There are very few television series that can boast a fan base as committed as Supernatural. Premiering in 2005 under the creative direction of Eric Kripke, the series centered around monster-hunting brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester for 15 seasons, making it one of the longest-running fantasy television series in history.
Even though the series concluded several years ago, fans continue to gather at conventions to discuss theories about what happened, as well as watch and re-watch their favorite episodes. To this day, Supernatural is considered one of the largest achievements the CW network has ever experienced.
The success of a franchise as loyal as this one should have made expanding upon it relatively straightforward. However, the exact opposite has occurred. A recent attempt to expand on the franchise, titled The Winchesters, aired for only one year before being canceled. Fans of the new series agreed that while they enjoyed the series, it was nowhere near as good as the series that created the franchise.
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Franchise Was Not Able To Branch Out
The CW knew what they were doing when they decided to produce The Winchesters. They had previously attempted to expand upon the Supernatural universe. There were two previous live-action spinoffs (Supernatural: Bloodlines in 2014) and (Wayward Sisters in 2018), which both received back door pilots, but neither of those shows became a full-fledged TV series.
This is an incredible amount of work to do with little to show for it and shows how difficult it can be to recreate what was so successful in the original.
The Winchesters was being pushed to the point of finally breaking its losing streak by the time the series was picked up. The series centered around Sam and Dean’s parents – John Winchester (Drake Rodger) and Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly) and how they met and fell in love. Fans of the show supported the series, along with a great deal of support from the original creative team; however, the series was canceled way before its time.
Cancellation Was More Than Ratings
The numbers reveal quite a bit about what happened with The Winchesters. They had the largest opening night for a series on The CW in the 2022-2023 season. However, their ratings continued to decline after that initial success. It’s difficult to promote a series when its audience has decreased.
The big picture, however, took place off-screen. While The Winchesters made its premiere on October 14th, 2022, the CW was undergoing a significant transition. The network was purchased by Nexstar Media Group. Nexstar’s goal was to reach a mature demographic. Therefore, the company started transitioning from scripted television series to reality TV and live sports coverage. Many of the CW’s scripted television series were cancelled, including The Winchesters.
In other words, the timing of the show’s arrival could not be worse. A much more successful series may have had trouble with a new owner that has been cutting back on its spending for original programming.
The producers of The Winchesters were reluctant to throw in the towel. After trying to place The Winchesters with a different network or streaming service, executive producers Jensen Ackles, Danneel Ackles, and Supernatural writer Robbie Thompson couldn’t make anything work, and the timing didn’t help.
The strikes of the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA in 2023 started within the same few months as the last episode of the series aired. At this point, there is little movement in the entertainment industry, so it will likely be difficult for the series to find another network or streaming service. It was announced in June 2023 that The Winchesters would not return to television.
It Was Not Like Supernatural
The business issues explain why the show stopped airing. However, they do not provide an explanation as to why the show failed to develop the same level of enthusiasm from its viewers as the previous one did. Therefore, to understand why the show was unsuccessful in developing the same type of loyal fan base, you must examine the show itself.
Supernatural was successful due to a unique mixture. Each episode of Supernatural was able to provide viewers with fear, humor, and emotion. The main focus of the series was on the relationship between two brothers that viewers could relate to as actual people.
This strong connection between the brothers helped keep the series going throughout all of the twists and turns that the series took in terms of plot. Although there were many other characters introduced into the series and the mythology became more complex, Sam and Dean continued to be the central point of the series.
In contrast to the previous examples, The Winchesters attempted to have an even larger group of actors than before. They were also able to include both horror and comedy in their show. However, they never reached a point where there was a true balance between the two. At times, the humor used in the show would fall short, and as a result, the show did not have the easy-going nature that makes Supernatural a fan favorite.
Additionally, in attempting to expand upon the world of the show, The Winchesters included far too many new characters far too quickly, which ultimately prevented any of those characters from developing.
The show eventually came to a conclusion with the help of all the plots being tied together in a unique manner. However, for some viewers, the resolution occurred at a point where it did not affect their view of the series.
John And Mary Were A Difficult Sale
The greatest challenge of all with the characters was the characters. John Winchester, who has been portrayed in Supernatural by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, has always had a difficult relationship with fans. Following the murder of his wife Mary (Samantha Smith) in the Pilot episode, John dedicated himself to finding the yellow-eyed demon that killed her. During this time, he brought up Sam and Dean in the same environment as he was living in the world of hunting.
Oftentimes, he would leave Sam and Dean behind to go out hunting. Most people perceived him as a bad parent, at least at times neglectful, and certainly not a character they wanted to learn about.
Mary’s backstory is also an issue that has left fans wondering. Fans have found out a lot of information about Mary during the time of Supernatural, and most feel like they don’t need to see another whole series about her.
In comparison, there was no lack of potential spinoff leads for Supernatural. Bobby (Jim Beaver), Rufus (Steven Williams), Jody, and Donna all developed a strong fan base. Castiel (Misha Collins) and Crowley (Mark Sheppard) were also well liked by the fans. Either one of these characters would probably have been a better choice for the central role of the series than John and Mary. I’m not saying that John and Mary can’t work.
However, I am saying that the series needed to demonstrate its worth to the viewers right away, and that it was trying to get the viewers interested in two individuals most viewers had never formed an attachment with.
The Quality Never Met Expectations
Even if viewers gave The Winchesters a shot, they would notice a difference in quality. Most of the main cast did well; there were even a couple of interesting new characters and concepts introduced. However, many times the jokes seemed cheesy, and the overall feel of the show was targeted towards a younger audience than Supernatural. The writers didn’t display the creativity that Supernatural displayed during its prime, when it was able to combine creative storytelling with scares and humor.
In part, the reason why Supernatural has such a difficult standard to live up to is because of how creative the show has been in some of its best episodes. For example, The French Mistake and Scoobynatural are two examples of extremely creative hours of television that broke the traditional formula while remaining faithful to the show.
It would have been unfair to expect The Winchesters to reach this level right away. Any new show should be judged based upon what it does well and how long it takes to develop a distinct style.
Nevertheless, the similarity between the two shows was obvious. With all of the special effects, the monster hunting, and the humor, it seemed at times that the show was just a poor copy of another program. While the conclusion of the show did compensate for many of the issues with the show, it is still clear that the writers and producers never worked together to create the potential of the show.
The Canon Question
There was also an issue with continuity. The television show Supernatural had told some of the history behind John and Mary Winchester. However, the new television show The Winchesters appeared to provide a different account of their lives together. For example, in the television show Supernatural, John Winchester was introduced to monster hunting after he lost his wife to the yellow-eyed demon named Azazel (played by Fredric Lehne). However, in the television show The Winchesters, Mary Winchester introduced John Winchester to monster hunting shortly after they met.
A dealbreaker for many people who were interested in watching this series, this could also be a reason why others chose not to watch the show. When a prequel is written with what seems to be a rewriting of previously established events, it is difficult to convince a group of fans who know each event by heart to watch your series.
The way the final episode made sense of everything.
The final episode of The Winchesters was an attempt to fix the issues. Dean is visiting Earth from Heaven in the final episode, and he tells the Winchesters that the events of the first season of The Winchesters were taking place in an alternate reality in the Supernatural multiverse. This fits into the original series because it has been stated in the original series that there is a multiverse, and Dean has visited other realities while in Heaven. Therefore, it appears that The Winchesters is not breaking canon.
The problem with this is that many fans didn’t make it to this point. Most of the audience was long gone when the explanation finally appeared; some were upset that they thought they were watching a prequel to Sam and Dean’s parents’ stories, and instead they were watching a story from a different part of the Multiverse. This was a great way to save face, but it didn’t come soon enough to get back those people who had stopped watching.
How Could It Be Improved
Looking back on what has happened, I can see some of the key events. In addition to being able to connect more directly to the brothers. While Dean’s voice provided some degree of continuity from the first season, Sam and Dean had little to do with anything. Fans who expected to see the Winchester brothers in every episode were disappointed as they were rarely present.
I believe the slower-paced development of the first season was due in part to the size of the initial ensemble. With so many characters introduced at the same time, it would be difficult for an audience member to form a connection to any one of them. Had the show been able to focus more on John and Mary, I believe there would be a stronger emotional investment from the viewer.
A better promise. If the show was billed as an alternative reality series from its beginning, then the expectations for “canon” could be different. The show’s timing couldn’t have been worse. It launched at a time when the CW was changing ownership and transitioning from scripted programming to other forms of content.
