Supernatural Season 15 – A Fan Fiction Alternate Myth Arc (Part 2)

Like many in the fandom I was… less than pleased with the final season of Supernatural. As the challenge goes: Do you think you can do better?

So last year I completely rewrote the final 3 episodes of the season in my extended fan fic “With or Without You”. Yet I still find my mind turning over ideas and possibilities. What if we didn’t completely ruin Chuck’s character? Could we close out Sam and Dean’s story in a way that honors and celebrates what came before?

To that end, I wondered what if we just did a complete overhaul of season 15 as a whole? So I fixed a bit of episode 14.20, for my new myth arc’s introduction. Now with the groundwork laid, let’s dive into season 15 proper. Rather than trying to do a full script treatment of every episode, this is more of an outline draft. I laid out all 20 episodes with possible titles and sketched out what would be the general shape of the episode. What are the important beats and plot points we want to be sure to hit this season? What moments do we need to include to deliver those emotional punches we’re aiming for?

Join me now in our writers’ room as we storyboard Supernatural‘s final season…

EPISODE 1 – “Bad Reflection”

Sam and Dean give us some exposition that they’ve been living like “normal” (well, for them) for about 3 months since they dealt with Chuck, and are still confused about everything he was babbling about. Castiel and Jack have gone on a journey to see what they can do about Jack’s state of being and lack of soul. They all felt the weird earthquake after Chuck left but otherwise there was nothing unusual going on.

They get a call from Ketch who mentions something strange going on in [town of the week] – people going missing, cow mutilations – which Sam points out he was just noticing, too. So they agree to meet up and investigate.

The rest of the episode is a fairly standard monster hunt (or so it seems) as they uncover that it’s vampires at work. Ketch gets ganked and there’s a shocking reveal: the vampires are Sam and Dean!

The climactic action scene is our brothers hunting through the “nest” with the other pair hunting them. (We’d get some fun camera work with Dean going one way, followed by bad!Sam while Sam goes the other way, followed by bad!Dean. Our brothers end up seeing through the deception pretty quickly (bad!Dean is still wearing his infamous leather coat) and after a fight scene & some dialog exchange, they kill the vampiric brothers.

On the way back in the car, Sam & Dean discuss how it was all so weird. Dean even wonders if this is what Chuck meant by him having to kill “Sam” if Dean didn’t kill Jack. “Chuck never said which Sam.” Sam admits it’s weird.

As the car drives away into the night, the camera pulls back to reveal that standing by the side of the road the Impala had just passed, there is another Sam and Dean, watching them.

EPISODE 2

This episode has Castiel and Jack on the road with one of the bunker’s extra vehicles.

Jack is mastering his driving skills while Castiel reads the note Chuck gave him (it’s in Enochian). Having some road trip adventures and figuring out the clues, the two of them end up at a shop run by Adam. THE Adam.

He talks with them and learns about their quest to get Jack his soul back. After some questioning, Adam notes the kid is lucky:

“Parts of your soul are still inside you. You’re lucky it wasn’t sucked out and eaten by somebody.”

He gives Jack 3 seeds from the Tree of Life, which Jack swallows, and tells Jack they will help regrow his soul – though Jack must also undergo a series of trials and tests to shape that soul and encourage its growth. Adam jots down where they need to go next.

When Castiel thanks Adam for the help, Adam comments that Jack is giving off quite the “aura” and he is shocked Cas and Jack don’t look more battle weary. After a bit of exposition, Adam sends the two of them off on a side-quest to get ingredients needed to “camouflage” the kid. They do, there’s character moments, and the climax is Jack needing to make a kind of “light side/dark side” choice.

They return and as Adam starts applying the “cloaking” spell/symbols/etc. to Jack, he explains to Jack that the seeds are already sprouting, and Jack’s soul has begun the process of regrowth. He cautions the kid to always be mindful and ready, as everything he does will affect how his soul returns. He also reminds Castiel that he can make choices and do things which affect Jack’s soul as well.

Jack and Castiel get back onto the road to continue on their next quest, and in case nobody had figured it out by now, the episode confirms that it is taking place much sooner after the season 14 finale – meaning it predates Sam & Dean’s previous episode.

EPISODE 3

Another MotW episode here. This is where I would do a character study, either examining life paths with Garth, putting “The Heroes’ Journey”
episode here,

or the final flashback episode “Drag Me Away (From You)” episode here.

EPISODE 4

Jack and Castiel continue their quest in South America. This is where I would put “Gimme Shelter” – though alter it to fit more into a South American setting. I’d also make the episode seem at first glance like a regular MotW, only to reveal at the end that it was another leg of the quest. The one in charge of the church/charity the guys stopped at and helped is the one they were seeking and had been subtlety steering Jack further along the “light-side” path.

He has Jack drink a cup of water from the river Acheron (because to have a soul is to feel pain as well as joy) and tells the two where to head next.

EPISODE 5

Let’s make this one an amalgam of the episode where Sam gets Eileen back – only this time Rowena is still alive and assisting him in it.

Toss in some bad witches for a conflict.

EPISODE 6

Castiel and Jack continue their adventures, but this time in India. I would probably also use this time to do some more foreign monsters the show hasn’t had the opportunity to do.

EPISODE 7

Sam and Dean head out on another hunt, finding themselves in a town that seems normal, but is… off. A cop arrests them on sight but they manage to escape, only to run into a mailman who seems to recognize them (and seems… deferential as well). They bluff some info out of the guy to find out they may already be living in the largest house in town. Using their wits and skills, both of them get across the town to said house and discover… themselves (dressed in the clothes we saw back in the close of episode 1).

This Sam and Dean are Jefferson Starships. (bad!Dean: “What? That’s the dumbest name I’ve ever heard. We’re chimeras.”) They’ve been spending months converting the town and taking it over. Maybe they’ll summon Eve, maybe they’ll just enjoy life as little kings of this small town (insert a tacky harem joke here to show how evil they are). Regardless, they know how dangerous themselves can be so they wanted to have an army ready before their “other” selves realized what was going on.

Climax is a tense battle with Sam and Dean fighting off… Sam and Dean with an entire town on the bad guys’ side. Using their wits and savviness, the good guys eventually kill their bad selves and, without the leaders, the town is disorganized enough that the two hunters are able to finish off all the other Jefferson Starships – though they do have some help from other hunters finally arriving (we reveal that a call for help was sent earlier in the episode). They don’t tell the other hunters about the bad Sam and Dean but the Winchesters are growing more concerned now – and neither of them like the feeling that they’re getting pretty good at killing each other.

EPISODE 8

Jack and Castiel trek through the middle east for their quest this time. Jack is definitely showing more signs of having a soul now. More foreign monster fun too.

EPISODE 9

Starts off with the boys discussing their recent challenges. Dean seems to be acting a little… off. Yet later when Sam sees Dean again, he’s acting fine. The episode slowly builds up a paranoid tension as Sam questions whether the brother he’s seeing is his or if Dean has been replaced with another alternate universe version.

Eventually they discover that there is a second Dean in the bunker. This one completely gave into the Mark of Cain and has embraced the darkness (what happened to his Sam is left unstated). The second half of the episode is a tense cat and mouse game between our boys and the Deanmon.

At the end, Sam is cornered and good Dean ends up shooting “himself” (Deanmon) in the back with the Equalizer.

The crisis past, the bros decide they need to be more proactive about what’s going on. First step: set up a password.

Elsewhere in the world, Amara is chilling out at a spa when Sam and Dean appear, telling her that they had been looking for her.

EPISODE 10 – “Revelation”

We open with Sam and Dean making preparations. They call up Castiel and inform him of the new password protocol, then tell the Wayward Sisters of what has been going on.

We intercut with scenes of a tied and tortured Amara. She reiterates that she has no idea where Chuck is and Dean replies “We know. You’re just practice.”

Sam and Dean are working with Rowena to add extra wards and protections around the bunker,

when Dean suddenly gets a cry for help from Amara through their “connection.”

They can see it’s another “them” torturing Amara and prepare as best they can while piecing together the clues in the vision.

The episode climaxes with Sam and Dean sneaking in to try and rescue Amara. From nowhere, Sam appears wearing a white suit.

Beside him appears Dean, dressed in old fashioned ’20s apparel. They reveal that they are the Sam and Dean that said yes to Michael and Lucifer. Only they agreed it was pointless to fight and have been searching for God ever since. This universe is the closest they’ve ever gotten. They know this is their dad’s favorite.

The battle is massively one-sided, Rowena falls during it but Dean is able to get the box that Chuck had left for Amara to her. When Amara opens it, she is sucked inside, away from the archangels.

Michael and Lucifer remark that without the Darkness to play with, they’ll just have to focus on Sam and Dean here. The episode closes with our boys standing very alone, facing two archangels.