Family Reunion: ‘Supernatural’ at 20
Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins answer fan questions and discuss the show’s lasting legacy
Celebrating 20 years since the pilot is a big deal. And this fandom has always been so devoted. What is it that keeps you doing these conventions for the fans?
Jared Padalecki: The fandom doesn’t seem separate from the show itself. We started out on The WB and then by the end of Season 1, we were on The CW. But very early on, we were this little engine that could, and so the fandom from the get-go — I think it was Season 2 or 3 when we started coming to these [conventions] — they feel like such a part of it. And the majority of people I’ve met who watched the show, when I ask, “How’d you find out about it?” they’re like, “Oh, my best friend…then we went to a con.” Having been a fan of different things like sports teams, bands or different shows and movies, and genres growing up, I get it.
When did you first notice that the fandom was something different?
Jensen Ackles: I did a convention in the U.K. after Season 1, and it was the first one representing Supernatural that I was a part of. There were people from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Smallville, and a variety of genre-esque shows, and we’d only been on for one season. But they’d done a really big marketing push in the U.K. for our first season, so when I showed up, the response from the fans there was shocking. I came back and was like…
Padalecki: “Dude, we’re famous!” [Laughs]
Ackles: Yeah, like, “We might get another season out of this!” [Laughs]
Misha Collins: I was totally surprised there were fans at all. Actually, my first convention was a Creation convention in New Jersey 16 years ago. I remember coming out onstage and being totally astonished. When we’re filming, we’re performing for the crew, who have seen us do a hundred thousand scenes, and they’re bored stiff by our antics. We’re really only getting the response of the glass on the camera. At these shows, we get to see a real audience response from fans who really love the show. There’s something about the feedback we get from coming to these that’s actually quite gratifying.
Padalecki: As I’m hearing us speak, it turns out we all have an insatiable hunger for flattery and praise, which probably started when we were young, from being ignored. [Laughs]
And then you realized you could harness the power of the fandom to do good…
Padalecki: The fans have raised millions of dollars for charities around the world, which is outstanding. But also, to see the relationships, the support, and care they give each other? I don’t spend a lot of time on social media, but here and there I’ll get an alert or someone will say, “Hey, did you hear that this person [is go- ing through] this or that?” And I’ll go and see comments from members of the SPN family who’ve never met each other, that are just sending love. The internet can be such a hell- hole at times, social media specifically, so to see our fandom going, “You got this,” “We believe in you,” “You’ve been through worse, and we will see you on the other side” and “Hope to meet you” — it is really awesome.
Collins: At times, it feels like we see each other more than our family — we are a surrogate family for one another. But there’s also this extended Supernatural community that functions like a family. A dysfunctional one, but people really do take care of each other.
Ackles: Because we have so much history together, and we have a 20-year relationship and friendship, we get to pop into these different cities, and it really is like a band [going] on tour. We are like, “OK, we’ll see you in Cleveland, see you in Tulsa, see you in L.A.” We get to come together, put on a show for the people that all have a common love for Supernatural, and it is just this little family reunion that happens every few weeks in different cities around the country.
Speaking of fans, we have some of their questions! First, who broke character the most, and how often was it Misha?
Ackles: There was a substantial commitment to breaking Misha.
Collins: You guys consistently f**ked with me. And I never developed the skill of keeping it together. Dave Riopel, who was our dolly operator, very earnestly came up to me and was like, “Misha, can I offer you a suggestion? When they’re doing that, just think in your head how much you hate them.” And he said it like, “Obviously, you do hate them.” [Laughs]
Padalecki: That’s just good advice. [Laughs] On the flip side, after years of all of that, you did win first place in that question.
Another fan question: After playing these characters for so long, did you pick up any of their habits or mannerisms?
Padalecki: Great question. We played these characters for so long, it’s hard to parse out what parts of Jared became Sam…
Ackles: Where one begins and one ends.
Padalecki: Yeah, it’s so fluid. Every now and again, when I’m putting the kids to bed, they want to hear a story. And not a real story; they want me to make up a story. And I’m like, “Sure. A story about what?” They’ll say whales, and I don’t know anything about whales, but I’ll find myself going, “All right, so get this….” Which Sam said quite a bit. [Laughs]
Ackles: You just made me think of whenever I have to use “dad voice,” it sounds a lot like “Dean voice.” And it’s not on purpose, by any means.
So the voice you used to yell at demons?
Ackles: Yes. To yell at my lovely children. [Laughs]
Collins: I did my Castiel voice, which was like, [growls] “Hellloo, Dean.” I had a very deep voice, which, as you may intuit, isn’t my natural voice. And I was a year into filming Supernatural — I thought that I was only going to do a couple episodes.
Ackles: We did too, Misha.
Collins: [Laughs] So I went to the doctor and was like, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I have a sore throat that’s not going away.” I got checked for strep, and it’s not strep. I was literally causing damage to my vocal cords. So, that’s something that I carried with me from Castiel. Actual physical trauma
How was it for you on the set of The Boys, playing a different set of characters around each other?
Collins: Regressing. [They all laugh]
Ackles: Total regressing! We were asked that question on set by people there going, “What’s it like for you guys being back together?” But we still see each other all the time, and we know what’s going on in each other’s lives. So when we were back on set, it was just very natural and very familiar.
Padalecki: Super natural.
Ackles: It was supernatural! [Laughs]
Muscle memory didn’t kick in, where you’re like, “Wait, you’re not playing the person I’m used to you playing?”
Ackles: We don’t play our characters with each other normally. So it was just another iteration of one another that we got to play with.
Padalecki: It was amazing. My muscle memory, frankly, having not really acted in a year, was that I didn’t remember how to act! [Laughs]
Ackles: Jared, I don’t know that you ever did.
Padalecki: [Laughs] That’s the nicest thing anybody’s ever said to me. Fortunately, the dialogue was so different than something Sam or any of his iterations ever would’ve said or done. But it felt strange.
Collins: We did end up doing a take in character as Cass, Sam, and Dean. And that’s probably the one they’re going to use.
Ackles: Look for that on the editing room floor. That’s where that will be. [Laughs]
If Supernatural were to come back, what kind of format would you want it to be? A feature? A limited series?
All together: Team America! [Laughs]
Padalecki: We’re all a lot older than we were 20 years ago. I don’t know if I have 22 episodes of Supernatural in me. I think a limited series would be great.
Would you want it to get grittier, or would you want to keep the same tone?
Ackles: I’ve thought about this because we’ve been asked what would the show have looked like had it been on a streamer. And it would’ve been different. It would’ve been a little more R-rated. But part of me feels like, because of what we did for so long and what the tone is, I feel like changing that now might be doing it a disservice. I could see the benefit in keeping it like a broadcast show.
Padalecki: I like the rules that broadcast television put on us because we still played.
Ackles: And we pushed the envelope.
Padalecki: We pushed the envelope so much within those boundaries. There’s an art to that.
Collins: I asked [series creator] Eric Kripke, “If you ever did a reboot of Supernatural, what do you think it would be?” And he said he would want it to be as horrifying as possible.
Ackles: He’s doing that. It’s called The Boys!
And last question: What was it like for you at each of your series-wrap moments?
Collins: My goodbye scene was the last scene of filming at the end of a long week on
a Friday night. It also ended up being right before the pandemic hit, [when] everything shut down. But we didn’t know that then. I was filming the goodbye scene, Castiel’s declaration of love to Dean, as well as my goodbye to the whole cast and crew, so it was super emotional. A lot of crew members were in tears, and it was really sweet. We would f**k around a lot on set and made a sport of trying to mess each other up during a scene, but we also had a real consciousness of when to sanctify moments and form a protective bubble around one another. And that night was a reverent night. All the aspects of it wrapped up in a
way that felt really meaningful to me, and I carry that with me.
Ackles: It was after COVID hit, so we came back, and all these people that we’ve been working with were all there with masks on. Certain groups couldn’t mingle with other groups. And that was really tough, that last day, not being able to really embrace and…
Padalecki: And go, “Let’s all go out tonight.”
Ackles: Or see their faces. People were wiping tears away under their masks. So we missed what Misha got. I look back and hold his day special, because I felt like that’s what it should have been.
Padalecki: The entirety of the pandemic lockdown situation was more difficult than when [director] Bob Singer said, “And cut!” which you hear — that’s literally him saying it when the episode airs and we’re on the bridge. The buildup to that was so hard; I cried so many times. I couldn’t read the barn scene because I would just start crying. Hearing Bob say “And cut” and then come out to the bridge with us all looking at each other was a feeling I’ll never forget. And a feeling I know I’ll never have again. Because so much happened between 2005 and 2020 in all of our lives. But it felt really good. Jensen and I have talked before about how we’re not the type to pat ourselves on the back, especially along the way. It’s like we had work to do. The finale felt like a completion. It was amazing.
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