Supernatural may have come to an end last year, but the stars were back in the headlines more recently thanks to news that Jensen Ackles is developing a spinoff that Jared Padalecki wasn't aware of until it went public and said he felt "gutted." In a series of tweets reacting to learning about the potential Winchesters spinoff, Padalecki left fans thinking that a serious feud was unfolding between him, Ackles, and other Supernatural alums. After some initial followup tweets to try and calm the fandom down, Padalecki has now come out to clear the air.
Nearly two months after the initial exchange between Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles about the news that Ackles is developing The Winchesters as a Supernatural prequel series, Padalecki opened up to The New York Times to shed some more light, saying (via THR):
It was just one of those things that because it was online, and people were assuming I was part of it, I really wanted to just say: ‘Hey, I’m not keeping a secret from you guys. I just don’t know about this.'
Jared Padalecki's initial tweet saying that he wished that he'd "heard about this some way other than Twitter" and was "bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever" in response to Jensen Ackles posting about the news definitely got the message across that Padalecki wasn't keeping a secret.
It was the followup tweet of Jared Padalecki saying he wasn't joking about learning the news on Twitter and "I'm gutted" that started fans thinking something was wrong between the former on-screen brothers. Padalecki, who moved on from Supernatural to star in The CW's Walker, elaborated to the NYT on what he wishes he'd done differently on social media:
I should be old enough to know better than to put something out there and expect that people will understand. It’s hard to tweet a specific tone. If you write it online, it’s like, ‘Oh, he doesn’t know! They’re going to kill each other! The world is ending!’ And I’m like, 'No, no, no.' (Laughs.) I try to avoid social media as much as possible because of that.
It didn't take too long for Jared Padalecki to try and calm down those of the fans who were concerned and taking sides about what was happening among the Supernatural veterans, which was definitely a good thing. Both Padalecki's tweets to Jensen Ackles that remained up as well the seemingly more heated tweet of "Et tue brute?" that he directed at former Supernatural executive producer Robbie Thompson, who is attached to The Winchesters, caused a storm online, even though the tweet to Thompson was deleted before too long.
Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki exchanged some friendly messages on social media afterward as well, and Padalecki used the recent interview to reaffirm that things are okay between them regarding the Winchesters project:
I hadn’t heard of it, and then he and I chatted [the next morning]. He just kind of explained: 'Man, it’s not picked up yet. It’s not even written yet.’ He knows and I know how much Supernatural means to both of us, and it wasn’t a secret he was trying to keep, necessarily. It was just something that he didn’t feel really even existed yet. But he has been like: ‘Hey, I’ll let you know what’s going on.'
Does this mean that Jared Padalecki will be involved with The Winchesters if it scores a series order from The CW? Padalecki didn't confirm one way or the other, and he does have a show of his own on the network that was renewed for Season 2 shortly after its premiere in early 2021. Plus, when the project was announced, it was said that the series would be narrated by Ackles as Dean, with no word of Padalecki's Sam.
For now, only time will tell if The Winchesters does indeed score a series order. The CW renewed most of its shows back when it gave the order for Walker Season 2, but this past TV season also saw the end of Black Lighting, and Supergirl will wrap before the end of the year. Superman & Lois Season 2 is being held until midseason, and there are no guarantees that the new shows like 4400 and All American: Homecoming will be hits.
There are no guarantees when it comes to The WInchesters, but Supernatural was a mainstay on the network for a decade and a half, so it wouldn't be shocking if The Winchesters is the Supernatural spinoff that finally gets beyond the backdoor pilot stage. For now, you can look ahead to the shows coming to The CW and all the other networks in the coming months with our 2021 fall TV premiere schedule.
