USA TODAY International Edition
Family dynamic is the secret to ‘ Supernatural’
Twelve seasons in, it’s the ‘ lifeblood’ of CW’s stalwart series
After 11 seasons of Supernatu
ral, the Winchesters are starting to enter the hallowed ground of Clampetts, Bunkers, Waltons and other famous TV clans.
“It’s certainly an institution to me,” says Jensen Ackles, who stars as monster hunter Dean Winchester on CW’s long- running horror- themed show.
Family is the foundation on which Supernatural was built — Ackles calls Dean’s relationship with younger brother Sam ( Jared Padalecki) the “lifeblood” of the series — and in Thursday’s 12thseason premiere ( 9 ET/ PT), the Winchesters begin a new chapter in their lives by getting to know their mother, Mary ( Samantha Smith), who was resurrected in May’s finale.
She was killed by the demon Azazel when Dean was 4 and Sam was an infant, and her murder in the series’ 2005 pilot led the brothers to team as hunters to look for their father, John ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan).
Mary’s a capable woman from a family of hunters, the Campbells, but “it was a life that, while she was really good at it, was not something she wanted and certainly didn’t want it for her ( sons),” says executive producer Robert Singer. “To find out what transpired after her death is a blow to her gut.”
For Dean, she’s “this idea of what he always wanted ( his) mom to be, but now he has a woman standing next to him who is Mom, but there’s not that history there,” Ackles adds. “It makes for some interesting, even uncomfortable scenes.”
Supernatural is the longestrunning series on CW, predating the network — it premiered on predecessor WB, a year before CW launched — and its signature mix of drama, comedy and horror are seen in Dean’s beloved black Impala, monsters, angels, demons, more monsters, the devil, God and his sister, a very meta high school Supernatural musical and more than one apocalypse.
But for executive producer Andrew Dabb, the reason it has endured is its role as an emotional saga about family, whether it’s the Winchesters or extended friends — which includes the king of hell, Crowley ( Mark Sheppard).
“Because of the overlay of classic rock and the Impala and two guys in flannel, people miss that sometimes, but that is the core of the show,” Dabb says.
“We will do things in production, a stunt or a special effect, and the episode will air and Twitter will be like, ‘ Oh, that’s cool.’ And then the moment when Dean turns toward the camera and sheds one man tear, Twitter goes insane. It’s very obvious to see where our bread is buttered.”
Ackles recalls hanging with Padalecki while filming their second episode when creator Eric Kripke told them, “This whole thing begins and ends with you and the relationship you have onscreen.” That’s still the case more than a decade later.
“If the show keeps performing the way it has, there’s an open pass” to continuing it indefinitely, “if the boys keep wanting to do it,” says CW chief Mark Pedowitz.
So could the Winchesters bypass the Cartwrights’ 14- season run on Bonanza or even come close to The Simpsons’ 28- year streak? Ackles laughs at the thought but won’t say no: “I might have to take a knee after that one.”