Picture this, it’s a dark foggy night, a man wearing what looks like a leather fedora hat, something out of the likes of Indiana Jones, is walking through a cemetery in search of something. He enters a cave-like tunnel to get something from some underground magic box. Cutting his palm to bleed onto this mysterious box, letting something dangerous out. We get a close up on the cross-body bag with the initials “S.C.” which fans of Supernatural easily picked up that those initials belonged to Samuel Campbell.
Samuel, who is Mary’s father, seemingly gets hurt and taken by a monster—the Akrida, which we get a slight glimpse into later. Which leads us into the famous opening title card for the show, an homage to the Supernatural title card.
With the fall season here, different television networks have welcomed new shows to their lineups. The CW Network is no different. Their newest addition, The Winchesters, prequel to Supernatural, aired on October 11, 2022. There were a few moments that made the audience feel nostalgic and felt like it was a true continuation of Supernatural and made all the hearts flutter again.
The Winchesters is a deeper look into the love story of John and Mary Winchester, the parents of Sam and Dean Winchester, who audiences met back in Supernatural, all while following the classic tag-line “saving people, hunting things.” Even though we have already had some background story through Supernatural, we are getting a different perspective that either fans want all of and can’t wait, or just don’t want it at all.
Which is fair for both sides.
If you are a fan of Supernatural odds are when you heard that The Winchesters was coming, you had one of two reactions; you loved the idea and couldn’t wait, or you couldn’t wait to hate it.
Both reactions are valid and reasonable.
“I think it is an interesting choice to attempt to make a prequel but considering that many shows have attempted to do spin offs as the original show is still airing it could be a sign of quality that they did wait at least a couple of years,” said Miriam Odegaard, a fan of Supernatural since 2005.
When Supernatural ended a piece of every fan’s heart went along with the show. So, when Jensen Ackles, executive producer and one of the main stars of Supernatural (Dean Winchester), announced that there would be a prequel series, fans had mixed reactions but ultimately came around. They wanted to give the show a chance at least until they saw the first episode.
The main worry is that they will follow more down the path of Supernatural rather than create their own story and story lines. The involvement of Dean caused some confusion but fans looked past it considering they had Dean back on their screens, even if it was only for a moment.
There are a few themes that are carried on from Supernatural through The Winchesters. One of those themes, daddy issues. John seems to be looking for answers about his father who disappeared years ago, and Mary is in search of her Father Samuel. Just like Sam and Dean went searching for John in the pilot of Supernatural.
When we first meet the two love birds John and Mary, we see John getting off the bus coming home from the Vietnam War and then runs into Mary. They seem to hit it off, but it almost seems as if it’s a random run in with a stranger you will never see again, but we know that’s not the case. Slight chaos ensues and we get to meet the other main characters the show will follow and in classic Supernatural fashion The Winchesters follow the “saving people, hunting things” mantra, and the characters save each other and kill the monster.
Very much carrying on the self sacrifice theme Supernatural followed as well.
The show lacked some of the enthusiasm that Sam and Dean gave us, but I owe that credit to 15 seasons of a show. Yes, the acting on The Winchesters was stiff, and looked fairly rehearsed, but it was only the first episode.
“I think they should focus on creating their own stories and explore the stories that Supernatural did not explore at all,” said Odegaard. “They could bring characters that have been talked about on the show, or characters that were just referred to but other than that I think they should make it brand new.”
This particular love story already technically has its set ending considering that’s how Supernatural began, which begs the question, how exciting can this love story be if we already know the ending? It’s a limited timeline that the producers have themselves cornered into, and I’m not exactly sure how well that will go for the show and the length of the series.
Who knows, maybe they’ll do a 180 and take a completely different route away from the Supernatural storylines. As of right now The Winchesters are following in the steps of their predecessor with a few minor adjustments. Supernatural fans will appreciate the small things, like the leaving of coordinates from Samuel for Mary, like John left for Sam and Dean, the Men of Letters bunker, and of course the classic rock music of that time.
With all the chaos, the episode ends with something that will make Supernatural fans’ hearts flutter. We see Dean leaning against the classic ‘67 Chevy Impala, filling in the blanks of his parents’ story. He throws the journal into the car, gets in and drives off.
End scene.
The Winchesters has something for everyone. Fans of Supernatural can look forward to small homages throughout the episodes, while new fans can expect new faces, new stories, and fall in love with the Winchester family. After all, it is “the family business.”
Weronika Raczek 
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