Jensen Ackles is hoping to quell some fears surrounding the Supernatural prequel, The Winchesters. The actor sat down to chat with Variety about how he and the team behind the highly anticipated series were planning to tell a new story all while keeping the original show’s canon in the mix. To do this, he revealed they plan on touching on several of the original series’ “waypoints” while keeping audiences on their toes and making the jump between those markers “really unexpected.”
The idea initially came to Ackles and his wife, Danneel Ackles during what other time then the COVID lockdown. As Ackles puts it, the couple were bored and cooped up in their home when the light bulb went off, and they said, “‘You know what would be cool? If we went back in time and we actually saw the story of mom and dad and how they met.’” And from there, the wheels started to turn and the idea behind The Winchesters began to form, but so did the drama. While Ackles took the idea to Supernatural creator, Eric Kripke, he left a very important person out of the loop. That would be his 15 season long co-star Jared Padalecki. Over their time as on-screen demon and monster hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester, the two struck up a bromance that could have its own reality show (seriously, we would watch it). But, when the news broke, Padalecki, who immediately moved on from Supernatural to star in another CW hit, Walker, was feeling more than left out as he discovered the news on Twitter.
The two have since resolved their issues, but the shakeup came as a shock to the Supernatural community who were sad to hear of Padalecki’s non-involvement in the series. As for his conversation with Kripke, Ackles said the original show’s creator gave him the green light “both legally and as a friend,” adding that he was “very happy” to pass the torch to the couple.
The Winchesters will follow the story of how Sam and Dean’s parents, Mary and John, came to know each other and how their relationship would ultimately lead to creating their family with the two boys. The series will star Meg Donnelly and Drake Rodger as Mary and John, respectively, and will pick up with both of them dealing with their own personal demons (mentally and physically), and deciding their next steps in life which is when their paths cross. Although, at this time, we aren’t expecting to see Padalecki or Ackles reprise their roles in the physical sense, Ackles will reprise Dean - or at least his voice - as the show’s narrator. But, anything is possible in the world of Supernatural, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the boys jumped through a portal or time twisted to find their way back to the days of The Winchesters.
As for now, we’re feeling great that the prequel series is resting in Ackles’ very capable hands. With his close ties to the universe and love for the characters, he’s bound to do them proud. As he puts it, drawing up the new storyline and keeping everyone happy is “not an easy map to draw, but we’re doing our best.”