Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki at the 2018 PaleyFest Los Angeles 'Supernatural'

'Supernatural' Prequel Series 'The Winchesters' Picked Up By The CW

Home / Entertainment / 'Supernatural' Prequel Series 'The Winchesters' Picked Up By The CW

By Kristin Myers on May 14, 2022 at 9:30 AM PDT

There is good news for “Supernatural” fans.

All three of the “Supernatural” stars have had their pilots picked up for a full-season order at The CW. The CW only had three pilots in the development cycle, and all three of them are going to series, as per The Hollywood Reporter.

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The CW Greenlights ‘Supernatural’ Prequel & Two Other Projects Involving Cast Alums

Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins at 2018 PaleyFest Los Angeles - CW apos s apos Supernatural apos
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The network picked up “Gotham Knights,” a DC Comics series centered on the life of Bruce Wayne and Gotham’s villains. Earlier in the year, “Supernatural” alum Misha Collins, who played the angel Castiel, was tapped to play Harvey Dent.

Since leaving “Supernatural,” actor Jared Padaleckihas gone on to star in “Walker.” The prequel series “Walker: Independence” has also been picked up by the CW and will be set in the late 1800s. It remains to be seen how involved Padalecki will be with that project.

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Jared and Genevieve Padalecki
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Finally, “The Winchesters,” the “Supernatural” prequel series which will be narrated by and executively produced by Jensen Ackles, has finally had its first season approved. Two others “Supernatural” spin-off series had been floated in the past, but neither has been approved by the network.

The original “Supernatural” series ran for fifteen successful seasons from 2005 to 2020 on The CW with Ackles starring as Dean Winchester and Padalecki starring as Sam Winchester. The new series will focus on the love story of their parents: John and Mary Winchester.

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Jensen Ackles Explains How ‘The Winchesters’ Will Avoid Retconning The Original Series

Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles at The CW's Summer TCA All Star Party
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The prequel series features two new actors playing the roles of John and Mary. John will be played by Drake Rodger and Mary will be played by Meg Connelly. The show will feature John and Mary hunting demons together as they “put everything on the line to save their love and the world.”

However, many fans have called the plot into question, as John supposedly didn’t become a hunter and learn about the existence of ghosts and demons until Mary was killed in the very first episode of the “Supernatural” series.

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Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki at the 2018 PaleyFest Los Angeles 'Supernatural'
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Ackles recently told TVLine that even he had doubts about the prequel series and whether they'd be able to pull it off.

“The Boys” star explained, “To be honest, I was like, ‘I don’t know if we can do this, and then it took [writer] Robbie [Thompson] and me sitting down going like, ‘Well, we know we have to do this, and we know we have to do that, but if we just connect those dots with a straight line, that’s not entertaining. That’s boring. That’s a simple story. If we connect those dots in a much crazier, wild Supernatural way, then we’ve got a show.’ So that’s what we’ve been doing.”

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The CW Network 2019 Upfront
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“That’s kind of the exciting thing, in my opinion, is that the waypoints or the tentpoles that were established on the mothership, as we lovingly call it, those will get touched on,” Ackles continued. “But we’ll get to those waypoints in a way that we probably didn’t expect. And that’s what we’re really having fun with is, like, the story is coming together. It’s not the washed version. It’s not the sugar-coated version of how mom and dad met. This is like what really happened.”

He continued, “But we do play into the moments that were discussed and that were talked about, just maybe in a slightly varied way that seems like, ‘Whoa, wait, we knew that happened, but I didn’t know that’s why it happened or that’s how it happened.'”

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In regards to the massive plot hole that John didn’t know demons existed prior to the pilot, Ackles said, “Obviously, we’ve got a massive fix for that. But we get to that point, and we play the ‘Ooh, that’s why’ kind of a thing.”

At this time, it is unclear if Ackles will serve as a director of the prequel series. He directed six episodes of “Supernatural” and a recent episode of Jared Padalecki’s show “Walker,” so he might step behind the camera once again.

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When asked if he would have a seat in the director’s chair, Ackles replied, “I hope so. Obviously, I gotta get approved by the studio, but I think they know me, so I might have a good chance.”

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