‘Supernatural’ Spin-Off ‘The Winchesters’ Unable To Find A Home At A New Network

The "Supernatural" series "The Winchesters" is reportedly unable to find a new home at a new network after being canceled by The CW earlier this year.

Although star Jensen Ackles attempted to find a home for the new show through his #SaveTheWinchesters campaign, it looks like efforts to continue the "Supernatural" saga have proven futile, at least for now.

On Friday night, Deadline was the first to report that the “Supernatural” franchise would be coming to an end, as “The Winchesters” was unable to be picked up by another network for a second season after being canceled at The CW. It is only one of several scripted series canceled by the network, as it shifts its focus to unshifted programming.

Despite the cancellation, the Warner Bros. Television team had been reportedly looking to set up a new home with another network. Considering Max, formerly HBO Max, is owned by the same company as Warner Bros. TV, many were hopeful that the show would find a new home there, even though all fifteen seasons of “Supernatural” are available to stream from Netflix.

Jensen Ackles and his wife, Danneel Ackles, who both served as executive producers of the new series, also have their own production company that has a deal with Amazon Studios. In the end, Max, Netflix, and Amazon Studios all passed on a second season of “The Winchesters,” according to Deadline.

The new series was written and executive produced by Robbie Thompson and focused on the love story of Sam and Dean Winchester’s parents – John and Mary – played by Drake Rodger and Meg Donnelly, respectively. The first season, and seemingly the only season, was only thirteen episodes long.

On Saturday, June 3, Jensen Ackles took to Twitter to confirm the news that the show would not be coming back for a second season, putting part of the blame on the current WGA writer's strike.  "To all of you who watched, followed, and supported this story, THANK YOU. And to all those who brought this show to life…I couldn’t be more proud of what we all did together," he tweeted.

"But as they say…timing is everything. With a massive Network shift coupled with an industry strike…welp…that’s some unfortunate timing," he continued. "Sleep well dear @WinchestersOnCW …until we meet again. Somewhere down the road." Fans had mixed reactions to the show, with some fans pleased with the ending in season 1, while others felt that the spin-off "changed the story" too much from the original premise of "Supernatural."

In May 2023, the "Dark Angel" actor told Entertainment Weekly that he felt "hopeful" about the possibility that "The Winchesters" would get a second season.

“I do feel hopeful and I don’t know whether that’s just the optimistic side of me, which I didn’t know existed in this capacity,” he said at the time. “I’ve been moving more toward a curmudgeon, more toward what we all thought Dean Winchester would dive into when he got older. That’s just the Dean in me."

"But I do have this crazy optimism for this show and I think it largely resides in the energy that we found on set with this cast and this crew," he continued. "That crazy optimism is one of the reasons why this show made it on air in the first place, and I think it’s one of the several reasons why the show should continue somewhere.”

The "Supernatural" actor also said that the fans are “fired up,” adding, “I love that about this fandom. I love that they are so passionate about this world and this universe and these characters that they are willing to go to the mat for a show like this. I think that speaks volumes, especially to those who are willing to listen and have the power to do something about it.”

During the same interview, Jensen Ackles revealed that he and Robbie Thompson had discussed a five-season plan for "The Winchesters" that they were hoping to execute. “Hopefully we get to execute that,” Ackles said. “I just think that there’s a way to keep this alive and it would be a shame to let that go.”

“We were talking not only about the story and where we wanted to take our cast, we were talking about who we were going to bring back from the mothership,” he continued. “We were putting together a lot of tricks to keep up our sleeve and keep it exciting, not just for the new fans but for the returning fans as well.”

Looking beyond five seasons, he added, “And then we don’t know what it would look like beyond that but there was certainly a way of tying this into like a possible return of Supernatural down the line, which Robbie and I had talked about. It’s something that Jared [Padalecki] and I have talked about, what that might look like.”

At this point, fans remain hopeful that another "Supernatural" spin-off will be green-lit in the future. Until that time, all fifteen seasons of "Supernatural" are available to stream on Netflix.