MarinaWalsh @MarinaTWalsh Feb 15
Just bought PopStar! magazine for my daughter because it’s got a special on Tom Holland, but imagine my surprise at finding also this special on #Supernatural @jarpad @JensenAckles
#SPN #SPNFamily
❤️?

SupernaturalWiki.com @SuperWiki Feb 6
Sneak peek at an upcoming classic Supernatural motel room courtesy of @jerrywanek !
Wouldn't you love to stay in an SPN motel?! #spn15
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Spoilers from TVLine!

In the Supernatural episode “Last Call,” Sergei mentioned the key to Death’s library was in the bunker. Is the show going to revisit Dean’s death books? Did they change again after Michael was killed? –Adder
With nine episodes left in the farewell run, “I think, certainly, Billie’s library and Billie’s books will play an important part of the season going forward,” showrunner Andrew Dabb teased when we delivered your Q to him. Bonus Scoop!: Dabb confirms that while we will see more of Jake Abel in his dual role as Adam and Michael, “it won’t be for a while.” (And no, he wasn’t referring to the Monday-bound show’s current six-week hiatus.)

What are the odds that we will see Mark Sheppard return to Supernatural as Crowley, to weigh in on his mother being Hell’s new queen? –Dina
“Well, Crowley is kind of technically trapped in The Empty right now,” EP Dabb reminds. “As we know, The Empty is a character for us, someone with an agenda. So I would say there’d have to be a really good reason for The Empty to let Crowley wake up — and I don’t know that reason has been presented quite yet.”

Jim Beaver @jumblejim 9:44 AM · Feb 21, 2020
Looks like I'll be heading to see my boys in Vancouver soon. But I've got a great stop to make before I get there.
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Rob Hayter. Stunt Coordinator. Action Design. 2020

If UR a fan of @cw_spn @LuciferNetflix or @SanctuarySeries, you may seem some familiar faces here. Thanks & respect to the stunt professionals who are featured in this video, and to
@JensenAckles @tomellis17 @LesleyAnnBrandt @CHeyerdahl


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Nick Vaught@vaught88 Feb 25
No #supernatural employees were harmed in the taking of this photo. #spnfamily
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jaredpadalecki
For 5 years, I drove by this wall on my way to film #gilmoregirls ... I looked up at the Friends cast and the West Wing cast and the ER cast... now there are young actors and actresses who get to look up at @alexandercalvert @misha @jensenackles and me.... poor souls ?‍♂️ #supernatural #spnfamily

Misha Collins @mishacollins Feb 22
After 15 short years, we made it on the front gate mural at @warnerbros studios along with a few other new TV shows like “Friends,” Ellen,” and “Night Court”.
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'Supernatural' EP Teases a 'Complete & Satisfying Journey' With the Winchesters from TV Insider
Ileane Rudolph February 26, 2020

The brothers' plan to take the power back from the Deity (Rob Benedict), aka Chuck, gets a boost when half-angel Jack (Alexander Calvert) returns from Death's territory saying he "might have a way to kill God," Dabb says. "That gives them hope — a light at the end of the tunnel. Even in the face of doom, Sam and Dean keep fighting. That's what makes them heroes. It's the theme for the back half of the season."

Though the ultimate battle dominates, look for some fun stand-alone episodes, including one delving into the history of the Men of Letters and their iconic bunker. "We'll finally get an explanation about the vintage telescope!" Dabb promises.

Plus: A Castiel-centric episode shows us the world through the angel's (Misha Collins) eyes, and young Sam (Christian Michael Cooper) and Dean (Paxton Singleton) return at a "formative moment in their evolution," Dabb says. Lots more fan favorites, including Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes) and her wayward sisterhood of hunters, pop up too.

Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins are back on set for the final 60 days of filming.
As for how it all ends, Dabb offers one hope: "That the fans come away from the finale feeling like they've had a full, complete and satisfying journey with these characters."

#Supernatural is on the cover of the March 2-15 issue of @TVGuideMagazine !
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Jim Michaels @TheJimMichaels Feb 27
Interesting timing or weird coincidence? #Supernatural wrapping up their production after 15 years about the same time General Motors ending their manufacture of Impalas!
@TheRealSPNBaby1 @cw_spn #SPNFamily



Chevrolet Impala's last run: Production ends, but spirit likely to live on from The Detroit News
Kalea Hall Feb 28, 2020

Detroit — Jeff Tucker had found the car he'd been searching for, the exact model he had when he was 17: a 1966 Chevrolet Impala SS convertible in Marina Blue.

It took him years to track down and eight hours to drive from Buffalo to Montreal to see it, but once he did, he knew it was his. That first night he took it out for a cruise in 2009, it was like reliving his past.

More: Final Chevy Impala comes off the line at Detroit-Hamtramck plant

"So many years later, and it was still turning heads," the now 58-year-old said. "It took me right back there."

Production of the Chevrolet Impala will cease Thursday after six decades, making the Impala yet another Detroit sedan to be laid to rest as buyers switch to crossovers, SUVs and pickups.

Ferras Sabo, 39, of Sterling Heights shows off his customized 1962 Chevrolet Impala lowrider. The trunk is packed with hydraulic pumps that can raise any of the four corners independently and even cause the car to hop.
Kalea Hall, The Detroit News

Introduced in 1958 and produced continuously except for gaps in the 1980s and 1990s, the final Impala will roll down the line at Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly. Seen by many as emblematic of the all-American car, more than 16.8 million have been sold globally (not including the 1994-96 Impala SS, which was counted as a Chevy Caprice).

Impala enthusiasts around the country are sad to see the nameplate hit its expiration date and cherish even more the Impalas they have found and made their own.

"I think I'll probably have one until the day I die," said Ferras Sabo, his heavily customized lowrider 1962 Impala resplendent in Viper Red in his Sterling Heights driveway.

He could talk for days about his first love. The 39-year-old remembers his neighbor telling him to come outside when was 12 to show him a 1964 Impala he had just purchased.

It was the shape of the car, its body lines, its design that hooked him.

"I was in love," he said. "That was it. There was nothing else that meant anything to me."

Sabo is a 16-year member of the Majestics lowrider car club from Detroit's west side. True to the style that grew out of the Mexican-American lowrider culture of 1960s Los Angeles, the Impala that Sabo purchased in 2002 has been lowered so it hugs the pavement. Tiny 13-inch rims bring it even closer to the ground, and the rear wheels are hidden behind fender wells that create an unbroken line across the bottom of the car.


The recognizable back end and taillights of Ferras Sabo's 1962 Chevrolet Impala low rider.
Kalea Hall, The Detroit News


Early Impalas like Sabo's have an X-frame that makes it ideal for lowering and fitting with hydraulic pumps that allow the body to be lowered or raised with the flip of a switch.

Four pumps and the massive batteries that power them take up the entire trunk of Sabo's Impala. They allow any of the four corners of the car to be jacked up independently. And worked in the proper sequence, they can make it jump. At its apex, the tires have bounced 62 inches off the ground.

It took four years to get the car the way he wanted it.

"This was my art," he said. "This was my canvas, and I painted it. This is mine now."

End of the line

General Motors placed the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant on a closure list in November 2018. The Lordstown Assembly complex in Ohio was also on the list. Both plants produced cars that were being chopped from GM's lineup: the Impala and Cadillac CT6 at Detroit-Hamtramck and the Chevrolet Cruze at Lordstown.

The Impala's U.S. sales had dropped 25.5% to 56,556 the year of the announcement. In 2019, they fell to 44,978.

"Just as the Impala evolved over the years, the market has shifted dramatically and demand for sedans has declined and we adjusted to meet customer needs," said Steve Majoros, vice president of Chevrolet marketing.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles was the first to start cutting sedans from its lineup by ending production of its Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart. Likewise, Ford Motor Co. has discontinued the Taurus, Fiesta, C-Max and Focus; the final Fusion will be built later this year.

"The popularity of crossovers and SUVs have taken a severe bite out of the sedan market," said Matt DeLorenzo, senior managing editor for Kelley Blue Book, an auto information resource. "There is some demand, but not the demand there was years ago."

American as apple pie

The Impala first hit sales floors in 1958 as a high-end Chevrolet Bel Air full-size sedan fit for a family.

From the late 1950s through the 1960s, the Impala struck a chord with buyers. In 1959, GM sold more than 440,000; by 1965 it sold more than 1 million.

"They were affordable and so many people had the opportunity to experience them that they really became very much a part of the American landscape," said Don Keefe, president of the National Impala Association, which holds an annual rally for Impala enthusiasts. "They were great cars and they looked good."

1958 Chevrolet Bel Air Impala Convertible
General Motors

The Impala was in "a class of its own," Chevrolet proclaimed in a 1964 commercial filmed with the car perched on top of the towering 400-foot Castle Rock in Utah. As a camera pans around the car with a female model draped over the seatbacks, the voice-over continues: "No other automobile offers so much of what so many people desire. With styling that brings you back to look and look again, Chevrolet stands alone. Alone in pure dedication to beauty and relaxation."

Chevrolet urged drivers to "See the USA in your Chevrolet" and equated "Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet" in a series of commercials from the 1950s through the 1970s.

And no car captured the spirit of the times like the Impala.

"It was a uniting thing," Keefe said. "I think the Chevy Impala is the embodiment of that American spirit. Everyone has a story about one. Everyone grew up in the back seat of one."

'Just perfect'

GM discontinued the Impala in 1985 and then brought it back in 1994 as the Impala SS performance car.

The mid-1990s model was really born as just a show car, Keefe said, but then GM realized how popular the vehicle was.

"They were fantastic and people were trying to put down deposits on the show car," he said. "They knew they had a winner on their hands."

Members of the Michigan Impala SS Legends Club take their Impalas on the road and to drag races through Impala SS Clubs of America.

(From left) Hunter Gersch, her father Daniel Gersch, Glenn Waineo, and Mitchell Bergslien, stand in front of examples of the 1996 Chevy Impala SS.
David Guralnick, The Detroit News

Mitchell Bergslien, 25, of Clawson recently raced his dark-cherry metallic 1996 Impala SS for the first time.

"It's fun," he said. "It lets you legally push the car to its limits and have fun doing it."

Bergslien got his first taste of the Impala at a car show with his dad when he was a 12 and liked it immediately. Why? "Because it's a big old boat, four-door sedan, V-8 with rear-wheel drive. You can haul whatever you want and you can go fast doing it."

Dan Gersch stands next to his 1996 Chevy Impala SS, in Detroit, February 24, 2020. The last Impala will roll off the line at the Detroit Hamtramck Assembly plant on February 28.
David Guralnick, The Detroit News

Dan Gersch, 42, of St. Clair Shores has passed on his love for the 1996 Impala SS to his 23-year-old daughter, Hunter. Dan fell for the Impala after helping his dad restore one back in the 1990s.

"It was just perfect to me," he said.

It was the horsepower and the solid, full-frame design that got him. It's "pretty much an army tank." he said. "It's a solid heavy-duty car, and I can put all three of my kids in the back seat and race with it."

Return appearance?

With the recent news of the Hummer's comeback as an electric vehicle and Ford's electric Mustang Mach-E SUV, an encore of the Impala name is not out of the question, said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights Edmunds Inc., an auto information website.

"I think anything is really possible at this point," said Caldwell, noting that Chevrolet could capitalize on the name-recognition of the Impala.

Kelley Blue Book's DeLorenzo agreed: "There’s such a rich history with car names. The Impala name will always be an asset, and you never know."

Some Impala owners hope that one day GM will bring back the Impala — and maybe even pay homage to one of its past renditions, especially an SS performance version.

"That's what I would like to see them do: make a race version rear-wheel-drive Impala 10 years from now," said Gersch, the owner of the 1996 SS.

Back in Buffalo, Jeff Tucker is hoping for a retro 1960s Impala comeback like the one he fell for when he was a teenager.

"It was such a good model for them for so many years, it wouldn’t be surprising," he said. "The Impalas are about as American as apple pie. It’s been around forever."

Supernatural Stars Reveal Top 3 Favorite Moments Ever

TV Guide @TVGuide Mar 2
Rolling on the floor laughing
@JensenAckles and @jarpad legit act like brothers at this point Red heart

Watch the @cw_spn stars relive their favorite #Supernatural moments: http://bit.ly/2I9erye

Video
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Fangasm @FangasmSPN Mar 8
@mishacollins : there are already tears on set and I think there will be alot of tears when you see the end. It's both sad and redemptive I think. #spnlv
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Family Business: Supernatural from American Cinematographer
March 08, 2020 David E. Williams

AC Magazine @AmericanCine 18h
After 15 seasons, the @TheCW genre show #Supernatural (@cw_spn ) is headed to its series finale on May 18. Join us with cinematographer @SergeLadouceur , CSC as we discuss his end-to-end creative run over shooting 320 episodes: http://bit.ly/ACSupernatural
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Nightsky reporting in from SPNLasVegas!

Facts: Both Misha and Jensen said that they had just filmed an extremely emotional scene on Friday night before getting on the plane from Las Vegas to Vancouver. Misha said he was emotionally wrecked from the scene. Jensen later confirmed that it was a very intense scene. They are filming episode 18. It was a night scene because they filmed until 4am. Present in the scene were Castiel, Dean and Jack, because those were the three actors on the plane. Richard was directing (he was the 4th person on the plane). Specifically, Jared / Sam was not in the scene. So there is an emotionally intense scene in ep 18 that involves Dean, Cas and Jack.
Fact: Jensen said that the 3 last episodes are all emotionally draining (I think he said this in the Gold panel but it may have been the main panel).

---

Speculation: Castiel dies in ep 18. He is later in the last episode in his true angel form, but is forevermore separated from Sam and Dean. This is purely my guess but Misha was devastated by whatever happened in that last scene.

Legends of Tomorrow boss explains how the team meets Supernatural's Baby from EW
By Chancellor Agard March 11, 2020

One of the showrunners of DC's Legends of Tomorrow has shed some light on that surprising quasi-crossover with Supernatural.

On Wednesday, the CW released new photos from Legends' March 24 episode, "Zari, Not Zari," which show Constantine (Matt Ryan), Charlie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), and Sara (Caity Lotz) rifling through the trunk of a 1967 Chevrolet Impala. But, as the spray-painted demon trap indicates, this isn't just any Impala. It's supposed to be the one Sam and Dean Winchester drive on the CW's Supernatural, a.k.a. Dean's beloved Baby. Not only that, but another image features Sara holding a filming-in-progress sign for Supernatural — which raised even more questions.

Needing answers, EW reached out Legends of Tomorrow co-showrunner Phil Klemmer, who confirmed that is definitely Baby, the car from Supernatural, but it's not the one the long-running CW drama actually uses on set.

"From what I understand, the car wasn't the one from the show, but from a super-fan who created his own Baby," Klemmer told EW over email. "You gotta love super-fans. Can't wait until the first builds their own Waverider."

Baby's guest spot has to do with the episode's plot, which involves Constantine, Charlie, and Sara traveling to British Columbia — where both shows film — in search of season 5's MacGuffin, the Loom of Fate.

"From the beginning, we knew that we wanted to set an episode in modern-day Vancouver, because directly following the crossover that was all we could afford… I’m kidding, sorta, not really. Anyway, we wanted to do a spooky, Predator-style skulk-around-the-woods episode and at the 11th hour decided to have the Legends intersect with the crew of Supernatural. This was the inspired choice of our producing director Kevin Mock, I believe," Klemmer said. "In our world Supernatural is a TV show, not a real thing. Sorry, Supernatural fans."

That said, you can expect another Easter egg in the episode. "The [Supernatural] producers were incredibly gracious and enthusiastic about this tip of the hat, however. They even let us borrow some of their musical score — listen closely!" said Klemmer, before adding that "Sam and Dean did not make the final cut, unfortunately. Or rather they were busy working on their own show."

With or without Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles), this setup is still classic Legends. The delightfully eccentric superhero drama loves a good meta-joke, whether that's a character saying, "We dare to defy," a reference to the network's slogan, or poking fun at the annual Arrowverse crossover. For example, Nate (Nick Zano) said "hard pass" to the "Elseworlds" event, which didn't include Legends, when Supergirl, Green Arrow, and the Flash called for their help last year. More recently, in the season 5 premiere, Nate deadpanned to the camera, "This is why you don't do the crossover," upon learning about Oliver Queen's tragic death in "Crisis on Infinite Earths," which most of the team didn't even participate in because Sara promised them they wouldn't have to do another crossover. In other words, Legends revels in lovingly taking the occasional piss out of its network siblings.

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'Supernatural' Sets Jake Abel's Final Season Return from TV Insider
Meredith Jacobs March 11, 2020

Almost a decade separated Jake Abel's last two appearances on Supernatural, but it looks like fans won't have to wait nearly as long this time to see him again.

TV Insider has learned exclusively that Abel is returning as Michael in the last batch of episodes as the CW drama wraps up its 15-season run.

We last saw Abel as the archangel and Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean's (Jensen Ackles) half-brother Adam in the Season 15 fall finale, as Castiel (Misha Collins) showed him exactly what God (Rob Benedict) has been up to. God remains a major thorn in their sides.

Exec producer Andrew Dabb also previews Castiel-centric and young Sam and Dean episodes ahead of the series finale.
"I would be surprised if this was the last we time see Adam and Michael," Abel said at the time. "I know when I was on set, Jared and Jensen had asked me as well if I was going to be back, and I said, 'I don't know,' and they replied, 'Well, we'd be surprised if you wouldn't because you're setting up everything.'"

For the actor, the end of the fall finale "felt so incomplete." "If there's one thing we know about Supernatural, it's life tends to intervene in characters' lives, even if they want to get away from something," he continued. "You might be done with the past, but the past is not done with you. While I don't know where they go, I have a distinct feeling that something will intervene in their plan and bring them back into the fold."

And in Abel's mind, that could very well include a Michael-God confrontation. "He's pretty smart, he's an angel, he's been around for millennia. I can't believe he wouldn't have some idea, a plan in his mind, to make things right," he explained. "There's this big theme of atonement and dealing with your past and the sins of the father in the show that can't be avoided. The boys have it. Adam has it. Michael has it. It's going to meet at some point and I hope it's explosive, whatever it is."

"My hope is they're keeping something really special towards the end," he added, and it turns out he was right.

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SupernaturalWiki.com @SuperWiki 10:06 PM · Mar 13, 2020
Supernatural has stopped filming til further notice .
Via @brieland_black on IG
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MARCH 13, 2020

‘Supernatural’ Production Suspended In Vancouver Until Further Notice from nerdsandbeyond
BY JULIA

As film and TV productions worldwide have begun to shut down as a result of Coronavirus, Supernatural has suspended production until further notice. The Hollywood Reporter reported that Warner Bros. had shut down production on some of its 70 shows in production, but did not name Supernatural as one. However, crew members tied to Supernatural confirmed the suspension on social media.

With just two episodes left to film before the show ends production, it remains to be seen how this will affect the airing schedule of the show. Supernatural joins fellow Vancouver productions like The Flash and Riverdale in suspending production. A statement released by Warner Brothers stated:

“With the rapidly changing events related to COVID-19, and out of an abundance of caution, Warner Bros. Television Group is halting production on some of our 70+ series and pilots currently filming or about to begin. There have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on any of our productions, but the health and safety of our employees, casts and crews remains our top priority. During this time, we will continue to follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control as well as local officials and public health professionals in each city where our productions are based.”

Supernatural is currently filming its 15th and final season. We will be sure to update you with more information as it becomes available.

Lately, it's getting to feel like certain elements from the show are coming to life...got a phantom traveler demon on the plane last week and the croatoan 2.0 this week...

24 Hours With Jared Padalecki Of Supernatural

After 15 seasons on The CW's hit drama series Supernatural, actor, dad, and mental health advocate Jared Padalecki is gearing up for his final round of ghost chasing, demon summoning, and primetime hell-raising. Here's a typical day.
Watch Supernatural Mondays at 8/7c on The CW. Stream new episodes free Tuesdays only on The CW.

By David Hochman

5:30 A.M.

I wake up two and a half hours before I get picked up for work. I shower, maybe change out the laundry I didn't do the night before, have coffee, and usually take an Advil because fighting devils gets harder as you get older.

6:00 A.M.

From my years on Gilmore Girls, I learned that I'm better at memorizing dialogue when I'm doing something else. So I spend a half-hour on the treadmill reading my lines for the day. I don't know why, but the words stick more easily if I'm moving.

7:30 A.M.

We shoot Supernatural in Vancouver, but my family [including wife-actress Genevieve Cortese; sons Thomas, 7, and Shepherd, 5; and daughter Odette, 2 ] is in Austin, Texas, which makes it hard to connect in the morning because they're two hours ahead. I'm waking up and the kids are already leaving for school, outside chasing lizards, or whatever. But we try to at least say good morning.

7:45 A.M.

Leaving for work, looking at headlines on CNN, listening to Howard Stern.

8:17 A.M.

I'll drop my backpack in my trailer, take some vitamins, and go through what we call "The works"--hair, makeup, special effects makeup if we need it. I'm still in my personal clothes because God forbid something smudges my work outfit! Season 1, it took about five minutes to do makeup. As years went by, it would be 10. Then 15. You can probably figure out why.

9:00 A.M.

Craft services makes you anything you want for breakfast: pancakes, eggs, etc. I generally have a breakfast burrito, a bowl of berries, and coffee.

Photo Credit: Diyah Pera/The CW.

9:30 A.M.

We're called to the set to block out the scenes unless we're shooting in the show's iconic Impala that day. In that case, [co-star] Jensen Ackles gets behind the wheel and I'll get in the passenger seat, and we'll just start cracking jokes.

10:51 A.M.

This is a physical show. I've gotten pounded, bruised, and scraped over the years, and it's almost always my fault. If there's a scene where a guy's throwing a bar stool, and they tell you to go down on the ground a certain way, you do it. One time I did it wrong and ended up breaking part of my wrist.

NOON

Three hours after crew call, it's sandwich time. It'd be nice to say I have a healthy salad instead, but it's usually a big ol' sandwich and potato chips.

1:00 P.M.

I love bringing my family to set when they're in town, but we're also a happy show family. Jensen, Misha [Collins], Alex [Calvert], and I are like a bunch of kids. We tease each other pretty hardcore. Go look at the gag reels on YouTube to see what I mean. Nobody's trying to sabotage anyone. We're just keeping morale up on set.

2:00 P.M.

My wife, Genevieve, and I met on set in 2009. She played a demon. It was love at first sight. So much has happened with this crew over time: We've seen births and deaths, marriages and divorces, and a lot of babies. It's really hitting me in this final season that we've grown up together. We're like childhood friends.

3:00 P.M.

If I get a break, I sometimes go for a run. A bunch of us from the show had the harebrained idea to run a marathon together last year, and we ended up doing it for a charity called Endure 4 Kindness that feeds children around the world. We raised over $200,000. Then I got invited to do the Boston Marathon with my wife. She demolished me, but it didn't matter. We raised $30,000 for Dream Big!, which supports girls in sports.

4:05 P.M.

I FaceTime with my kids. We used to read together, but now I'd rather just hear about their days. Tom's into basketball, biking, and swimming. We have a bunch of animals--dogs and chickens--that Shepherd keeps me updated on. Odette's still too young to express herself that well, but she's good at giving daddy the stink eye.

Jared Padalecki and co-star Jensen Ackles on the set of Supernatural.
Photo Credit: Katie Yu/The CW.

4:30 P.M.

Fans of this show are incredible. My office is full of letters that mean so much to me. People are so supportive of Always Keep Fighting. [Padalecki launched the mental illness awareness campaign in 2015, after opening up about his own struggle with depression.] Fans will thank me, but I'll say, "Don't thank me. We're all going through this together." No matter who you are, how much you make, where you live--dealing with issues like depression, that's universal. We're all struggling.

6:38 P.M.

We shoot a 12-hour day, but you never know which 12 hours. A lot of it is overnight. What we call "lunch" happens six hours after crew call. So lunch sometimes happens at lunchtime, but often times it's dinner or it could be a midnight snack.

8:30 P.M.

One thing I look forward to when the show ends is having more time to pursue my passions. I used to do jiujitsu, but you don't want to get injured on a Friday and show up to work on a Monday not being able to walk. My wife and I opened a couple of bars in Austin, and sometimes I'll bartend. I love to travel and read and be with my family without having to fly off somewhere. So I'm sort of excited about having time to devote to regular life.

11:00 P.M.

At the end of a long day, I'll usually give thanks. Playing Sam Winchester for 15 years, he's more than a character to me. He's actually shaped who I am, how I want to behave, what I strive for, how I can help people. I don't feel like I'm saying goodbye to him. He'll always be part of who I've become, and I'm grateful for that.

Originally published in Watch Magazine, November-December 2019.

Andrew Dabb @andrewdabb Mar 23, 2020

Tonight on #Supernatural

The phone rings in the middle of the night
My father yells, "What you gonna do with your life?"
Oh daddy dear, you know you're still number one...

@andrewdabb
(Due to the shutdown, this will be our last episode for awhile. Stay well, stay safe, and we'll see you on the other side.)

@andrewdabb
(Clarification: We have filmed through episode 18, however our visual effects and sound departments have closed because of the outbreak. So, right now, the episodes can't be finished. However, have some special treats coming along the way-- to help us all get through this.)

@andrewdabb
(And yes, we, the CW, and Warner Bros fully intend to return and finish the series. It's not a matter of "if", it's a matter of "when."
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Tongue Tied

Supernatural stars reflect on the show's undying legacy from EW!
Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins discuss 15 years of fantasy, family, and flannel.
By Samantha Highfill April 13, 2020

"We only get one shot at this." Sam and Dean Winchester are surrounded. The monster-hunting brothers are standing on the edge of a cliff. They look to Castiel, their brother in arms — or is it wings? — but even he can’t help. One move in the wrong direction could ruin everything. After years of fighting demons, going toe-to- toe with Satan himself, and saving the world multiple times, they once again find themselves in a position of having to perform under pressure. But this situation is unlike anything they’ve ever dealt with before. All eyes are on them as they have one shot…at getting the perfect picture.

It’s a dry, hot August day in Malibu — when people were still allowed to gather outside — as Supernatural stars Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins prepare for the last setup of their final Entertainment Weekly cover shoot. With a bottle of champagne in each of their hands, Ackles once again reminds them they get “one shot” to do this right. But if their characters can shoulder the weight of the world, surely these three can handle a photo.

The champagne soaking is meant to be a celebration of 15 years, of making television history. Supernatural, the story of two brothers destined to save the world, is the longest-running genre show in the history of American broadcast television. (So old, the first three seasons shot on this thing called film.) What started as an underdog story, living its first few years on the verge of cancellation, has become an institution, a milestone to which other shows aspire. Supernatural not only survived the move from The WB to The CW after its first season — it’s now the final WB show left standing — but became the backbone of the now highly successful CW network. Over the years, the sci-fi series has aired on every weeknight, helping to launch shows including Arrow and The Vampire Diaries. The network moved it one final time, most recently, to Mondays, to help Roswell, New Mexico expand its audience. “Supernatural is a major link to many of the shows that we have successfully built to market,” The CW’s chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz says. “Almost every one of our shows has had it as a lead-out or a lead-in.”

And to think, it all started as a promise to bring horror to television. After Supernatural creator Eric Kripke had finished working with Warner Bros. on 2003’s Tarzan series, he pitched the idea of a reporter who travels around hunting urban legends. As he puts it, it was a Kolchak: The Night Stalker rip-off. But when he realized the story would benefit from having brothers at its core, he started writing. “At the time, The Ring and The Grudge were huge hits in theaters,” Kripke remembers. “We said, ‘We’re going to take that experience and we’re going to put it on TV,’ and the initial goal was to be scary.” After Warner Bros. passed on his first, what he calls “uptight,” draft, Kripke had to reassess the kind of show he was creating. “I canceled all my Christmas plans and wrote that second draft in three weeks,” he says. “That was when the show got its sense of humor, because I was locked alone, over winter break, in my office. I couldn’t do anything fun, so I started entertaining myself.”

The show was still scary, but it was also funny and, over the years, would continue to evolve. Sure, you could say it’s a little bit X-Files — in its early days, the show often used the line “The X-Files meets Route 66” — and there were definite Star Wars influences (Sam and Dean were originally based on Luke Skywalker and Han Solo). But no combination of pop culture is going to perfectly describe Supernatural because the show has managed to do something remarkably rare in the age of peak TV, where audiences are so overwhelmed with content that an original idea seems foreign: It’s created a truly one-of- a-kind experience.

For starters, it’s a show about two flannel-wearing, beer-loving, blue-collar dudes from Kansas who for a good chunk of their lives traveled from cheap motel to cheap motel, paying for gas and greasy diner food with a mix of fake credit cards and money they earned scamming people at the pool table. “Almost all television is about rich people or, at the very least, middle-class people,” co-showrunner Andrew Dabb says. “The fact that we’ve been able to take this Midwestern blue-collar approach to this genre feels like we’re breaking the mold.”

But the mold-breaking didn’t stop there. Supernatural might’ve started out as a horror show with some snarky one-liners, but it evolved into some of the boldest, most experimental (and certainly strangest) stories on the small screen. “We’re a show of big swings,” co-showrunner Robert Singer says. “I used to say, with every idea, ‘This will be a home run or they’ll cancel us,’ but every year we wanted to do something really nuts." And when he says nuts, we’re not just talking about the episode with the talking teddy bear or the murderer targeting imaginary friends. Those are just some standard monsters of the week. We’re talking about the black-and-white episode shot like a classic Hollywood monster movie, or the episode that introduced Chuck (Rob Benedict), a prophet — who’d later reveal himself to be God — who was famous for writing a book series called Supernatural. That, of course, led to Sam and Dean attending a Supernatural fan convention as the show continued to redefine what it meant to inject a series with meta humor. And the swings never stopped. Season 13 featured a Scooby-Doo crossover as an animated Sam, Dean, and Castiel solved a case alongside the Mystery Inc. gang. And in season 14, after giving God a sister a few years prior, the show made the Big Man Himself its final villain. “I don’t think any idea, barring some production concerns, has been viewed as too crazy,” Dabb says. “Because we know that our fans are smart and that they’ll follow these guys anywhere.”

So long as each episode features Sam and Dean — and the occasional heartfelt talk on the hood of the Impala — the show can do just about anything, which is another reason Kripke had to rewrite his first draft of the pilot. Originally, Dean was the only brother who knew about monsters growing up, bringing Sam up to speed later in life. It wasn’t until Kripke figured out that they needed to be in this together that the series snapped into place. Because at the end of it all, they’re two brothers bonded by the loss of their mother and a life spent on the road with an absentee father. (It just so happens that their mother was killed by a demon and their father hunted them.) The familial dynamic — the irrational codependency, as the angel Zachariah (Kurt Fuller) once called it — is the most important part of the show. “The first inkling I had that we had something special was shooting the pilot,” Kripke says. “It was the scene on the bridge when Sam and Dean talk about their mother. It was the first time that you really saw their chemistry and their connection as brothers on full display. Because I’ve always said this show begins and ends with whether you believe that sibling relationship.” But Sam and Dean weren’t just the center of the show. For many years, they were the show.

Supernatural has never been an ensemble drama. For the first 82 hours of the series, Ackles and Padalecki were the only long-running series regulars — Katie Cassidy and Lauren Cohan briefly joined for season 3, appearing in 12 episodes combined. But Sam and Dean weren’t just in every episode; they anchored every episode. (They skipped table reads because there would’ve been only two actors there.) “I had many moments of not only questioning, ‘Can I keep this up?’ but an answer of ‘I cannot keep this up,’ ” Padalecki, 37, who’s been vocal about his struggle in the early seasons, says. “I borrowed strength from Jensen.” But even Ackles, 42, admits it was a tough job. “The 23-episode seasons were nine and a half months of filming,” he adds. “It was a lot of work, but I always came back to: I still enjoy it, I still like telling the story, I still like these characters and the people I work with.”

Not only did the guys stick around, they built a reputation of having created one of the warmest sets in the business, with a number of crew members staying with the production all 15 seasons. It all dates back to a talk Kripke had with his stars during the filming of the series’ second episode. “I said, ‘The show is about your two characters, and with that comes this responsibility,’ ” Kripke says. Padalecki remembers the exact setting of what he calls their “Good Will Hunting moment,” a bench in Stanley Park in Vancouver, where they film. It was a chat both actors took to heart. “We’d both been on other sets,” Ackles says. “We knew we wanted to enjoy it, to have fun with our crew; we wanted them to like us and us to like them and to have fun doing what we do.” It’s an attitude Pedowitz hopes bleeds into other CW shows, an attitude that launched an annual tradition where the CW chairman/CEO takes his new casts out to dinner with the Supernatural guys, a chance for the vets to share advice. “It’s always the most flattering situation,” Padalecki says, recalling a moment he had a few years back with the late Luke Perry, who was a part of the Riverdale cast. “Luke was sitting next to me and he was like, ‘What y’all have done and what we hear about you guys, it’s really cool to be associated with y’all in some way, shape, or form,’” he recalls. “And I’m sitting there pinching myself.”

It’s a behind-the-scenes legacy that’s perhaps just as impressive, if not more so, than the onscreen legacy. Collins, 45, who started as a guest star and the show’s first angel in season 4, has become the show’s third-longest-running series regular, and he still remembers walking onto set his first day. “When you’re coming onto a show as a guest star, it can be a little bit nerve-racking,” Collins says. “Coming to this set, it was an immediately different vibe. Think- ing about working on other shows in the future, that’s something that I aspire to bring with me.”

A similar reputation extends to the fans as well. Not only is the #SPNFamily one of the most dedicated fandoms out there, it’s also known to be a pretty nice one. (Not many fandoms can say they’ve helped launch a crisis support network for their fellow fans.) But their dedication isn’t just about seeing what crazy twist God throws at Team Free Will next. Thanks to fan conventions and social media, the viewers are just as invested in the lives of the actors. Supernatural’s not just about the words on the page, it’s about the actors saying them. “When you’re dealing with the public taste, there’s an alchemy of great writing, a great idea, and the close-up that’s required,” Peter Roth, chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group, says. “You need stars who you want in your living room.” And you need stars who want to be in your living room, and who, even after 15 years, care so deeply that they get emotional while taking photos in Malibu.

"It's going to be a long eight months," Ackles declares. Standing on that same ledge, an hour before the champagne shot, Ackles, Padalecki, and Collins walk away from a group hug after unexpectedly starting to tear up. It might be the setting — looking out over the ocean — or the occasion: their last-ever photo shoot. Or maybe it’s the fact that they’re almost a month into filming their final season.

It had been a question posed to the stars for years: How long will this show continue? How long can it continue? “Even my mom and dad were like, ‘When are you going to be done with this?’” Ackles says with a laugh. It was a decision the network and studio had ultimately put into the actors’ hands, and it was a conversation they’d been having for a while. Back in 2016, Padalecki told EW, “If we don’t make it to [episode] 300, I think Ackles and I will both be truly bummed.” But in season 14, they hit 300…and then kept going. While filming episode 307, they announced the upcoming 15th season would be the end, which will bring them to a total of 327 episodes when all is said and done. “[Jared] and I were always married to the fact that we never wanted to go out with a diet version of what we had,” Ackles says. “We wanted to have enough gas left in the tank to get us racing across the finish line. We didn’t want to limp across.” Padalecki remembers the moment it hit him — not the decision to end it, but rather the opposite. “We had that moment where he and I both realized that we didn’t want it to end,” he says. “It finally got to a point, ironically, where it was like, ‘I never want to leave this. I could do this until the day I die, and then if I get the choice when I’m dead, I’ll re-up!’ But you never want to be the last person at a party. We just knew. That’s not to say there haven’t been vacillations, but we all trust the decision that was made.”

Starting in July 2019, the cast and crew returned to Vancouver to begin filming the final season, but in March 2020, with two episodes left to go, they were sent home. For years, fans had wondered what, if anything, could stop the Winchesters, and now it seems we have the answer: a global pandemic. As sets closed amid social-distancing measures due to the spread of COVID-19, it didn’t take long for fans to start connecting the dots, sharing relevant GIFs from episodes that featured viruses, most notably Chuck telling Dean to hoard toilet paper “like it’s made of gold” before the end of the world in season 5’s “The End.” (Did we mention that Supernatural is also kind of psychic? In a season 6 episode, Dean calls Sam “Walker, Texas Ranger,” which just so happens to be the role Padalecki has lined up after this ends.)

When production paused, it all felt a little like we were living in an episode of the show, just waiting for Sam and Dean to drive up in Baby, open those creaky doors, and save us. They might not be able to do quite that, but the thing with the Winchesters is that they never stay down for long. When Supernatural is able to safely resume production, it will. And though there are only two episodes left to film, fans will enjoy a total of seven unseen hours, including the return of Charlie (Felicia Day) and a mystery woman who visits the bunker and, for some reason, gives Sam and Dean all the holidays they never got to celebrate. “She makes Christmas for them and Thanksgiving, birthday parties, and all that. It’s a very good episode,” Singer says, adding, “I don’t know when it’s going to air.”

That’s the thing—no one knows, not even the guys who took out Yellow Eyes, stopped Leviathans, defeated Death himself, and are supposedly destined to be the messengers of God’s destruction. But Sam and Dean do know the value of a good plan B. “Obviously it’s a horribly unfortunate situation we’re in, but the silver lining is that it gives us an opportunity to recharge,” Ackles says. “We had just finished episode 18, we shot one day of episode 19, and I was reading these two monster scripts thinking, ‘It’s like we’re at the end of a marathon and they want us to sprint for the last two miles.’ I feel like this almost gives us an opportunity to refocus and go into the last two episodes and hit them with everything we got.” Because when they do return to set, shave their quarantine beards, and step back into Sam and Dean’s shoes for the last time, they’ll have one shot at ending this thing…and they’re determined not to miss.

The holidays (and Charlie!) visit Sam and Dean in exclusive Supernatural photos from EW!
By Samantha Highfill April 15, 2020

A first look of Supernatural's final episodes.
Although Supernatural’s return date is unknown, when it does come back, there will be seven episodes left to air of its final season, and EW has a first look at a couple of the hours.

Charlie's back
Not only will Supernatural’s final run of episodes feature the return of the Apocalypse World’s Charlie (Felicia Day), but co-showrunner Andrew Dabb promises that our world’s Charlie is coming back as well.

A chat with Amara
Earlier this season, Dean posed a question: Will they need to kill Amara if they kill God? It looks like the Winchesters will be talking directly to God's sister when the show returns.

Hit the road, Jack
Jack, whose soul is finally back, is working a case with Castiel (and hopefully isn't about to hold his badge upside-down).

Pass the mashed potatoes
“The episode when we come back is a really fun meta episode that allows you to see basically every holiday you want Sam and Dean to celebrate,” co-showrunner Andrew Dabb says. “Carving jack-o’-lanterns, carving the turkey, birthdays, it’s all there.”

Holiday spirit
Co-showrunner Robert Singer adds, “The boys get a visitor in the bunker who is quite the character. She basically says to them, ‘You’ve been holed up in this bunker, you’ve missed all these holidays.’”

Supernatural stars react to production pause: 'We almost finished 15 seasons' from EW
By Samantha Highfill April 17, 2020

"We almost finished 15 seasons," Supernatural star Misha Collins says. "We made it 325 episodes in, and to be stopped a mere two episodes before the end feels deeply frustrating." Like everyone, Supernatural halted production back in March due to social distancing measures, and though we know the show will complete its 327-episode series as soon as possible, for now, the end of the show is on hold. (When the show does return, there are a total of seven episodes left to air.)

"As soon as March happened, it really starting kicking in," Alexander Calvert says of the emotion surrounding the end. "Everybody started counting the days, counting the number of episodes left. We were kind of in this spiral of sentiment and then this whole thing happened, and I don't know if it's good or bad. Do you rip the Band-Aid off slowly or fast? Now we're being forced to peel it off slowly."

Co-showrunner Robert Singer adds, "Each script we felt a little like, 'Oh boy we're getting closer.' Having this delayed, it's been hard. If we were in season 14, you would say, 'We'll shut down, get through this virus, and pick up next year.' Knowing that this is the end, that makes it a little more difficult. Now, at the end of the day, it's a television show and what we're going through in the world is pretty horrific. But if it was any other season I don't think we'd be feeling quite as stressed about it as we are now."

For star Jared Padalecki, the quarantine has almost felt like a run-through of what's to come when the show does wrap and he no longer sees his Supernatural family every day. "This COVID thing has been a crazy eye opening of what the show has meant and the ultimate finality of it," Padalecki says. "It's kind of like a little dress rehearsal of what I'm going to do [after the show ends]." (Besides star in The CW's Walker, Texas Ranger reboot, of course.)

As frustrating as it is, there could be an upside to the production pause. "One possible unintended benefit of it is that it will draw out the end of the show and we'll be able to savor the end for a little bit longer," Collins says.

Not only will they be able to savor the end, but they'll be rested enough to bring their collective all to it. "Obviously, it’s a horribly unfortunate situation we’re in, but the silver lining is that it gives us an opportunity to recharge," Jensen Ackles says. "We had just finished episode 18, we shot one day of episode 19, and I was reading these two monster scripts thinking, ‘It’s like we’re at the end of a marathon and they want us to sprint for the last two miles.’ I feel like this almost gives us an opportunity to refocus and go into the last two episodes and hit them with everything we got. I think having this break might service the last few episodes better."

And, as Collins puts it, "I have not been hooked up to a ventilator yet, nor have any of my loved ones, so I'm just going to be thankful for that."

Supernatural Slated to Return in Fall With Delayed Final 7 Episodes from TVLine!
By Vlada Gelman / May 14 202

Sam and Dean Winchester’s final curtain call has been scheduled.

In announcing its dramatically altered 2020-21 game plan on Tuesday, The CW confirmed that the delayed final seven episodes of Supernatural will air in fall, ahead of the January 2021 launch of Jared Padalecki‘s Walker, Texas Ranger reboot.

“We already have five episodes in the can of Supernatural,” CW prez Mark Pedowitz told reporters Thursday in a conference call. “Jared and Jensen [Ackles] will go back as soon as they’re able to to finish up the last two episodes, and then [Jared] will go off to work on Walker.”

Regarding a specific timetable re: shooting the final two Supernatural episodes, Pedowitz hedged, “We hope that they will be able to start shooting sometime in late summer or fall. And if not, we will then become flexible and rearrange our scheduling.”

Supernatural‘s farewell run was brought to an early halt in March by the global coronavirus outbreak, with filming completed on 18 of the final 20 episodes at the time. However, the closure of the visual effects and sound departments meant that the already-shot installments could not be finished. As a result, Episode 13 was the last one to air on March 23.

“Everybody wants to end 15 years the right way,” Pedowitz added. “So it is important that these two episodes be done the way that they had hoped to [shoot them]. And we’ll just wait it out. We are very much attached to this.”

Meanwhile, the forthcoming Walker received a straight-to-series order in January, will go into production after Supernatural wraps shooting. The series will then take over Supernatural‘s traditional Thursday-at-8 pm slot in January. In Walker, Padalecki stars as Cordell Walker, “a widower and father of two with his own moral code who returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years, only to discover there’s harder work to be done at home.”

We Are The CW | The CW

Features clips from Supernatural.

Some spoilery character information from TV Insider!

'Supernatural': 5 Characters Returning for the Final 7 Episodes
Meredith Jacobs • June 29, 2020

Adam Milligan/Michael (Jake Abel)
When we last saw them: In the midseason finale, Sam and Dean’s half-brother, who is also the vessel for archangel Michael, briefly reunited with his family and got caught up on God’s recent dealings before leaving.

What we know about their return: Not much. As TV Insider exclusively reported in March, Abel is back in the last batch of episodes. Details of his return have yet to be revealed, but Abel hopes to see a Michael-God confrontation before the series ends.

Apocalypse World Charlie Bradbury (Felicia Day)
When we last saw her: After coming over to our world from the apocalypse one, the doppelgänger of the brothers’ close friend took up hunting. But while working a case with Sam in Season 14’s “Optimism,” she was thinking about leaving that life behind. She’s only been mentioned since (in connection to helping the Winchesters’ financial situation).

What we know about her return: We don’t know anything beyond the fact that she will be showing up, according to Entertainment Weekly. What has she been up to in the time that’s passed? Will she join the fight against God or just be part of a monster-of-the-week hunt?

Our World Charlie Bradbury (Felicia Day)
When we last saw her: The hacker who became a hunter after encountering the Winchesters in Season 7 died three years later, in “Dark Dynasty.” She’d been helping translate the Book of the Damned when Elton Frankenstein found her, and that death remains one of the most painful of the series.

What we know about her return: Again, all we know is that we’ll somehow see her (via EW), which isn’t too surprising. After all, dead characters do tend to show up again and again, and it is quite fitting that the one who was like a sister to the Winchesters appears one more time before it’s all over.

Amara (Emily Swallow)
When we last saw her: Amara, a.k.a. the Darkness and God’s sister, wanted nothing more to do with her brother in Episode 2 of this season, “Raising Hell.” Though Dean was able to help the siblings reconcile in the past, that’s no longer on the agenda.

What we know about her return: EW did share a photo of her meeting with Sam and Dean, but that’s it. However, considering the Winchesters were weighing killing her alongside her brother in the last episode—keeping the Darkness alive would “throw things out of balance”—it’s unlikely to be a cheerful conversation.

As Swallow previously told TV Insider, she thinks that “Amara still wants a connection with Chuck, but she’s just been burned so many times.” And because she’s his sister, she can take him on. But the brothers’ plan may put her and the hunters on opposite sides.

Uriel (Robert Wisdom)
When we last saw him: The angel was killed in Season 4’s “On the Head of a Pin” after the reveal that he was trying to free Lucifer.

What we know about his return: As a photo Collins shared from set reveals, the angels will be together and that filming day also included another “last” that was “too spoilery to post.” It’s unclear if we’ll see the Uriel we knew (perhaps in a flashback?) or an alternate version somehow (though God did eliminate other worlds).

Mark Pedowitz Still Vows to Make Ending of ‘Supernatural’ Special from Nerds and beyond
BY BRIAR JULY 22, 2020

In a recently published podcast with Variety titled “Strictly Business,” the President of The CW, Mark Pedowitz, has vowed to still make Supernatural‘s ending a big one.

Pedowitz discussed many things in the podcast, including the show as well as the production shutdown, which disrupted what was to be the massive ending to the 15-year long franchise.

Speaking of Supernatural specifically, Pedowitz talked about the show having two episodes left to film, around 3 weeks, and that Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles are ready to go. Pedowitz seems optimistic that by the end of August/beginning of September, they’ll be able to complete the final two episodes.

Fans can rest easy that The CW is still wanting to make the end of Supernatural special for everyone. Pedowitz goes on to state, “Take the negative of what happened, turn it into a positive. We have put together a fabulous tribute to 15 years of the series… and it is great. We plan to make an event out of it.” He also says he’s sad to see it go, and that the guys have been great.

You can listen to the entire podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else podcasts are available.

How Are You Today...Supernatural's Jared Padalecki & Jensen Ackles

SupernaturalWiki.com @SuperWiki 7h
Interesting that Jensen described the penultimate episode as the season finale and the last episode as the series finale.

Mild spoilers from TV Guide

Episode 19 feels kind of like the season finale and Episode 20 feels like the series finale. It's kind of a double whammy," Ackles explained. "There have been some adjustments made from the scripts that we were going to shoot in March to the scripts that we're going to shoot now. We've had to accommodate a pandemic.

CW announces Supernatural return in October, series finale set for November EW!
By Samantha Highfill August 17, 2020

It's almost time to say goodbye to Supernatural, for real this time.

On Monday, the CW announced that the series, which was originally supposed to end in May before production was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic, will return for its final seven episodes on Thursday, Oct. 8. That means that the series finale will air on Thursday, Nov. 19. Furthermore, the network revealed that the finale will begin at 9 p.m. following an hour-long "finale special" titled Supernatural: The Long Road Home.

Additionally, the CW announced dates for the season 2 premiere of Pandora, the broadcast debut of Swamp Thing, the season 3 premiere of The Outpost, and more.

Check out the network's full fall schedule below:

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8

8:00-9:00PM SUPERNATURAL (Season Return)

9:00-10:00PM THE OUTPOST (Season Three Premiere)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13

8:00-9:00PM SWAMP THING (Original Episode)

9:00-10:00PM TELL ME A STORY (Season Two Broadcast Premiere)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19

8:00-9:00PM SUPERNATURAL: THE LONG ROAD HOME (Finale Special)

9:00-10:00PM SUPERNATURAL (Series Finale)

Supernatural @cw_spn 12h
Their final journey continues. The final 7 episodes of #Supernatural premieres Thursday, October 8! Stream next day free only on The CW.
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Kevin Parks @SNkevinandjill May 25
Starting to make my 15 seasons on #Supernatural. It is a work in progress.
@SuperWiki @WinchesterBros @WinFamBusiness @cw_spn
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Supernatural Final Season Return Announcement (HD)

Supernatural | Trouble | Season Trailer | The CW

Supernatural Season 15 "Run Baby Run" Trailer (HD)

"Spoilers" from DigitalSpy

Supernatural stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki drop hints about series finale
"It does their journey justice."

BY JOE ANDERTON AND ADAM TANSWELL
05/09/2020

"When I read these last two episodes, it was emotional," Ackles stated. "One is the season-ender and the other one is the series ender. It's emotional.

"I've read 327 episodes of Supernatural and there are very few scripts that I can say have gotten me emotional, and that's just because I'm not reading it from that perspective. I'm reading it more like I'm studying it. I'm thinking, 'Okay, how do I Dean in the performance of this particular scene or this particular emotion or this relationship?'

"I'm looking at it from a very practical standpoint, but with both of these last two scripts, I got highly emotional just reading them. I'm going to have to dig deep when we film the end. I'm going to have to do what Dean does and push all that emotion down."

"It was sad to read the finale script," Padalecki added, "but not because I'm sad by the story as much as it's such a finality on what's been such a huge part of my life. In one way or another, putting these characters to bed and putting Sam to bed is going to be hard.

"I consider Sam Winchester a friend, so the idea that I'm saying goodbye to him in any way, shape or form – whether he is alive or dead or anything in between – is tough.

"But I couldn't be happier with the ending. Ultimately, I feel like it does the characters justice. It does their journey justice. For me, it dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's – but I'm only one person among the fandom."

Article from DigitalSpy

Supernatural star Jensen Ackles reveals incredible prop he will take home from the set
Prepare to be jealous, Supernatural fans.

BY SUSANNAH ALEXANDER AND ADAM TANSWELL
06/09/2020

Supernatural actor Jensen Ackles has revealed that when the long-running fantasy series comes to an end later this year, he'll be taking home an iconic prop from the set.

Ackles, who has played Dean Winchester in the CW show since 2005, told Digital Spy and other media that he has finally been given permission to take possession of something from the show that he's had his eye on for years.

"As far as taking something on the final day, I will definitely be taking something that I've had my eye on since day one of Supernatural," he said. "But it's okay, I'm not stealing it. I got permission.

"I begged and begged and pleaded for years, but I finally got it this year. They're going to let me drive home the Impala."

Supernatural fans will know just what a big deal that is, because Dean's black 1967 Chevrolet Impala car has been such a big part of the show that it's almost become a character in its own right.

Dean even calls the car 'baby', so it seems only right that the actor who plays him should get to give it its forever home after the show ends.

Although his co-star Jared Padalecki, who plays Sam Winchester, has missed out on the Impala he won't be leaving the set empty-handed either – even if he couldn't manage to grab one particular memento.

"I have a few trinkets here and there. But I'll never admit to it," he said. "I have tons of s**t! I have a few trinkets that will stay with me forever that won't be missed by the production.

"I was going to steal the Men of Letter's bunker, but it wouldn't fit in my car sadly. But I have a few trinkets here and there that I hope to hold dear forever and ever."

The pair didn't give us any major spoilers about what will go down in the show's final ever episode but they did promise that it will be an "emotional" experience.

"With both of these last two scripts, I got highly emotional just reading them," Ackles said. "I'm going to have to dig deep when we film the end. I'm going to have to do what Dean does and push all that emotion down."

Linda @Lin_Da74 Sep 9
In the newest @TVGuide / @TVGuideMagazine #Supernatural #season15 #Spoilers
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How ‘Supernatural’ Filmed Its Final Episodes During COVID-19 (EXCLUSIVE) from Variety!
By Kate Aurthur

In 15 seasons of “Supernatural,” Sam and Dean Winchester have fought vampires and demons, they’ve been to hell and they’ve died a lot. But would the show survive COVID-19? It was a very real question after the Vancouver-based production shut down on March 13 because of the coronavirus pandemic, one day into filming the series’ penultimate episode. After successfully filming 325 episodes of the show since it premiered in September 2005 on The WB, a network that no longer even exists, was “Supernatural” really going to end its run without a proper finish?

There was no need to worry. The show’s loyal fandom will, in fact, get the ending they’ve been waiting for. One week ago, “Supernatural” completed production on its series finale, bringing the story of the Winchester brothers — Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) — to a close. British Columbia, where the show films, has handled coronavirus well, and production in the province restarted in earnest in July. “Supernatural” was the first Warner Bros. show to begin filming again there, but since then, The CW’s “Batwoman” and “Riverdale” have also gone back. The seven-episode final run of “Supernatural” will premiere on The CW on Oct. 8.

Robert Singer, co-showrunner and executive producer/director, told Variety that production on the final two episodes of “Supernatural” — which began filming on Aug. 18 — went smoothly. Singer has been with the show since its first season, and so have “a lot of crew people, and a lot of department heads,” he said — which may have been a benefit during these unusual circumstances. “It is a very well-oiled machine,” Singer said. Normally, an episode takes eight days to shoot, but they did the two remaining episodes over nine days each to allow for delays. Singer said their longest day was 12 hours.

The show filmed under the COVID-19 protocols agreed to unions in the U.S. and Canada: mask-wearing at all times, social distancing among the crew and enhanced sanitary procedures for people and the sets. Everyone involved in the production — around 360 people, according to Warner Bros. — was tested three times a week. That crew is larger than usual, Singer said, because staffers who would usually be used for day calls — in the electric department, for instance — were hired to be there full-time instead. A Warner Bros. spokesperson said the production was divided into seven pods, to enforce social distancing. And, Singer said, “Anybody who could work from home, worked from home.”

An added wrinkle for “Supernatural” — as well as other U.S. shows that film in Canada — is that the Canadian border requires a strict 14-day quarantine for foreign visitors. Singer, who directed the series finale, which was written by co-showrunner Andrew Dabb, entered the country in early August in order to quarantine. Singer then had a week of prep, during which he couldn’t go to the set because he was deemed to be in the office pod at the time. “Which was a very strange thing,” he said.

Quarantining is definitely an inconvenience, albeit a necessary one: The actor Jim Beaver, who plays Bobby Singer — a character actually named after Singer — flew up from L.A., completed his quarantine, “And the next day, he shot what he had to shoot,” Singer said.

Speaking with Variety, Padalecki and Ackles talked about the responsibility they felt to be careful as they filmed, even in Vancouver, where life is pretty normal right now. If they were reckless, Padalecki said, “It would have been shutting down production and putting people out of work again, so everybody was more careful than they were required.”

He added, “We all felt the importance. We weren’t going out on weekends.”

Ackles agreed: “Everybody was taking it very seriously.

“I would say being on set was safer that going home to my apartment, because everybody’s getting tested, everybody was healthy and was checked on such a frequent basis you knew that there was nobody carrying the disease,” Ackles continued. “I’m being very cautious, and I would have felt comfortable hugging the crew members, just because I know that everybody was so diligently safe.”

It’s definitely a new-world, production during coronavirus. And if all of these extra things — the testing, the cleaning equipment, the masks, the quarantines, the set’s COVID coordinator and the extra day of shooting — sound expensive, surely they are. The studio, however, would not confirm any financial costs.

During the spring, when production plans began floating around, there were questions about whether filming during COVID would affect what audiences see on screen — especially with stunts and love scenes. The series finale of “Supernatural,” Singer said, was “more of an emotional journey with our characters” and a “personal look at the guys” than an episode filled with action, so there were none of those dilemmas here. But he did have to reconfigure one scene that they couldn’t shoot as written because of a limit on the number of extras who can be in a scene.

He doesn’t think the audience will notice any difference, though. “I don’t think there’s anything that you’re going to see you where you would say, ‘Oh, well, they clearly did that because of COVID,’” Singer said.

The finale was a mixture of days on the show’s sound stages and location shoots. Singer said he would arrive on set, answer a questionnaire on a Warner Bros. app he had on his phone and have his temperature taken. On testing days, he would go to a tented area to get checked. “If anyone had tested positive, the next day, they would have gotten a phone call,” Singer said. “What would have happened then? I don’t know. But we went through two episodes, and we didn’t have one positive test.”

He had been expecting delays, but there weren’t any. Singer said, “From the first desk to the time you got tested was maybe six or seven minutes.”

Singer would then go to stage what he was filming. He would work with the actors’ stand-ins to block the scene, and then leave so the crew could set up the lights. When they were done, he’d return to check everything — and the crew would leave. Finally, the actors would come in to rehearse and film. “Once we were ready to shoot, no one was allowed on the actual shooting set other than the actors and me and the director of photography,” Singer said.

Of course, it’s kind of a bummer way to end a show that’s been on for 15 seasons. “It’s a very family-oriented set,” Singer said. “It was different, in that the normal interactions between the actors and the crew just didn’t happen. Their interactions were really between the camera operator, our DP, and myself. And the makeup people. Other than that, everybody was sort of not around when they were there.”

Because of COVID, there could be no wrap party, nor any type of celebration of the show ending, which turned something Singer called “bittersweet” into a sad event. “Supernatural” is tied for seventh in the list of longest-running live-action shows, along with “CSI” and “ER.” Yet when the “Supernatural” braintrust — Dabb, Singer, the lead actors, CW and Warner Bros. — had decided to bring the show to a close after Season 15, an announcement that was made in March 2019, no one ever could have imagined a deadly and mismanaged global pandemic was on the horizon. “We wanted to go out while we still felt we had a fastball. Going out on your own terms is a good thing,” Singer said about the decision. “That said, there were some tears.”

“As you passed people and said goodbye, you could see that it was emotional,” Singer continued. “And I think the guys were emotional.”

The final day of shooting took place in a forest. Singer, Padalecki and Ackles addressed everyone there. When asked what his remarks were, Singer — who has directed nearly 50 episodes of “Supernatural” — said he thanked the actors, as well as the crew, especially those who have “been with us from day one.”

“I said, ‘I’m really gonna miss doing this,'” he added. “It was amazing how many people there were who had been with us right from the very beginning.”

Supernatural Season 15 "Exhaust" Promo (HD)

Supernatural Season 15 Recap (HD) Final Season Returns October 8th

Au Revoir by Shaving People Punting Things

Supernatural Season 15 "Back to Work" Featurette (HD)

Supernatural Boss Previews Final Fight, Flashback Episode, Who Won't Be Back from TVLine!
By Vlada Gelman / October 7 2020

TVLINE | The first episode when you return is your holiday installment. What can you preview about what’s in store?
It’s a really fun episode, and it kind of touches on some heretofore unaddressed things about the Men of Letters and about the bunker, and then kind of allowed us to get into a fun episode that takes up a lot of stuff that I think fans, or certainly that we in the writers’ room, have wanted to see in terms of like, “What would a Thanksgiving dinner look like with our guys?” and things like that, and put it all together in something that we hope will be really, really enjoyable for the fans. It’s just really, really fun. As a way to come back into the story after, at that point, the last six, seven months, I think coming in with something a little lighter and enjoyable is going to be a really good appetizer for what’s to come, because what’s to come, let’s just say, it may not all be super fun.

TVLINE | When we last left off, things were really escalating in the fight against God. What will that look like in the last seven episodes?
There is no way to avoid this fight. Chuck’s gonna come back, they know what he’s going to do, they know what he wants, they know everything. And so what can they do to fight him? It’s really about rallying the troops and allies, some people we’ve met before, and some people we’ve sort of met in passing, and some people we haven’t ever seen, and using every tool, every arrow in their quiver, to fight this existential, literally God-like threat. So that becomes a lot of it, but as so many of these things do, ultimately, it’s gonna come down to Sam and Dean, two guys from Kansas, facing off against the Supreme Being. So they’re still the underdogs in that fight.

TVLINE | Can you talk about the emotional and psychological mindset of Dean and Sam in these final episodes, given everything that they’re going up against?
Neither one of them is giving up. That’s not in their character. I think you’ve got a Sam who wants to do this in a smart, considered [way like], “Let’s make a plan. Let’s go in with a blueprint,” and you’ve got a Dean who is a little bit more impulsive and a little bit more willing to do whatever it takes to bring Chuck down, because of everything Chuck has taken from him and from them. You have to realize, for our guys, they just had their entire world blown up, like everything they’ve done their whole lives. When you realize your life’s been a manipulation, what does that mean for you as a person? Who are you, really? And so for Sam and Dean, it’s about, “Who are we, really?” I think they know, but there is confusion just because of the circumstances. It is, to a degree, about finding themselves, and also kind of finding each other through our final episodes as they go up against the most powerful force in the universe.

TVLINE | In the last episode, Jack got his soul back. Will that affect his ability to go up against God and fulfill his destiny to kill God?
It will. Jack is someone who’s now having the weight of everything he did land on him. In some ways, that’s good because he can finally deal with it. In some ways, it’s debilitating, as grief and depression and guilt often are. So from his point of view, yes, it’s kind of hard to deal with all of that, and it’s not an easy process for him, and it’s something where Sam and Dean, and Castiel more than [Sam and Dean] even, are there to guide him through this incredibly difficult process.

TVLINE | You’re also doing an episode that has flashbacks to a young Dean and Sam. What kind of insight will that provide? And why was that a story that you wanted to tell in these final hours?
Every year, there’d be some kind of flashback story. One of my first episodes was flashbacks of Sam and Dean in high school. It was something we used to do a lot, and we kind of moved away from [it] largely because the actors who we’d come to rely on to play Young Sam and Young Dean got too old. Colin Ford, right now, is older than Jared [Padalecki] was when the show started, I think. So it was something where we were talking about the types of episodes we wanted to do towards the end, and I put it out there like, “Look, if someone has a really great flashback episode, it’s been a while since we’ve told a story like that.” Meghan [Fitzmartin], one of the writers on the show, came in with an idea, and it worked for us. It worked not only as a case right now, but also as something that informed the journey Sam and Dean have taken, where they started as kids, how they kind of came together and then how that has [led up] to the point that they are, emotionally, when the episode airs. So it ended up being a really good reflection of our guys now, telling a story about our guys then, which, to me, are always the best versions of those types of flashback stories.

TVLINE | Was there anybody that you really wanted to get back for these final episodes, but it just didn’t work out for whatever reason, scheduling or because of COVID?
Look, COVID was limiting, especially when it came to the last two [episodes]. And there were certainly people we would have liked to have brought back like Samantha Smith, like Jeffrey Dean Morgan. People who have been such core parts of the show for so long. But unfortunately, because of COVID and some other things, doing a big supersized guest cast family reunion was just off the table. But in terms of our story that we’re telling, we didn’t have to make any compromises. Everyone who is coming back is coming back for a specific reason. These are people we want. They’re important to us. They’re great characters, and we just thought it was an opportunity to revisit some of our and, hopefully, the fan favorites.

Sam and Dean vs. God: 'Supernatural' returns for a final round of episodes to 'knock you straight in the teeth'
BRIAN TRUITT | from USA TODAY (video)

“How are these two humans going to face off against the ultimate celestial being?” asks Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean on the horror-tinged CW series.

Jared Padalecki, who plays Dean’s younger brother Sam, gives a simple answer: “The way they always have. They just buck up and do it.”

After COVID-19 postponed filming of the last two episodes of its final season, “Supernatural” returns Thursday (8 EDT/PDT) for its last seven hours to deliver a cataclysmic ending for a show and its two monster-hunting siblings that have become a cult hit with a passionate fan base. (The series finale is scheduled for Nov. 19.)

“We reapproach everything and see the culmination of what Sam and Dean have gone through for 15 years and their efficiency at doing just that,” Padalecki says.

“I love the fact that they had us get to the final level and face the big bad,” Ackles adds. It’s “this big, climactic, amazing showdown, but filtered in with them doing what they do best, which is just hunting your run-of-the-mill things that go bump in the night.”

Thursday’s return is a somewhat lighthearted affair: Sam and Dean discover a housekeeping wood nymph named Mrs. Butters (guest star Meagen Fay) in their bunker, and she gives them a taste of all the holidays they’ve missed before things go awry, “Supernatural” style.

“It's easier to come back with an episode like this than something that would be deeply depressing or heavy,” says executive producer Andrew Dabb. “Those episodes are coming.”

The ensuing weeks will see Sam and Dean preparing for a dust-up with the Almighty, aka Chuck (Rob Benedict); the Winchesters searching for God’s sister Amara (Emily Swallow); and a flashback to an early case when the siblings were kids, “which fills in an interesting part of their story but also ties in thematically and emotionally what Sam and Dean will be going (through) in the present day," Dabb says.

He adds that the final round of episodes centers on the climactic face-off and “how do you fight that fight, knowing that God’s keeping you around for some pretty petty manipulative reasons, and he's still trying to puppet-master our guys a little bit. How do you break free from that for hopefully the last time?”

Dabb also promises to reveal "new sides" of key characters like the angel Castiel (Misha Collins), Jack (Alexander Calvert) – the devil's son, who may be the key to defeating God – and Billie (Lisa Berry), the reaper currently holding the position of Death, as well as Chuck and Amara: "As often happens on 'Supernatural,' you may be a big cosmic player, but you still have sibling issues."

In addition to giving proper send-offs, Padalecki reveals that sacrifice – always a “Supernatural” hallmark – plays a big role, too. “The most inspiring things for me, and for a lot of fans I've met in person, have been the moments where Sam and Dean go through something and then wake up the next day or the day after that or the next week and go, ‘OK. It's time for me to get back at it.’ And there's a lot of that in the final couple of episodes.”

Before they could film those 19th and 20th episodes, the stars were “shoveled back to Austin,” Texas, from Vancouver on March 13 due to COVID-19 and, spending time with their wives and kids, got “a little appetizer” for what life would be like post-“Supernatural,” Padalecki says. (He's starring this season in CW's "Walker," a reboot of 1993-2001 CBS drama "Walker, Texas Ranger" that starred Chuck Norris.)

“The silver lining is that we got to take a break and recharge our batteries,” says Ackles, who calls the penultimate episode a “season finale” and the last a “series finale.” “Certainly the season could have ended after 19 and would have been like, ‘OK, that makes sense.’ But then we come back for one more episode and just knock you straight in the teeth.”

Interview with Jared Padalecki & Jensen Ackles

Supernatural Season 15 "Going Back To The End" Featurette (HD)

‘Supernatural’ Returns: Co-Showrunners Tease “Desperation And Sadness” To Come In Last Episodes And An “Emotionally Terrific” Series Finale from Deadline!
By Matt Grobar

DEADLINE: Several years ago, Supernatural became the longest-running fantasy series in the history of American television. How are you feeling about bringing the show to a close, after so much time with it?

ANDREW DABB: I would say for me—and Bob was closer to it than I was, because he was on set during the last episode—it’s bittersweet, obviously. We’re really proud of the work that we did, but we’re also sad that we’re not going to get to do more of it.

But it didn’t feel like we were going out on fumes. It felt like we still had stories to tell, so that feels good. It feels like it’s a strong exit, although I will say for me, personally, I’m still in denial that it’s over. Bob and I still have a lot to do in post, and sound, and visual effects, and all that kind of stuff, so it’s still going on for me. It’s not over yet, but probably like middle of November, I’ll just collapse in a corner somewhere.

ROBERT SINGER: I would just add to that, that it was bittersweet, and there was a certain amount of sadness, but I don’t think any of us were looking back and thinking we made the wrong decision.

DABB: No, not at all.

SINGER: I think it felt like the right time to do this and go out on our own terms, while we still have a fastball.

DEADLINE: Obviously, at this point, there are still a lot of unanswered questions, and a number of major storylines to be resolved. Did you feel any pressure as you thought about how you might end the show?

SINGER: Well, once we knew it was going to be the last year, Andrew and I got together fairly early—I think probably at the end of last season—and agreed on where we wanted to take it, and then ran it by Jared and Jensen, and they signed on. So, unlike other seasons, we actually knew where we were going to go this year (laughs).

DABB: I would say, just in terms of plot threads, once we decided where we were going, that became our guiding light. So, I can’t say that we sat down at the beginning of this final season and were like, “OK, here’s 14 years worth of hanging chads and things like that. Let’s resolve all of them.” Like, that would’ve been a very boring season.

We didn’t comb Twitter and make a list of questions fans were asking. I think we closed out all of the major stuff, but I’m sure anybody who’s looking deep will find something from like Season 8 that’s unresolved, and that was not the point of this final season. The point was to get us where we were going with these guys, emotionally, and as characters.

DEADLINE: While your series finale was originally set to air in May, production delays imposed by the pandemic made that impossible. Did COVID-19 safety protocols, or the time you were left with during an unexpected hiatus, result in any changes to the final episodes?

SINGER: There were shooting restrictions we had that changed the scripts somewhat, but not in a way that we had to make a 180, or do any drastic changes.

There was a big change, which I’m not going to get into in detail, in how we were going to exactly end the show. But I think what Andrew came up with was very satisfying, and emotionally terrific. So, I don’t think there’s any regrets about that.

We had things, in the last two episodes, that required a crowd, [and] we weren’t allowed to have more than 40 extras. Forty extras doesn’t go very far, so how you shot that [changed], and that sort of thing. But other than that, we didn’t really have to do a big about-face.

DEADLINE: What was it like, returning to Vancouver to finish shooting the final season, after four months or so away from set?

SINGER: Well, we had the good fortune, [unlike] shows that might just be starting up, that we could really hit the ground running. We had a well-oiled machine up in Canada, and once the COVID rules were put in place, and were made clear to the crew and the people in the office, we really did hit the ground running, getting used to some of the ideas. Like, if you were in the office pod, you couldn’t go on the set, and if you were on the set pod, you couldn’t go in the office. There was testing. If you were on set, you got tested three times a week.

So obviously, it was different, but everybody really held fast to what the rules were. Ours is a very friendly set, and everybody gets along really well, including the actors with the crew, but they had to distance themselves. So, I know that felt really odd to Jared and Jensen, as it did to me. But we just accepted what the rules were and went ahead.

DEADLINE: As of tonight, there are only six new episodes of Supernatural still to come. What can you tell us about the journey ahead for Sam and Dean?

DABB: I think in some ways, we got a little fortunate that we’re coming back with an episode that’s a little lighter, a little bit more self-contained. We’re not pulling everyone into the fight against God, and the desperation and sadness that is to come. It’s a little lighter, and then from there, it progressively gets a little darker, and a little bit more end-of-the-world-y, because it’s the end of the world.

For Sam and Dean, what we really thought about as we went into this [was], when you make God the bad guy of your season, I think you could make the argument that’s a very strong, or very dumb narrative choice. But for us, with our guys and the themes of this entire show, it was more about free will and self-determination. As much as it is against God and cosmic forces, and all this crazy stuff, it’s really about these two guys claiming their independence for the first time in their lives—and as long as we grounded it like that, everything else kind of snapped together.

So, as we move into the final run, that’s really what this is about. It’s about the conflict with God, but it’s also about these two guys completing a journey that’s been 15 years in the making, to become, hopefully, better and more fully realized people. It’s not always just about defeating the next bad guy; it’s about making yourself a little bit better, too. I think that’s something we’ve talked about a lot with Sam and Dean, and we’ve seen a lot over 15 years, and this is kind of the culmination of that.

DEADLINE: Is there any possibility of a happy ending for Sam and Dean?

DABB: Well, I would say it wouldn’t be Supernatural if it was all happy.

DEADLINE: Season 15 has brought a lot of beloved characters back into the fold. Can we expect to see more characters from past seasons, as we head into Supernatural‘s final stretch?

SINGER: I think we’ve brought some fan favorites back—some that we can reveal, some, probably not. But yes. I think we sprinkled enough of that in to make the audience happy.

DABB: People know Charlie’s coming back, and Donna Hanscum’s coming back. They were both in the teaser that got released recently, so they’re not a big secret, but there are a couple of other people who the guys have met along the way who will come back and play big, good, or if not good, at least interesting roles in what’s to come.

DEADLINE: In the past, there have been several attempts at creating a Supernatural spinoff. But are there any currently in the works? Do you think we’ll see more projects set in this universe going forward?

SINGER: Well, I think we want to take a deep breath. You know, we’ve been so immersed in this for so long. I know I’m not ready to jump back into the Supernatural world right away. So, I don’t know. Maybe there’s a movie in it down the line somewhere.

DABB: Yeah, I would just echo Bob. I mean, I think we wrote this as an ending. This is not a “To Be Continued,” and if there was some opportunity to do more, down the road a little bit, that would be amazing. But if not, I think we’re very proud of the ending that we have.

Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles on filming the 'monumental' final episodes from EW!
By Samantha Highfill October 14, 2020

"Since we started filming the pilot, it's the longest stretch we've had without being Sam and Dean," Padalecki says of the break, which began this March when production on the CW drama paused due to the COVID -19 pandemic. "It's like riding a bike," Ackles says of returning to film the show's final two hours. "I feel like we've been playing these characters for so long, they're such a part of who we are, I think five years could've gone by and we would've laced up our boots and gotten in the car exactly the same as we always have."

But the set didn't look quite the way it had for the other 325 episodes. With new COVID-19 protocols in place, the big Supernatural farewell was no longer a possibility. "The hardest thing was doing the final two episodes with these people that we know so well and love and have been working with for so many years, and you can't see their faces," Ackles says of everyone wearing masks. "We couldn't see the smiles and we couldn't see the tears." But both were there in abundance. "I do think having the pause that we had has made this process feel a little bit more special and a little bit more joyous in a way," co-showrunner Andrew Dabb says. "People came back for the last two episodes with a real renewed sense of energy and focus, and it shows in the stuff we're getting."

In terms of what to expect from Supernatural's concluding run, it will come as no surprise to fans that the series intends to go down swinging, tackling the brothers' showdown with God (Rob Benedict), Michael's (Jake Abel) return, and even squeezing one more flashback into the mix. "We see the case that kind of brought them together as hunters," Dabb says of the episode, "the first case young Sam and young Dean worked together to a conclusion."

But with the flashback hour serving as the last real standalone story, the remaining episodes will shift their focus to the series' larger mythology, and of course, to saying goodbye. "The writers were aware that it's the end of an era, it's the end of 15 years, and so it's not like all of a sudden the series finale is, like, 'Oh, we better wrap this up.' It's a slower build, and it treats the history of the show properly," Padalecki says, specifically of episodes 18 to 20. (Ackles, having recently done ADR on episode 18, says he had forgotten how "monumental" the hour is.)

With a passionate fandom like the #SPNFamily, there's no satisfaction guarantee, but if there's one thing we know, it's that there will be tears. (Duh.) "I compare it to the toilet paper shortage when the pandemic started," Dabb says. "I'd start stocking up now. If you buy a few boxes [of tissues] every week, you'll be good for the finale."

Winchester Bros @WinchesterBros Oct 15
So cool to see this article on #Supernatural in my local newspaper Palm Beach Post today! —Susan
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Supernatural Season 15 "Like a Slingshot" Featurette (HD)

Some TVLine spoilers!
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Supernatural Season 15 "Back Roads Americana" Featurette (HD)