Supernatural prequel The Winchesters in the works, Jensen Ackles to narrate

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Although the CW series Supernatural wrapped up its fifteen season run at the end of last year, stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki both seemed confident that they weren't truly done with the franchise. That's proving to be especially true for Ackles, as it has been announced that he and his wife Danneel will be executive producing a Supernatural prequel series called The Winchesters that is now in development at the CW. Ackles will also be reprising the role of monster hunter Dean Winchester for the show, but in this case he'll be the narrator rather than a lead.

Supernatural alum Robbie Thompson will be writing and executive producing The Winchesters, which has has the following synopsis: 

Before Sam and Dean, there was John and Mary. Told from the perspective of narrator Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), The Winchesters is the epic, untold love story of how John met Mary and how they put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world.

Warner Bros. Television is producing The Winchesters with Chaos Machine Productions, the company Jensen and Danneel Ackles formed last year. Chaos Machine's head of development is Renee Reiff.

Jensen Ackles gave this statement to Deadline:

After Supernatural wrapped its 15th season, we knew it wasn’t over. Because like we say in the show, ‘nothing ever really ends, does it?' When Danneel and I formed Chaos Machine Productions, we knew the first story we wanted to tell was the story of John and Mary Winchester, or rather the Supernatural origin story. I always felt like my character, Dean, would have wanted to know more about his parents’ relationship and how it came to be. So I love the thought of having him take us on this journey."

I'm not even halfway through watching the show (I've only reached the middle of season 7), but I am a fan of Supernatural, so I'm glad to hear that it will continue in some way beyond season 15. The only downside to this news is that Ackles didn't notify Padalecki that this was in the works, and Ackles' longtime co-star has said that he's "bummed" and "gutted" that he has no involvement and had to hear the news through Twitter.

Dude. Happy for you.
Wish I heard about this some way other than Twitter.
I’m excited to watch, but bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever. https://t.co/bAcEvFKM7p

— Jared Padalecki (@jarpad) June 25, 2021

No.
It’s not.
This is the first I’ve heard about it.
I’m gutted. https://t.co/1i8eC8YAdV

— Jared Padalecki (@jarpad) June 25, 2021