What Does Supernatural Mean to Me? 20th Anniversary Edition

When the 20th anniversary of Supernatural approached, we asked current writers and other guest writers if they would like share a few words. The topic – “What Does Supernatural Mean to Me?” Needless to say, we got some great responses! Below are their reflections on how much this show has impacted their lives, whether they watched from day one or found the show years later.

Nightsky

On its 20th anniversary, what does Supernatural mean to me?

Supernatural brought fun into my life.

Amid days filled with responsibilities and worries, hustle, bustle, and rushing from one crisis to the next, it gave me a place to be carefree.

The show fills my heart to overflowing for two brothers who never give up on each other.

Conventions fill me with joy, and smiles, and hope.

I met a lifelong friend because of Supernatural.

I have been blessed to work with an ever-changing team of creative, generous people who share their talent with the fandom.

I’ve interacted with the stars, writers and composers of dozens of TV shows, interviewing them about their craft and getting to know a few of them personally – an amazing honor and opportunity I never would have imagined for my life.

Supernatural gave me 15 years of being able to call myself a published writer – of a celebratory fandom book on Twilight and over 300 articles on Supernatural. Something else I never, ever would’ve predicted would happen to me.

I’m proud of Supernatural, Jared, Jensen, Misha and the SPNFamily.

Supernatural has been a major part of the past one and a half decades of my life, and I hope it is a part of my life for many years to come.

Nate Winchester

I’m not sure of exactly where I was on Sept 13, 2005 – because I wasn’t able to watch Supernatural that day. I had gone into the hospital.

I had been looking forward to it – ironically. Back in that day, the ads shown on TV had led me to make jokes about it being “pretty boy” X-files. A less mature show for the tween demographic it seemed like. It didn’t help that Jensen had so recently been on Smallville and I did not care about his character on there at all. I fully intended to watch Supernatural so I could mock it.

Yet I missed the premiere. Instead my first episode was the following week, 1.02 “Wendigo.” Though with everything going on, I had not realized I missed the premiere, so for about the first year, I was convinced that was the first episode of the series. (It was when the show came on DVD that I finally got to see the pilot.) But I do remember where I was when I watched that episode, because I was still in the hospital. And I can still remember the room I was in and the TV I had to view it on. It not being the best of times, maybe I could have a laugh…

But then the show was good. No, it was damn good. When Dean uttered the line to his brother “Saving people, hunting things – the family business” I was no longer ready to mock the show, I was in love with it. Here were two dudes that were pretty awesome and saved the day in the end. By the time the credits rolled, I resolved I was going to have to see the next episode. And that’s what I did, I got out of the hospital and caught the next episode. Then I watched the next one. Every week I resolved to make it through so I could see what happened next. That’s why through it all – good seasons and bad – I watched every episode. 20 years on… thanks, Sam and Dean. You were brothers in a time some of us needed a few.

Emberlast

It is been eleven years since I first started watching Supernatural, and I continue to be inspired by the way Sam and Dean dedicate themselves to protecting the world from monsters despite overwhelming odds. They don’t value what society values – money, social status, a large home, designer clothes. Instead, they uphold what is most essential: life itself and those you love. The Winchesters are complicated and realistic, damaged yet determined, dangerous and protective. How wonderful to have a show that gave us fifteen seasons of this amazing dynamic! I’m so glad there are other fans like me who, twenty years after the first episode aired, are still eagerly discussing this epic story!

Sadie Witkowski

It’s an odd experience to be reflecting on the 20th anniversary of a show I only started watching about 4 years ago. Odd, because in many ways, it feels like it’s been a part of my life for so much longer! I wasn’t in front of my television for the premiere, but as a Texan I feel like I was right down the street from the two brothers. I didn’t get to watch the finale live with all my fandom friends, but I’ve gone to so many conventions that I’ve never felt like I missed that communal experience. It feels like we’ve all been here, as the SPN family, for much longer a time than my tenure in the fandom. When I attended my first Supernatural convention, I immediately felt like I had been dropped into a Star Trek convention in the 70s or 80s. We aren’t a dwindling fandom, but a group that seems to grow larger and more engaged by the year! And just like Trekkies kept their beloved show alive and laid the path for The Next Generation, I don’t see how we could think Supernatural is truly over. Afterall, nothing really stays dead in the show so why should we think there isn’t at least one more series or season on the horizon?

Gail Z. Martin

How Supernatural Changed Me

I have been part of one fandom or another since I watched the original Star Trek series and Dark Shadows as a kid. Star Wars, Space: 1999, Doctor Who and many more all left their mark on my heart and imagination. I cherish the memories and friends from all them. But Supernatural is a whole different category.

Even though I didn’t fall in love with the show until halfway through Season 11 (and binge-watched 11 seasons in time for the start of Season 12), I’ve definitely compensated for being a latecomer by being all-in.

My circle of friends has grown to include fans from all over the world. I run a Supernatural group on Facebook, and each week I do two live watch parties, and record a SPN-themed Zoom panel with guests. I go to Supernatural conventions with friends, and watch the videos from the ones I can’t attend. Going to genre conventions is part of what I do as a full-time author, but now I notice that Supernatural panels appear on my schedule in addition to ones on writing and other fandoms.

Supernatural has become a safe place for me, both the fandom and the show itself. It was my refuge during pandemic, and remains so during these current uncertain times. Rewatching the show, connecting with other fans, wearing the t-shirts, reading the fan fiction, watching the con videos and listening to the podcasts reminds me that I am part of a community that believes ‘family don’t end with blood’.

Sam and Dean saved the world and each other many times, and that story gives me hope.

Journalbookbinder

20 years since the night I first watched Supernatural. 20 years later, I have a 50-person holiday card list made up entirely of SPN Family which is at least five times the number of genetic family members who receive holiday cards from me. My best friends of my adult life are people I met online on Supernatural Fan Wiki, discussing episodes starting around 2009. I just came back from my once-a-year Creation convention that I attended with some of those original SPN friends. My 13th convention over a span of 15 years. I love watching the bond the cast has developed.

I have taken trips all over the U.S. for Supernatural. I have enjoyed meeting those who had a hand in creating the show. Supernatural hit at just the right time in what now feels like the golden age of social media where fans were able to directly communicate with those who made the show and that has led to some truly unexpected connections, like being in regular contact with one of my artist heroes, Jerry Wanek. This started at least 10 years ago when I used to mail infrequent letters to the art department while the show was in production just to tell them how much I loved and appreciated their work. A fan/crew friendship can happen? It can.

But before any of those wonderful things, there was me, alone in my living room, falling in love with Sam and Dean. And it truly did feel like falling in love. I saw Supernatural everywhere. Even though it was filmed in Vancouver, many episodes were set in small midwestern towns and I suddenly felt like it was cool to live in one. I could picture Sam and Dean driving the same roads I drove. As love does, it seeped into everything. It influenced the art I made, what I read, what I wore, and how I spent my time. It rearranged my priorities all because the performances and themes in Supernatural were so powerful and spoke to me so directly and that remains true to this day. Seeing Jared and Jensen’s real life friendship and connection in person last weekend at the Chicago convention only reinforces the idea that something lasting was created over Supernatural’s 15-year run.

I do not think we will ever see a TV show like Supernatural again. The current media landscape may have schedules that give actors a more balanced life, but the countless hours and years of blood, sweat, and tears that went into Supernatural meant that characters could develop over a long period of time and the impact on the lives of actors, crew, and fans who have had those characters living with them for so long will never come again. Supernatural was there for fans through so many years of life changes and the same is true for those who made the show. That helps to create some kind of bond that stays strong. The fact that we all have regular SPN Family reunions in the form of conventions – whether you are able to attend in person or follow along online – it helps keep us together.

Just this past weekend in Chicago, Briana Buckmaster referenced 2024’s “Krista Con” where the entire weekend was dedicated to a longtime fan with terminal cancer who was attending their last convention. I did not attend in person, but watched online and it was sad and beautiful and heartfelt. Just like the show itself. They may play fictional characters, but the actors and fans have forged real life connections. That was evident in Briana’s tears as she spoke about the experience from over a year ago. I remember, long ago, Jim Beaver saying that he had a particularly impactful fan encounter after his character, Bobby, had died on the show. A fan told him that her father was dying and she wanted Jim to write her father a note as if he were Bobby welcoming her father into heaven. That it could uplift her father in his last days. There seem to be many stories like this among the actors who realized that what they were doing wasn’t just something they did for a paycheck. It was truly reaching out and touching people’s hearts.

I wish that the cast and crew were still up there in Vancouver creating new adventures for Sam and Dean that we could enjoy every week. You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone and I think fans and cast now fully realize how special Supernatural is. More than screaming female fans and hot guys. More than something that is the cool of-the-moment cultural “thing”. It’s the best of us.

Thank you for all that shared their reflections on this big occasion. Now it’s your turn! What does Supernatural mean to you?

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Nightsky

I’m the Co-Editor-in-Chief, Social Media Manager (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), Live Tweet Moderator, reviewer and feature writer for The Winchester Family Business. Before joining the Supernatural Family, I worked for 22 years at a global consulting firm, but after years of long hours, high pressure and rigorous demands, I quit corporate life to raise my children. After my first Supernatural convention, I was driven to share my shock and awe in a two-part essay that The WFB was brave enough to post, and my second life calling, that of being a writer, began. My first published book, Fan Phenomena: The Twilight Saga was released in late 2016. Please share in my cross-fandom excitement by following its Facebook page @FanPhenomenaTwilight and my personal Twitter account @LSAngel2. You can read about this whole miraculous transition in my chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood, published in May 2017.