The CW’s Supernatural prequel, The Winchesters, made its New York Comic Con debut on October 9, 2022, with Supernatural’s Dean Winchester – Jensen Ackles – joining Meg Donnelly (“Mary Campbell”) and Drake Rodger (“John Winchester”), as well as executive producer Daneel Ackles and showrunner Robbie Thompson, for a screening of the show’s first episode followed by a Q&A. Jensen Ackles will be reprising his role as Dean to narrate the prequel which focuses on Sam and Dean’s parents, John and Mary Winchester.
NYCC attendees got a big surprise when Ackles had the pleasure of introducing the actor who will play Samuel Campbell, Mary’s father, and Sam and Dean’s grandfather: Tom Welling. Welling joked he lost a bet and that’s why he’s there, and Ackles reminded everyone he and Welling have been friends since Smallville.
The series was conceived during Covid when there were two episodes of Supernatural season 15 left to shoot. Quarantine hit and talk turned to the expansion of the Supernatural universe. Jensen really wanted to see the ‘70s and a throwback to how John and Mary got started. “If we’re going to expand this world, it’s going to help if there’s a Winchester involved,” explained Jensen Ackles.
Episode one of The Winchesters is close to the initial idea they came up with for the show, including Ackles’ intention to narrate the series. “I just thought if we could do a Supernatural version essentially of How I Met Your Mother…,” said Ackles.
Daneel Ackles pointed out Jensen loves that show.
Robbie Thompson assured fans that there won’t be any revisions of Supernatural history. The goal of this was always to not rewrite or change anything that happened in 15 seasons. “We were very clear, it was like a Hippocratic Oath – do no harm, said Thompson. “We are not going to have, as Jensen likes to say, the Sam and Dean polaroid from Back to the Future fading.”
Thompson added: “But it was actually very freeing because it gave us the opportunity to, because we’re a prequel obviously people know where the story’s going but because we’re also Supernatural that could do different things, we had an opportunity to do something different. Now, what exactly we’re doing will be revealed in episode 13 of The Winchesters. But I can assure you that I know that if people do have any concerns, I had the same concerns, and (Jensen and Daneel) had them before I even showed up.”
Asked if Castiel (played by Misha Collins) will be involved, Robbie Thompson said he was campaigned for that before he even heard about the job as showrunner. “Daneel and Jensen at the beginning were like, ‘Hey, let’s establish for these kids and then let’s slowly bring some people in.’ We will be bringing a lot of familiar faces. I think we can tell them…I’m ‘low-key’ excited about the next one. But whether or not we see Mr. Misha Collins…I would love it. I would love to see everybody back in some way, shape, or form. I think we’ll have an opportunity to do that hopefully sooner rather than later.”
Jensen Ackles was asked if we are going to see Crowley and he responded, “Sure.” He followed that up, saying, “If you guys give us an opportunity to tell more of this story, I guarantee you’re going to see a lot more familiar faces.”
Meg Donnelly and Drake Rodger understand the immensity of their roles within the Supernatural world. Donnelly confessed she was crying backstage at the reaction of the fans to the pilot episode.
Donnelly described her approach to Mary: “I think playing Mary is so much fun because she is a very strong, independent woman who knows exactly what she wants. Very badass, for sure. So, I think with John it kind of makes her open up. She’s a little bit more vulnerable. Throughout the show, you kind of see more vulnerability in Mary which I think is really beautiful.
Playing Mary, I just want to show you can be really tough; you can be this badass, awesome woman, but also, it’s okay to have sensitive and vulnerable moments as well. That’s been really fun.”
Donnelly promised we’ll get to see Mary’s experience as a woman in the 1970s.
Rodger grew up watching Supernatural and has zero intention of trying to live up to Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s portrayal. “More than anything when I got the role, I just wanted to provide context. John’s controversial so I just wanted to offer context to the character, his life, to the aspirations and dreams he had. And fall in love with Mary…that’s also a benefit.”
Rodger called Supernatural and its 15 seasons an endless resource to draw on when getting into John.
“Being a fan of the show, I was extremely excited to play John. With how people feel toward the character, I was excited to get to look at the opposite end of the spectrum as to where he ends and go back to where it begins, and kind of just show the biggest transition that I could. I’ve been using as an example Walter White to Heisenberg. I’m trying to give that kind of transition into who he is. Like, who he wanted to be versus what Chuck or destiny had in mind for him,” said Rodger.
The Winchesters Panel Takeaways:
- There are a bunch of Easter eggs in the pilot, including directors’ names. Robbie Thompson is a big fan of Easter eggs.
- Gil McKinney is the voice of John’s dad.
- Mary will be scared about Latika (played by Nida Khurshid) doing the wrong thing.
- Rob warned we should be worried about all these characters. He’s willing to kill off characters.
- Carlos (played by Jojo Fleites) is TV’s first sexually fluid hippie demon hunter.
- Richard Speight Jr is directing an episode right now of The Winchesters.
- “The Supernatural vibe is still being collectively curated by those that were there and know what it was originally.” – Jensen Ackles
- Coffee is the new pie.
- The Men of Letters will loom large in The Winchesters.
