A recently announced Supernatural spinoff has reignited the show’s passionate fandom for the worst. Earlier this week, Supernatural bad boy Jensen Ackles announced he and his wife-turned-co-star Danneel Ackles have begun work on a prequel to the show called The Winchesters. According to Deadline’s report, the upcoming show follows main characters Dean (Jensen) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) Winchester’s parents John and Mary as it recounts the “epic, untold love story of how John met Mary and how they put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world.” Told from the perspective of Dean, Jensen naturally has a pretty big role in both the creation of the show and the show itself.
However, not only is Jensen’s on-screen brother played by Padalecki not appearing in the show, he apparently wasn’t even told it was happening.
Dude. Happy for you.
Wish I heard about this some way other than Twitter.
I’m excited to watch, but bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever. https://t.co/bAcEvFKM7p— Jared Padalecki (@jarpad) June 25, 2021
At first, fans were quick to dismiss the tweet as a merely a strange joke. However, Padalecki doubled-down on his statement, replying to a fan message stating the tweet “has GOTTA be a bad joke” with “No. It’s not. This is the first I’ve heard about it. I’m gutted.” Padalecki further expressed his disappointment — and anger — in a since-deleted tweet directed at Robbie Thompson, the Supernatural co-executive producer who will be working alongside Jensen on The Winchesters. In his tweet, he told Thompson that his involvement and the subsequent removal of Padalecki’s character was a “truly awful thing” before saying “#Bravo you coward.”
Not only did drama quickly escalate within the Supernatural cast, but the community as well. Padalecki took to Twitter to beg fans to “please PLEASE don’t send any hate or threats. I care deeply about everybody involved and would be in true misery if any of them were harmed or threatened.” However, fans are still tweeting about the incident and quite clearly picking sides.
stop saying jared is overreacting or playing the victim. for 15 years supernatural was also his show, he loved sam winchetser SO MUCH and he said it every time he had the opportunity. He has every right to feel this way.
— ًmary (@padaleckism) June 25, 2021
https://twitter.com/CoffeeGiulia/status/1408364991456157700
I love jensen but i mean he should have told jared.. SPN is also very dear to jared, i would've felt cheated and betrayed if my "bestfriend" left me out of such details.. supernatural and winchesters meant sam and dean.. No sam, i think i'll pass…
— Nikki Gray (@waywardanimal) June 25, 2021
https://twitter.com/Daydreams1812/status/1189248559339708419
So called #supernatural fans stop saying ratings are down because Sam has no voice, because Dean is the centre of attention. Stop making Jared a victim saying it focuses on Jensen. The #SPNFamily are supposed to be united not divided by your drivel. Seriously grow the hell up
— Mary 🧵👗 By Fallon on its way 2023🧵👗 (@Mazlionheart) October 26, 2018
However, despite fans adding fuel to the fire, as of today Ackles and Padalecki have seemingly put the incident behind them after a “great talk.” Turns out that much like real siblings, on-screen ones also get into their fair share of squabbles and still walk away from the scrap thick as a pair of demon-hunting thieves.
Love you @jarpad …
Miss these talks. I forgot how much face time we always used to get. And I miss that too. I know you’re busy…as am I, but you’re still my brother. I miss you, pal. https://t.co/KtRKYkvc2K— Jensen Ackles (@JensenAckles) June 25, 2021
If The Winchesters goes forward after all this drama, the CW will have both Ackles and Padalecki back on the network with Jensen on The Wincheters and Padalecki on a Walker, Texas Ranger reboot simply called Walker. However, it’s worth noting that even though Supernatural is the longest-running sci-fi/genre series in the history of American broadcast television, The CW has made two previous attempts to launch a Supernatural spinoff — first with Bloodlines and second with Wayward Sisters — with no success. Here’s hoping The Winchesters sees the light of day and the Supernatural community can put this whole thing behind them.
