Over its 15-season run, Supernatural gained a loyal and passionate fanbase. Now that Sam and Dean said goodbye and found their maybe happy ending, it’s time for another pair of Winchesters to tell their story. The Supernatural spin-off The Winchesters goes to the past to further the Supernatural mythology.
It’s one of the shows on the 2022 TV schedule that I can’t wait to watch. Whether you’re a Supernatural superfan, a casual viewer, or new to this world, The Winchesters looks intriguing enough to check out. It’s one of the few new shows coming to The CW, so that alone makes me curious about it.
Monsters and mayhem aren’t the only things happening in this upcoming TV show. We have plenty of reasons to be excited to watch The Winchesters, and here are a few things we know about this new CW show.
The Winchesters Premieres On October 11, 2022
The Winchesters is one of the new series kicking off the CW’s fall 2022 schedule. It premieres on Tuesday, October 11, 2022. The premiere is then followed by another new CW show, Professionals. According to Variety, The Winchesters airs every Tuesday at 8:00 pm EST. It’s an hour-long series.
According to the current TV premiere date schedule, The Winchesters and Professionals are the only new shows premiering on that night. But, they’ll both have competition from already established franchises on other networks, such as FBI, and long-running shows such as New Amsterdam, Bachelor in Paradise, and The Resident. I’m not sure if there is much overlap between Supernatural fans and these shows, so The Winchesters, but we'll have to wait and see.
The Winchesters is still currently filming the first season. KFTV reports that filming began in New Orleans on July 25 and is scheduled to conclude on October 17, about a week after the premiere episode.
Meg Donnelly And Drake Rodger Star As The Past Mary And John Winchester
In March 2022, Variety announced that Meg Donnelly and Drake Rodger would play the leads in The Winchesters. Donnelly plays Mary Campbell, who will eventually become Mary Winchester. Rodger plays John Winchester. The older versions of these characters were played by Samantha Smith and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Supernatural. Supernatural is one of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s best roles. Therefore, Rodger has big shoes to fill.
The Variety article describes Mary as a 19-year-old who has been hunting and killing monsters since childhood. She’s now developed a cold exterior. John is described as “selfless and clear-headed.”
Meg Donnelly may be a household name for many Disney Channel fans. She starred as Addison in all the Zombies movies and had a guest star role in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. She also played Taylor for five seasons on American Housewife.
Drake Rodger played Judd in The In Between. He also appeared in the films Murder RX, Not Alone, and in the upcoming films Mantra, and Quiet in My Town.
The Winchesters Follows John’s Journey As A New Monster Hunter
The Winchesters starts with the meeting of John and Mary. It’s about their love story as well as their journey as young monster hunters. Mary has been hunting since childhood, but John kind of stumbles into it. According to their character descriptions, mentioned in the Variety casting news article, Mary loses a person close to her and decides to quit the monster hunting business. However, the arrival of John and her father’s disappearance makes her the new leader of a hunting team.
The Winchesters takes place in 1972. The '70s play a major role in the show and even has a part in John’s story. The show starts with John returning from Vietnam, after presumably fighting in the Vietnam War. Once back home, John begins a mission to uncover his father’s past. This leads him to a secret organization. From this description, it seems that at least some of The Winchesters Season 1 will focus on John learning how to become a monster hunter, with the help of Mary and their team.
The Show Is Told From Dean’s Perspective
Jensen Ackles has been very involved in the development of The Winchesters. Chaos Machine Productions, his company with his wife, Danneel Ackles, produces the series as part of their overall deal with Warner Bros. Television.
In a TVLine interview, Drake Rodger praised Jensen Ackles for being very supportive and guiding him with this role. Meg Donnelly also added that Ackles was on set during the entire filming of the pilot to offer help and advice. Ackles isn’t just offering a helping hand behind the scenes, he plays a major role in The Winchesters.
Ackles will also be reprising his role as Dean Winchester for the series’ narrations. In The Winchesters trailer, you'll hear him talk about going to the past to find out the story of his parents.
This CW Series Has A Diverse Cast
The Winchesters supporting cast includes some TV relative newcomers, including Jojo Fleites and Nida Khurshid. Demetria McKinney also plays a main supporting character in the show. Khurshid plays hunter-in-training Latika and Jojo Fleites plays Carlos, a carefree hunter. McKinney plays Ada, an occult aficionado. Bianca Kajlich is also part of the cast as John’s mother, Millie.
In an interview with Nerds of Color, the cast shared their enthusiasm about being part of the show. Here's what Demetria McKinney had to say:
The add-on that I am the most excited about is the inclusion. We love the story of Dean and Sam. It was amazing. We love the storylines and the mysterious monster-type stuff, but getting to see yourself out there fighting the monsters and getting to see yourself represented that way is really awesome.
Nida Khurshid added to the inclusivity and diversity of The Winchesters conversation by saying why representation is so important. She mentioned the power of kids being able to see themselves on film and television. Additionally, Khurshid expressed gratitude for being able to show many people a world of possibilities.
Jojo Fleites also shared how welcoming the fans have been so far, especially about the representation in the show.
I kind of have my own thing where I also identify as non-binary and my role, Carlos, also is in the LGBTQ community, and that’s a whole other thing, just receiving messages from people being like, ‘thank you for showing me,’ or ‘me seeing you shows me that it’s possible to be up there, get to that place eventually, or get to do anything I wanted to in general in life, and I can achieve anything.’ I hope that I can continue to be that representation for so many people.
The Nerds of Color article offers so much great insight from the cast, especially about diversity and inclusivity, so make sure to check it out if you want to read more on the subject.
Expect Callbacks To Supernatural, According To Drake Rodger
Supernatural already has an established canon, so some fans may be worried about whether The Winchesters may alter this already established world. In a TVLine interview, Jensen Ackles mentioned that the new show will have a “little of both” when it comes to changing canon and showing it through a new lens. However, from the sound of it, it will have plenty of ties to the original series. Drake Rodger also added in the Nerds of Color interview that Supernatural establishes major moments for Mary and John, and The Winchesters shows how they get to those "checkpoints," as well as some things fans never knew about the couple.
In a Variety interview, Ackles said that he figured out how to continue the story in “a way that might be surprising,” but always kept getting back to the main mythology in mind.
Winchesters and Supernatural will likely have plenty of differences to help establish the show as its own story. However, maybe this new show could provide some Supernatural reunions if the series finds a way to use magic to make it happen. We'll have to wait and see.
The Winchesters Trailer Shows Plenty Of Monsters And Tons Of Flirting
The Winchesters is about Mary and John’s love story, so of course, the trailer gives a sneak peek of their future romance. We see them giving each other flirty or longing looks, but not much else on the romance front. The trailer also introduces Carlos and Latika, we see a few other characters and the preview isn’t shy about showing some of the demons and monsters. It also has a pretty humorous tone. It gives us just enough to be intrigued by The Winchesters.
After The CW canceled and ended so many shows in 2022, we’re really curious to see what could be the new long-running TV shows for the network. The Winchesters could fill the void left by so many now-gone CW shows. The Winchesters premieres on The CW on October 11. In the meantime, Supernatural is among the many great shows available to stream on Netflix right now.
