The Winchesters is debuting in the 2023 TV premiere schedule on January 24 to pick up on the story of John and Mary’s origin, years before they’d become parents to Supernatural’s Sam and Dean. Jensen Ackles went from portraying Dean Winchester for 15 seasons to executive producing the first Supernatural spinoff to score a series order, and now he has managed to share a dark birthday message for his longtime character while also hyping the return of The Winchesters.
In what Supernatural fans can either appreciate as an amusing in-joke nod at how Dean’s story ended or a comment that comes too soon after his series finale fate, Jensen Ackles chose to film his birthday message while jogging outside of a cemetery in New Orleans. Take a look at the Instagram video:
While Supernatural’s filming locations in Canada generally meant Sam and Dean investigating cases in settings that looked an awful lot like the Vancouver area, The Winchesters films in New Orleans. Jensen Ackles – who previously commented on the difference between filming in Vancouver vs. NOLA – was seemingly down south on Dean’s birthday. He jogged past the famous Lafayette Cemetery and grinned before saying “Happy Birthday, Dean.”
While Jensen Ackles’ video isn’t dark in terms of the kind of lighting that Supernatural fans had to squint through off and on for a decade and a half, shouting out to Dean in a graveyard is pretty dark in light of – spoiler alert for Supernatural – his character’s demise at the end of the show that he led alongside Jared Padalecki!
Some fans commented on the darkness of Dean getting his birthday wish outside of a cemetery, while former Supernatural guest star Adam Rose (who visited New Amsterdam back in early 2022) commented “happy tuesday indeed.” At the time of writing, no other Supernatural alums hit up the comment section, although The Winchesters star Drake Rodger – who portrays John Winchester, played in the original series by Jeffrey Dean Morgan – wrote:
*clicks play* *acts like he’s been running* *ends video and goes home*
This isn’t the first time that Jensen Ackles had gone out of the way to wish a happy birthday to Dean Winchester, as he posted a throwback image in January 2022 with a caption describing the character as “the best imaginary friend a fella could ask for” and saying “You are missed.” Over the months since, The Winchesters premiered with Ackles actually reprising his role on screen rather than just via voiceover. He made a cameo in the pilot of the spinoff, with some details giving clues about when in the Supernatural timeline the scene was taking place.
It’s not clear at this point if Ackles will appear in front of the camera again before the end of the first season; given the bad news that The Winchesters received back in the fall, the inevitable hype of seeing Dean on screen might help draw viewers before the thirteenth and final episode of the season! Jared Padalecki is busy elsewhere on The CW with Walker and executive producing Walker: Independence, although he has supported his former on-screen brother about making The Winchesters. That just may not translate to reprising his role as Sam.
For now, fans of The Winchesters can look forward to the return of John and Mary (who finally shared their first kiss in the fall finale) with the winter premiere on Tuesday, January 24 at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. If Jensen Ackles celebrating Dean’s birthday also made you nostalgic for the old days of the Winchester brothers in the Impala, you can find all fifteen seasons of Supernatural streaming with a Netflix subscription.
