‘Supernatural’: Misha Collins Reacts to the Spanish Dub of Castiel’s Final Scene
It seems Misha Collins feels differently about his character Castiel’s ending on Supernatural compared to fans. In Supernatural, many fans shipped Cas with Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles). The ship, known as Destiel, was seemingly confirmed to be canon in Season 15 Episode 18, “Despair,” after Cas professed his love for Dean.
In the episode that aired on The CW, Dean does not verbally reciprocate Cas’ declaration of love. A Spanish dub of the episode recently leaked online and showed Dean acknowledging his love for Cas. This left fans upset with The CW for possibly censoring the characters, but Collins is adamant that is not the case.
How the Spanish dub is different
In the English-language version of “Despair,” Cas declares his love for Dean, which results in him experiencing a moment of true happiness. Dean responds to Cas with “Don’t do this, Cas.”
Because Cas experienced a moment of true happiness, the Empty appears as a portal and absorbs Cas. The Empty also takes Death which saves Dean’s life. This made Cas’ declaration of love a sacrifice that protected Dean as well.
Because Dean did not verbally reciprocate Cas’ feelings, it can be left up to interpretation if Cas’ love is unrequited. However, Destiel shippers interpreted this declaration as a romantic one and as confirmation that Cas was in love with Dean.
In the leaked Spanish dub, Dean replied to Cas with “Yo a ti, Cas” which translates to “And I, you, Cas.” The dubbing was not confirmed to be official by The CW, but fans interpreted that Destiel was solidified as canon.
Why ‘Supernatural’ fans were upset
Cas being pulled into the Empty immediately after experiencing happiness upset Supernatural fans. To some, the episode followed the infamous Bury Your Gays trope which is when LGBTQ characters are viewed as expendable and killed off more frequently than heterosexual and cisgender characters.
Because Cas was seemingly “killed off” right after professing his love for Dean, fans felt that Cas was essentially punished for coming out and achieving a moment of happiness. When the Spanish dub leaked, fans trended #TheySilencedThem on Twitter to call out The CW for mistreating the storyline.
Misha Collins tried to reason with ‘Supernatural’ fans
On Nov. 25, Collins used Twitter to try and explain how he felt about Cas’ ending and the Spanish dub. Collins tweeted that the reason Dean did not reply to Cas was because he was “too stunned in the moment to reply.” The Supernatural actor explained the dub by tweeting that “a rogue translator penned their own dialogue.”
Collins also tweeted that he did not think Cas being pulled back to the Empty qualifies as the Bury Your Gays trope.
“Also, in my opinion Cas doesn’t play into the ‘bury your gays’ trope,” Collins tweeted. “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!”
Despite Collins’ assurances, fans still took issue with Supernatural queerbaiting audiences with Destiel, as Dean did not even acknowledge Cas’ declaration in the final episodes of Supernatural. Because Cas being taken to the Empty was a direct result of him confessing his love for Dean, fans told Collins that Cas still fell into the Bury Your Gays trope.
