The Winchesters came to The CW as part of the 2022 TV premiere schedule to revisit the Supernatural world for the first time since Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles’ long-running series ended back in 2020. Unlike the show that ran for 15 seasons and more than 300 episodes, though, there’s no guarantee that the spinoff prequel will even get a second season to reach 14 episodes. With the first season ending on March 7, it’s time to look ahead at what we do know while waiting for the official news about the future of Mary Campbell and John Winchester.
What The Showrunner Says
The Winchesters showrunner Robbie Thompson was a writer and executive producer on Supernatural for years before helming the spinoff (with Jensen Ackles and Daneel Ackles also working as executive producers). The complication with The Winchesters now that wasn’t a factor back in the Supernatural days was Nexstar Media Group acquiring majority ownership of The CW, reportedly with the plans for an extremely limited number of scripted shows to continue beyond the current season.
Of the current CW shows that are not already slated to end (a la The Flash, Riverdale, and Nancy Drew), only All American has been renewed. If the early reports about Nexstar’s cuts remain accurate, there are only two scripted renewal slots left. Unfortunately for fans of The Winchesters, the showrunner doesn’t have all the answers just yet, but Robbie Thompson did shed some light on the current situation. He told TVLine:
I’ve spoken a lot with our partners at Warner Bros. because, obviously, we’re not sure what’s happening. We’ve talked about places…that we may have to look to down the road [if the show is not renewed and needs a new home]. But the short-term answer is I don’t actually know and probably won’t for a little while. I can only say that, as uncertain as these times have been, our partners at The CW and Warner [Bros.], in particular, have just been really awesome to work with.
The situation may be uncertain enough that the showrunner can’t give a “yes” or “no” answer about a renewal, but at least it’s encouraging to learn that there are discussions about finding a new home for The Winchesters if it turns out that the show doesn’t have a future on The CW. While he didn’t drop any clues about what a potential new home could be, fans can always speculate!
What The Ratings Say
Another factor that fans should consider when speculating is just how well The Winchesters does in the ratings... or more specifically, how well The Winchesters actually doesn't do in the ratings. Although those numbers pack less of a punch nowadays in the era of streaming services and cord-cutting, ratings and viewership totals over the first week of an episode’s release can be very telling about how many people in the key 18-49 age demographic are willing to make the show a TV priority.
The ratings and viewership for The Winchesters just aren’t pretty. While The CW will never rival the major broadcast networks when it comes to ratings, the Supernatural prequel doesn’t have the kind of numbers to make it as close to a sure thing as possible under the Nexstar circumstances.
In Live+Same day totals (a.k.a. representing the people who tuned in live) from SpoilerTV, The Winchesters Season 1 is averaging an 0.1 rating. Delayed viewing isn’t a saving grace either, as the Live+3 Day rating (a.k.a. the people who watched within three days of the initial airing) remains at 0.1. The rating does jump to 0.2 in Live+7.
When it comes to audience size, The Winchesters currently averages 0.432 million in Live+Same. The viewership rises to 0.650 million in Live+3, and then up to 0.820 million in Live+7. With the show’s Live+7 totals coming out to an 0.2 rating and less than a million viewers, it seems that even the teases of Dean Winchester haven’t resulted in a huge boost.
The Verdict
On the whole, the fate of The Winchesters may depend on whether or not all but two more of The CW’s shows are truly doomed. In a normal season without the Nexstar situation, the numbers that aren’t catastrophic by CW standards might not seem like such a big deal when the show has the strong Supernatural tie as a point in its favor. As it stands… well, there are seven shows still awaiting renewal: Walker, Walker: Independence, Superman & Lois, Kung Fu, All American: Homecoming, Gotham Knights, and of course The Winchesters.
Gotham Knights is still a big variable, as it still hasn’t premiered (and is bringing Supernatural vet Misha Collins back to the network). Of those seven shows, my best guess is for Superman & Lois and All American: Homecoming to continue. Behind those two, I would say that The Winchesters and Walker: Independence are each other’s closest competition.
Both are executive produced by (and occasionally feature, with Jared Padalecki recently making an Independence cameo and Jensen Ackles popping up here and there on The Winchesters) a former Supernatural star, both have ties to an existing show, and neither are dominant in the ratings. In fact, they’re comparable in the ratings and viewership. The Winchesters has the edge in ratings, as it’s the only one of the two to rise in delayed totals, but Independence has the edge in viewership after seven days.
Of course, the showrunner’s comments did raise the possibility of The Winchesters finding a home elsewhere if it’s cancelled by The CW, and it’s possible that it would do better on a streaming platform. Netflix is currently the streaming home of Supernatural, as well as most of the shows of The CW’s Arrowverse, Riverdale, and Legacies for subscribers. Additional CW shows are available to streamers with HBO Max subscriptions, including Batwoman, Superman & Lois, The Vampire Diaries, and Walker, to name just some.
For now, fans can only wait and see what the future holds (or doesn’t hold) for The Winchesters… barring any deals with crossroad demons, that is! The penultimate episode did give an indirect shout-out to Crowley with Rowena’s return. Personally, I’d be bummed if Supernatural fans lost any hope of seeing Team Free Will back together again!
The best that any Winchesters viewers can do at this point may be to tune in to the Season 1 finale on Tuesday, March 7 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. If you’re in the market for some viewing options once the Supernatural prequel has finished for the season, check out our 2023 TV premiere schedule!
