Jensen Ackles Explains Reluctance Over ‘Supernatural’ Prequel Series

Supernatural fans are excited about the forthcoming CW prequel series, but actor Jensen Ackles recently shared that wasn’t always on board with the idea. Titled The Winchesters, the new show will jump back and tell the story of John and Mary Winchester, who were the parents of Ackles’ Dean and Jared Padalecki’s Sam Winchester. Explaining his initial reluctance over the spinoff, Ackels revealed that he simply wasn’t convinced the premise was something that could be effectively executed.

“To be honest, I was like, ‘I don’t know if we can do this.’” He continued, sharing some of his skeptical thoughts at the time, “‘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.” At this time, The Winchesters does not have an announced premiere date.

Ackles is currently the only Supernatural star set to return for The Winchesters, as he will narrate the series as Sam. He and his wife Danneel Ackles will also serve as producers. Additionally, it’s been revealed that Drake Rodger (The In Between) has been cast as John and Meg Donnelly (American Housewife) as Mary.

In a January appearance on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, Ackles opened up about the Supernatural finale, which left fans greatly divided. “I don’t think there’s a wrong opinion about it,” Ackles said. “I honestly don’t. I think that the people that had problems with it are validated, and I think the people that enjoyed it are validated.”

He continued, “I was in both camps. I spent time in both camps, and this is no secret. The very first time we had ever heard what was going to happen at the end of the season, Jared [Padalecki] and I flew out to L.A., and we went to the writers room before the season started, and we all sat down, and they essentially pitched us how they wanted to wrap up the show, which was the first time in Supernatural history that that had ever happened.”

Supernatural debuted in September 2005 on The CW. It ran for 15 seasons — 327 episodes — and concluded in November 2021. Padalecki has since gone on to star in a new CW series, , a reimagining of Chuck Norris’ classic ’90s series, Walker, Texas Ranger. As for Ackles, fans can next catch him in The Boys, Amazon Prime Video’s bloody and irreverent comic book series.