripke won’t be working on the series (he’s probably too busy with The Boys). However, Jensen Ackles went to him for his blessing to continue with the project.
Several former Supernatural cast members have expressed interest in appearing on the show. Ruth Connell – the actress for Rowena – pointed out that her character would be around when the show takes place. Danneel Ackles sent back a positive response so we could see more of the Scottish witch.
Misha Collins, the actor who played Castiel, too joked on Twitter that his character is a time-traveling angel and could easily appear on the show.
Ackles told TV Line, “The great thing about this world is that nothing is off the table. We have ways to bring back favorite characters and the actors who played them”. That’s why we could expect Rowena, Cas and other familiar faces.
Jensen has also expressed interest for EW in both Jeffery Dean Morgan and Matt Cohen who will reprise their roles as John Winchester at some point.
Supernatural fans may be very surprised to learn that Jared Padalecki, AKA Sam Winchester, took to Twitter to publicly voice his grievances about the show. He was reportedly unaware of the project and was “guzzled” to find out over the internet.
Both Ackles and Padalecki have since banished their differencesbut it remains to be seen if Jared will be creatively involved with the prequel.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Samantha Smith played John Winchester and Mary Winchester respectively on Supernatural. Since the show follows younger versions of the characters, we’re assuming that if these two make an appearance, it will only be short-lived.
Supernatural actually did a flashback episode featuring young John and Mary, who were played by Matt Cohen and Amy Gumenick respectively. Matt Cohen has now confirmed he’s not involved, but is excited to see where the show goes.
Land of The Winchesters
The show will explore how John and Mary Winchester first met, fell in love and risked their lives to save both each other and the whole world as young fighters. According to Danneel Ackles, it will take place in 1972. The whole story is framed from the perspective of Dean Winchester, who will tell the story.
In a quote to Deadline, Jensen Ackles says, “I always felt like my character, Dean, would have liked to know more about his parents’ relationship and how it came to be. So I love the thought of him taking us on this journey.”
Mary Campbell is only 19 when The Winchesters takes place. The prequel is picked up after she has just lost someone close to her and considers leaving the hunt behind. However, when her father (Samuel Campbell) disappears, she must team up with her newfound acquaintance, John Winchester, to find out what’s going on.
John has recently returned from Vietnam and follows traces of his father’s past to discover a whole new world of demons and monsters.
John and Mary will team up with Latika and Carlos to discover more about their families. Their investigation leads them to Ada, a bookstore owner, who leads them in the right direction.
It must be said that some of these plot points contradict the story told in Supernatural, where it was implied that John and Mary had never hunted together before. Of course, the original series was full of inconsistencies – so a little rewrite isn’t entirely unexpected.
It is likely that we will see some younger versions of John and Mary’s friends, such as Bobby and Rufus. It can also be set up similar to Supernatural, with a different monster of the week in each episode.
We don’t know if this will be a short, limited series or multiple seasons. This may depend on how well it performs.
How to watch The Winchesters
Chaos Machine Productions has an exclusive deal with Warner Bros. which means that all projects will be broadcast on a channel/streaming service owned by the company.
It is scheduled to air on The CW in the US, but this channel wants to be sold. In the future, it may be available on Warner Bros.’ flagship streaming service, HBO Max.
