Supernatural has become the CW show that just keeps going and going and going. Season 12 will premiere in October, officially making Supernatural the longest-running show in CW/WB history. There have been no indications that the show will end as long as stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles are on board as the Winchester boys. But as it happens, the dynamic duo has an idea of how long they should stick around as Sam and Dean. Padalecki had this to say about how many episodes may, nay, should be left in the future of Supernatural:
If we don't make it to 300, I think Ackles and I will both be truly bummed. When we get to 300, I think Ackles and I will think it might be time to say bye. There's a chance that changes, but we certainly do not take it for granted that we're going to make it to 300.
300 episodes sounds like a lofty goal for just about any primetime show on network television, but Supernatural is a drama that really might be able to last that long. As of the end of Season 11, 241 episodes have aired. A full Season 12 has been ordered, and a behind-the-scenes shakeup may bring about a fresh new era in the saga of Sam and Dean Winchester. CW President Mark Pedowitz has even opined that Supernatural could outlast his time at the network. In order to make the 300 episode count, the show would only need to last for another two and a half seasons or so.
Assuming that Season 12 and a Season 13 run for the usual 23 episodes, Supernatural wouldn't even need a full Season 14 to hit the magic number, and there are surely still areas of the impossible that the series hasn't covered yet. I'm still waiting on a flashback episode all about the time that Dean discovered the fountain of youth. It's really the only way to explain how Jensen Ackles has barely aged over the last ten years. 300 seasons, while impossible, also somehow still seems plausible for the actor, so Jared Padalecki's reveal to EW that he'd like to hit 300 episodes is a likely enough scenario.
Supernatural doesn't exactly have the highest ratings on network television. The CW is by far the smallest network, and Supernatural wasn't even in the top three for highest-rated CW series in the 2015 - 2016 TV season. Still, the Supernatural fandom should not be underestimated. The fans went into enough of a voting frenzy for the EW Fall TV Preview cover that Supernatural beat out sixty-three other series to take the top prize. Who would have guessed that a CW show going into its twelfth season could beat out the likes of The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and The Big Bang Theory? As long as Supernatural holds on to its incredibly loyal fanbase, it could definitely last to 300 episodes.
That said, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles have both put some thought into how they'd like Supernatural to eventually end. Padalecki is rooting for a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid kind of ending for the WInchester boys, and Ackles is hoping to end on some seriously high stakes. Only time will tell if either or both of them get their wish.
Supernatural kicks off Season 12 on Thursday, October 13 at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. Check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see when your other favorite shows will be back in the near future.
