TV spinoffs can be pretty hit-and-miss, and the 2016-2017 season saw the cancellation of a number of spinoffs, including Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders on CBS and Chicago Justice and The Blacklist: Redemption on NBC. The CW has had great success with spinoffs in the past, however, with The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow branching off of Arrow and The Originals stemming from The Vampire Diaries. Now, The CW is giving veteran series Supernatural another chance at a spinoff. Called Wayward Sisters, the spinoff would star at least one very familiar face: Jody Mills.
Jody Mills -- a.k.a., one of the Supernatural ladies who hasn't been killed off -- would be the protagonist of the spinoff. Wayward Sisters will star Kim Rhodes as Jody as she leads a group of young women who have lost their families due to supernatural tragedies. The women make for a badass foster family who don't need the Winchesters to solve all their cases for them. Deadline reports that Kim Rhodes is the only actress who has signed on for the project so far, but the odds are probably pretty good that Katherine Ramdeen and Kathryn Newton will reprise their roles as Annie Jones and Claire Novak, respectively. Former vampire Annie and former (albeit temporary) Castiel vessel Claire were living with Jody, and they'd make sense as members of the Wayward Sisters cast.
The Wayward Sisters spinoff will be pitched to fans via backdoor pilot in the upcoming Season 13 of Supernatural, so Sam and Dean Winchester will undoubtedly have a major role to play in setting up the premise. The last attempt at a backdoor pilot to launch a Supernatural spinoff happened way back in Season 9, when the Winchester boys discovered five mafia-esque monster families in Chicago. None of the characters in that prospective spinoff were ones already known to viewers, which undoubtedly played a part in the fact that it never caught on with the passionate Supernatural fanbase.
Wayward Sisters could be a very different story. Jody Mills has been a popular character ever since she turned up in Season 5, and she has grown from an unbelieving officer of the law into a formidable hunter of all things supernatural in her own right. While viewers may not have been willing to tune into a spinoff starring brand new characters, they might be much happier to watch a series all about the women of Supernatural who haven't been permanently killed off just yet.
It's not difficult to guess where the title for the spinoff comes from. Supernatural is known for ending each season with a montage set to "Carry on Wayward Son" by Kansas, and the brothers Winchester have managed to drive the action (and drama) of the series for going on 13 years now. Combining "wayward" with a sibling dynamic is a solid way to connect the spinoff to the original. If it goes to series, Wayward Sisters will be executive produced by Supernatural showrunners Andrew Dabb and Robert Singer and producers Phil Sgriccia and Robert Berens.
Supernatural will return to The CW without at least one of its longtime cast members in the fall. The fate of another major character is less certain, although still rather grim. Check out our summer TV premiere schedule for what you can watch to pass the time until Supernatural is back on the airwaves.
