‘Supernatural’: A New Spanish Dub Seems To Imply That Destiel Is Canon
In The CW’s Supernatural, many fans shipped Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) and Castiel (Misha Collins). The ship, known as Destiel, was seemingly confirmed to be canon in the 15th and final season of the show when Cas professed his love for Dean.
However, Dean was never shown verbally reciprocating Cas’ proclamation. Because of this, their final moment together is left up to interpretation, and it is up to fans to decide if their relationship is romantic or not. After the series finale aired, a Spanish dub of Cas’ last scene leaked, showing Dean responding to Cas and seemingly confirming that Destiel might be canon after all.
Cas and Dean’s final scene in ‘Supernatural’
In the 18th episode of the final season, “Despair,” Cas experiences a moment of true happiness after declaring his love for Dean. Destiel shippers interpreted this declaration as a romantic one and as confirmation that Cas was in love with Dean.
Due to a deal he made with the Empty in a previous season, this happiness sends Cas to the afterlife. Because the Empty also takes Death, Dean’s life is effectively saved with Cas’ declaration of love.
This of course outraged some Supernatural fans, as they felt it fell into the Bury Your Gays trope. With this trope, LGBTQ characters are killed off in TV and film more often than heterosexual characters, and this often occurs after an LGBTQ character has finally achieved happiness.
Because of this, Supernatural seemed to confirm Destiel as canon in the worst possible way for fans. In the series finale, Cas is only mentioned by name and does not appear again, adding more outrage for Destiel shippers.
The Spanish dub seems to confirm the declaration as romantic
In the English version of the episode “Despair,” Dean responds to Cas’ declaration with “Don’t do this, Cas.” A leaked version of the episode with a Spanish dub shows Dean replying with “Yo a ti, Cas” which translates to “And I, you, Cas.”
The subtitles for the scene reflect the English script, and dubbing typically occurs independently without studio interference. Still, the leak led to fans using the hashtag #TheySilencedThem on Twitter to express their disappointment with The CW.
Misha Collins has a message for ‘Supernatural’ fans
After Supernatural fans began trending #TheySilencedThem on Twitter, Collins took to Twitter to explain the situation to fans. The Supernatural actor denied that there was a conspiracy with The CW to purposefully silence any of the Supernatural characters. He also revealed that he does not view Cas’ death as part of the Bury Your Gays trope.
“There was no conspiracy within the network, staff, or cast of #SPN to minimize or erase representation from the narrative & there was no alternate ending to 15.18. Dean was always too stunned in the moment to reply. (Apparently a rogue translator penned their own dialogue.),” Collins tweeted.
He continued the thread, writing, “Also, in my opinion Cas doesn’t play into the ‘bury your gays’ trope. His declaration of love saves Dean, enabling Sam & Dean to save all of humanity. And Cas doesn’t die! He actually goes on to rebuild heaven!”
After 15 seasons, the series finale of Supernatural aired on The CW on Nov. 19.
