About Us
Summary
Supernatural ran for 15 seasons. It was centered around the brothers Dean and Sam Winchester, played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. Castiel, played by Misha Collins, was introduced in season 4 and immediately became a fan favorite.
Destiel, the ship between Dean and Castiel, took off in the fandom, and many fans claimed that this ship was intended to be part of the canon, including eventual endgame for Dean and Castiel. Several prominent grifters pushed this belief to the point that many Destiel fans were utterly destroyed by the finale season, in which Castiel sacrifices himself for Dean while confessing his love. Dean dies in a routine hunt, with tearful goodbyes and expressions of brotherly love, and ends up in heaven, where he drives until Sam arrives. Castiel does not appear on-screen after his sacrifice; in Heaven, he is mentioned by Bobby as having helped Jack fix Heaven.
Many Destiel/Castiel fans had been convinced that Castiel would be part of the finale and Dean’s endgame. According to the conspiracy theories, this intended plan of endgame Destiel was thwarted by executives at the CW and WB, but was always intended, and absolutely would have become canon if not for executive interference.
To understand the full picture behind these conspiracies and the connection between the CW and WB, the companies being accused need to be defined. Based on Wikipedia, the CW network is defined as “...an American English-language free-to-air television network that is operated by The CW Network, LLC, a limited liability joint venture between the CBS Entertainment Group unit of ViacomCBS; and the Studios and Networks division of AT&T's WarnerMedia, the parent company of Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB. The network's name is an abbreviation derived from the first letters of the names of its two parent corporations (CBS and WarnerMedia).” [source]
The actual WB television network shut down its operations in 2006 and merged with the CBS corporation to form the CW like described above. So when people today mention the WB in difference to the CW they actually mean WarnerMedia. Wikipedia explains that WarnerMedia “... is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by AT&T and headquartered in New York City, United States. It was originally formed in 1990 by Steve Ross and formerly known as Time Warner from 1990 to 2001 and 2003 to 2018, from the merger of Time Inc. and the original Warner Communications. The company has film, television and cable operations, with its assets including WarnerMedia Studios & Networks (consisting of the entertainment assets of Turner Broadcasting, HBO, and Cinemax as well as Warner Bros., which itself consists of the film, animation, television studios and the company's home entertainment division, DC Comics, New Line Cinema, and, together with ViacomCBS, a 50% interest in The CW television network); WarnerMedia News & Sports (consisting of the news and sports assets of Turner Broadcasting, as well as AT&T SportsNet); WarnerMedia Sales & Distribution (consisting of digital analytics company Xandr and Otter Media); and WarnerMedia Direct (consisting of the HBO Max streaming service).” [source]
The last company involved with the CW but rarely named in these conversations is ViacomCBS. This company is depicted as, “an American diversified multinational mass media conglomerate formed through the merger of the second incarnation of CBS Corporation and the second incarnation of Viacom on December 4, 2019, which were split from the first incarnation of Viacom in 2006. Headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, the company operates over 170 networks and reaches approximately 700 million subscribers in approximately 160 countries, as of 2020.” [source]
This theory that the executives and powers-that-be employed under the CW or WB or even CBS interfered with Dean and Castiel’s romantic and sexual canonicity plans that the writers intended is not supported by the evidence. There is a very long history of open discussions by the cast, crew, and executives of and behind Supernatural that document that the overwhelming majority of them never intended, perceived or wrote Dean to be bisexual, nor in love with Castiel.
At the same time, it is also clear that certain writers and cast members did support the ship, just not enough and not those in enough power to make a difference for endgame. Some of us working on this document are Destiel shippers who did see the possibility of it existing in canon. We just want to make clear where the credit and blame belong.
Throughout the series, the showrunners, crew, and many members of the cast have been clear that no romantic relationship would be a main focus for the show. Fans of Destiel thought it might possibly be an exception to this rule.
The concept of Destiel arose in fandom with striking popularity, even though Castiel was continuously described in text and by the cast and crew, when speaking seriously about the character, as a brother. Early interviews with Misha and the crew make it clear that the concept arose in fandom and was a surprise to those who worked on the show, much like Wincest before it. And even as the ship grew in popularity among the SPN fandom, the executives, showrunners, and Jensen himself continued to firmly counter rumors that the ship would become canon as late as 2019. Misha is a notable outlier here, often making Destiel jokes at conventions and talking about the ship in more positive terms.
Misha has said that he did not play Castiel as being romantically in love with Dean until Season 15. When Castiel eventually confessed his love to Dean in 15.18, Dean’s answer was left ambiguous; multiple sources have said the answer would’ve been ‘no’. Misha has confirmed that Castiel didn’t believe that Dean reciprocated.
In other words, Castiel’s romantic interest in Dean was something that was added in at the end of the show, rather than something planned from season one or season four and then taken out. On top of that, while Misha considers the confession romantic, many of those involved in the production of Supernatural considered the confession platonic or intentionally ambiguous. Jensen has said that the confession was like art, where the creators didn’t want to define what was on the screen, preferring to have the audience decide for themselves.
What is also true is, given documents presented to the Fandom (de)Bunker, that the Warner Brothers Studios’, a major film-making facility owned and run by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (a subsidiary of WarnerMedia), marketing department conducted marketing research in 2016 into why fans perceived a romantic relationship between Dean and Castiel. However, the intended purpose behind this research is unknown, nor is there any evidence that any policies were enacted or cancelled because of the research.
For this blog, we have not included the following:
Scripted or ad-libbed on-screen references to boyfriends, lovers or husbands, because these kinds of jokes have been wielded equally at Sam and Dean as at Dean and Castiel, often by the same person. Since the cast and crew have also stated definitively that there is no intended romantic relationship between the brothers, these jokes clearly are not intending to signify anything.
Remarks indicating an unwillingness to talk about Destiel or Dean’s sexuality that convey no further information.
Joking kisses, blowjob jokes, or declarations of love in the gag reels, as they occur between multiple members of the cast, are included as the gag reels as jokes - indeed, the entire purpose of the gag reels - and are obviously not meant to convey any hidden, non-humorous meaning.
“Likes” on shipping tweets or follows of specific fans on Twitter/Instagram, because a cast or crew member’s support of a fan’s enjoyment or theory does not equal proof of authorial or show intent.
Finally, this blog is sort of a living document and will be edited, revised and expanded to reflect new or corrected information. Wherever possible, we have transcribed and double-checked the transcription of videos (barring unintelligible audio) to include the full response to a question to provide full context. If a transcription is wrong or if a better recording is available, we will correct it as soon as possible. Please let us know if you notice any errors!
Unfortunately, since we’ve started compiling it, we’ve noticed con videos, articles, tweets, etc. that have been taken down. We source where we can, but if you’ve saved any relevant information to the topic that has since been removed, please let us know!