‘The Winchesters’: Jensen Ackles Wanted Prequel to ‘Recapture’ 1 ‘Supernatural’ Quality
Supernatural has gone back in time. The new series The Winchesters tells the story of how John Winchester (Drake Rodger) met Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly). Jensen Ackles appears in The Winchesters as Dean Winchester, narrating the story of his parents. So this is their story, but it was important to Ackles that The Winchesters retain one quality of Supernatural.
Ackles was at a press conference for The Winchesters on Oct. 4. Here’s the throughline he tried to draw between Supernatural and The Winchesters. The Winchesters airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
‘Supernatural’ was a show about brotherhood
Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester fought demons together. But, Ackles said the heart of Supernatural was the brotherhood.
“[The Winchesters is] certainly trying to recapture that heart that I feel Supernatural really had,” Ackles said. “At the end of the day, the show was about the relationship between these two brothers. You could paint as many ghosts and demons and vampires and ghouls and as you wanted on that canvas, but at the end of the day, it really came back to the relationship that these two guys had. And, how they fought, not only for the greater good, but they fought for each other.”
John and Mary are the heart of ‘The Winchesters’, says Jensen Ackles
A romantic relationship is a little different, though they do become family eventually. Ackles likened John and Mary’s relationship in The Winchesters to the heart of Supernatural.
“I felt like if we could do that with John and Mary, but also have this love story be the kicker, I just felt like that was really important. That’s something that [showrunner] Robbie [thompson] and Danneel [Ackles] and I talked about at length, was making sure that this truly had the heart that a show needed. That you can dress it up with all the frills and thrills, but it’s got to have that relationship and it’s gotta have those cast of characters that you really want to keep coming back week to week to watch.”
‘The Winchesters’ is more than just the ‘Supernatural’ family
The Winchesters also introduces new characters into John and Mary’s world. John has a mother, Millie (Bianca Kajlich). They hunt demons with Carlos (Jojo Fleites) and Latika (Nida Khurshid) and research with bookstore owner Ada (Demetria McKinney).
“I feel like we have that and we’re doing that,” Ackles said. “The people before you now, I keep coming back and wanting to watch them. I keep reading intently the next story arena and wanting to know what’s going to happen. What’s going to happen with Carlos? I don’t know. Every week he surprises me. They surprise me. It’s just insanity. I love it.”
