The Supernatural spin-off series, The Winchesters, was recently cancelled by The CW after just one season. However, the decision has left fans baffled. Even executive producer and star of the original series, Jensen Ackles, has expressed his disappointment with the news.
The Winchesters is a prequel series of Supernatural that tells the story of Dean and Sam Winchester’s parents, John Winchester and Mary Campbell.
The series was highly anticipated by the Supernatural fanbase. Ackles himself revealed that there was a five-season plan for The Winchesters, and that viewers could expect to see original Supernatural cast members make appearances again.
But after the cancellation, there doesn’t seem to be any possibility of Ackles following through with his promises.
Jensen Ackles recently started a hashtag on Twitter called #SaveTheWinchesters where he asked Supernatural fans to capture the CW’s attention and make them reconsider the cancellation. If the hashtag garners enough popularity, The Winchesters can still be saved.
1. Why was The Winchesters cancelled?
Despite having a loyal fanbase, The Winchesters received mixed reactions and its viewership numbers were quite low when compared to its parent series, Supernatural. This could explain why The CW cancelled the series before its second season.
But another reason for the sudden cancellation could also be the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. This has affected the CW’s future as many of the new original TV shows, like Walker: Independence (a prequel to the Jared Padalecki-starrer, Walker) have gotten cancelled at very early stages.
The Winchesters has only got average ratings. The creativity and plotlines are there, but they have to be executed in a manner which matches the standards of Supernatural, which had an impressive run of 15 seasons.
2. How can The Winchesters season 2 still happen?
Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester in Supernatural, has been the main driving force behind the campaign to save The Winchesters. As an executive producer of the show, he’s actively involved in its creation and is eager for the fans to see what he’s got in store for them next.
After Jensen Ackles started the #SaveTheWinchesters on Twitter, fans have come out in large numbers to support the actor. The campaign has amassed thousands of posts and tweets on not just Twitter but also other social media platforms.
The level of public outrage that Ackles’ hashtag has reached so far could be enough to convince The CW to pick up The Winchesters again and make season 2 happen. It’s also possible that the show might get picked up by a major streaming platform like Netflix, Prime Video or Hulu.
Jensen Ackles alone has the star power and influence to make a second season happen. Hopefully all his efforts won’t be in vain.
3. Will there be another Supernatural spin-off?
Before The Winchesters, there were several attempts to make a spin-off series while Supernatural was still airing. However, none of them were able to last very long.
Supernatural: Bloodlines was created based on a season 9 episode of Supernatural of the same name. Unfortunately, the series was never able to take off. Another series called Wayward Sisters was also in the works up until The CW quashed it.
Even an animated series titled Supernatural: The Animation never made it past its first season.
Despite the long history of failed attempts, it’s commendable that the creators of The Winchesters still tried to make another spin-off series and the demand for a second season might as well mean that the writers have finally cracked the code.
Even still, The Winchesters hasn’t made a large enough impact to be labelled as “successful”. This was Supernatural’s last chance to keep the series alive and right now it seems any future spin-off ideas may never see the light of the day.
4. Can Supernatural be revived?
I think we can all agree that the main reason for Supernatural’s immense success was the chemistry between Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. The two of them made the show what it is today and their absence in the spin-off series is probably why fans aren’t too keen on watching it.
Even Jensen Ackles’ cameo in The Winchesters, which was just narration by the way, couldn’t generate enough excitement for it to become more popular.
Supernatural has the potential to become an even bigger franchise. But without the Winchester brothers, there seems to be no point in tuning in to a spin-off series. Reviving Supernatural for a 16th season may be the only thing that can save the franchise now.
There haven’t been any talks of a Supernatural season 16 yet and it doesn’t seem like there will be one any time soon because both Ackles and Padalecki are occupied with their individual projects.
But hey, if Criminal Minds got a revival after 15 seasons, why can’t Supernatural get one too? All I can say is keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.
5. About The Winchesters
The Winchesters is a spin-off prequel series to The WB’s dark fantasy drama, Supernatural. The first successful Supernatural spin-off to be greenlit for a series order, it premiered on October 11, 2022, on The CW.
The series follows Sam and Dean’s parent,s John and Mary Winchester, telling an untold love story of how John met Mary and how they put everything on the line to save the world from the perspective of Dean.
The show stars Meg Donnelly as Mary Campbell and Drake Rodger as John Winchester.
No Comments on Can The Winchesters Still Be Saved? Supernatural’s Future Explained