‘Supernatural’ News: Final episodes get tons of coverage plus Super Fan honor

supernatural final season jared jensen misha media blitz hits 2020

Our amazing Lynn should receive a huge MVP award from “Supernatural” as she has been a tireless champion of the show, writing a multitude of best-selling books about it. Plus, she’s written exhaustively long review recaps, making it feel like you’re watching the episode with her next to you on the couch sharing your popcorn.

Not many shows get fans that go to such lengths as going to all of their conventions and anything else related to the show. She has tirelessly helped to promote the show in every way possible, so we declare that “Supernatural” owes here the honor of SuperFan.

With “Supernatural” heading into its final episodes, there has been an avalanche of media coverage with Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, and Andrew Dabb doing plenty of interviews. Every major write up and interview is covered in this two-part article. That’s how much coverage there was. Plus, we all know how Lynn gets into deep detail.

This is part 1 of a 2 part article. Part 2 is here.

The End Begins

When I said I was going to try to document everything “Supernatural” related in the weeks before the show returns to the air for the last time, I had no idea just what that would mean. I’ve watched this show since the beginning, and I remember wishing for more media coverage, trying to get people interested in the show, telling anyone who would listen that “Supernatural” was the best show ever.

Fifteen years later, the world has figured that out. That was never more obvious than in the couple of days leading up to the show’s return, when it seemed like every major outlet from Variety to TVGuide to CNN had an interview with Jared and Jensen and an article about the show, and every CW local outlet had their 10 minutes of questions with the boys. It was incredibly overwhelming trying to keep up with the constant onslaught of coverage, and I was constantly emotional – so proud of the little show that could which, now that it’s coming to an end, is recognized for how special it is and what it has created.

There were also bits of news every day, all of it exciting. Jensen Ackles and his wife Danneel struck a deal to form a production company under the Warner Bros. umbrella called Chaos Machine Productions. Not gonna lie, I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that they’ll helm the next “Supernatural” project. Come on, Ackles, it’s a no brainer!

Jared Padalecki’s Haircut That Caused A Panic

Jared got a haircut, which left fandom in a collective panic about how short Walker’s hair was going to be.

Jared Padalecki haircut panic with SPN Fandom for Walker show 2020

Turned out to be a fruitless worry, because – in my humble opinion anyway – the new haircut is every bit as hot as the previous one! Fandom then turned its considerable attention to wondering what the new tattoo is that Jared’s sporting and what it might mean. Hmmm.

EOnline got in on his locks offering up a ‘Salute to Jared Padalecki’s “Supernatural” Hair.’

Jared started a new AKF campaign with Stands that included a plaid AKF charm and a stuffed AKF moose, which is seriously adorable. He did a facebook live about the campaign, which he hasn’t done in one million years and posted a gorgeous photo in the You Define You hoodie and with his new Walker haircut. Mmm.

Jared Padalecki tweet about moose you define you campaign

Jensen Ackles Buys A New Car

Jensen bought a new car, which does not do a damn thing for me but which he was clearly very excited about.

The company he bought it from was equally excited. And clearly “Supernatural” fans!

Jensen ackles buys hot bollinger b1 mega truck 2020
Jensen Ackles tweet to Bollinger B1 truck which he bought

Not gonna lie, I’m laughing at the Ackles family tooling around Austin in either their ’67 Impala (they took it to Starbucks the other day) or this new ‘beast’ of a car. Hopefully, they cut him a “Supernatural” deal as this truck costs $125K!

Misha Gets Naked For A Cause

Misha went naked to get out the vote, to fandom’s sincere appreciation, used his text line to help get the vote out, and made sure water and snacks were handed out to voters in Georgia standing in insanely long lines to vote, and generally kept on working to save the world. And look adorable doing it.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg – the last week and a half have been bursting with content. I’m very aware that we’ll never have this level of “Supernatural” news and photos and videos and collective excitement again, so I’m trying to savor every bit of it – and share it here so we can all remember just how amazing this time was to be a “Supernatural” fan.

Below are some of the interviews, videos, and articles that ran leading up to the return of the show. I  had no idea it would be this overwhelming to try to keep track of all of them! (Not like that’s a bad thing). I’ve included some excerpts and links to most of the media too. Phew!

Variety On Last Holiday and Naked Gun Episode

Variety ran multiple articles on “Supernatural” leading up to its return, including a preview of Episode 15.14, ominously titled Last Holiday, with some interesting quotes from Jared and Jensen. Having now seen it, what they said makes sense – that it gives us all a chance to laugh a little bit and see the boys allow someone to give them some breaks, and as an homage to the holidays that the boys had to miss and the bunker that’s become their home.

Jared: And how little Sam and Dean have asked for other things or gratitude. It’s a chance for the boys to enjoy this home that’s given them so much.

(That makes me think they might not have it much longer….especially since Mrs. Butters’ departure returned it to its partially warded state.)

Jensen: I think it’s probably one of those rare moments in the course of the show where we get to see the boys kick their shoes off, put their feet up and pat each other on the back and say, ‘Job well done’. But in true ‘“Supernatural”’ fashion, it doesn’t last for long and we’ve got to get back to work.

Fandom lost our minds over how GOOD the boys looked in their mostly single-layered glory, and about the glimpses of tattoos that we got. We’re so used to seeing Sam and Dean in three flannel-topped layers that all these tee shirts are a wonderful surprise. Anyway, back to the actual interview…

Every article that ran in the past week of course included how Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki felt filming the final episodes after so many months away.

Jared: Regardless of whether the final episodes were shot on their original schedule or not, the emotion that came with them aided in the work…I’m sure some of it is subjective, but there is a nice feeling, for the first time in ‘“Supernatural”’ [of finality]. We were able to treat it with the gravitas that it deserved — that it warranted. It was sort of like good acting by default because we could feel the finality [and] importance of it, so maybe just call ‘action’ and we were already in the right headspace.

I’ve heard about the text chain that Jensen, Jared and Richard Speight, Jr. have had that’s like the Naked Gun version of “Supernatural” for a while now – they finally broached the topic in this interview.

Jensen: We call it Naked “Supernatural.”

Jared: Not clothing, not clothing!

Jared Padalecki smiling staring at Jensen Ackles in tight t shirt
Jensen Ackles flexing tight shirt for Jared Padalecki

Jensen: Instead it’s like an episode where everything is any kind of horrible joke we could possibly fathom.

I know I’m not speaking just for myself when I say we would all pay good money to see that episode – and Jared agreed saying he, for one, would be interested in coming back to shoot that down the line.

New production company, anyone? First project? Full interview link below.

Second Variety Interview With Jared and Jensen

In a second Variety article, Jared and Jensen shared the emotional journey that this last season and the last episodes of “Supernatural” have been.

Jensen: When I showed up, it was our last day of filming at the studios and it was a big day, script-wise. And our third AD, Emma — we call her G.G., which is short for ‘garden gnome,’ because she’s little — she came up to me and was already in tears; she was like, ‘It’s our last day at the studio.’ And I just said, ‘Nope. No, no no, another day at the office, business as usual, don’t start that s—.’ That’s how I do the work.

I can vouch for the fact that Ackles has been saying this for the whole last season. I started asking him a year ago, when Season 15 began filming, how he was feeling and if it was hitting him yet. He shared his protective denial strategy and vowed to stay in it for a while – and he kept to his plan apparently! I tried to take a page out of his book and cultivate some protective denial too, though I confess it only worked sporadically for me.

Jensen said the same thing in the new CW promo spot – There were tears happening on set and there was emotion and I feel like I didn’t know how to process all the emotions so I just kept sweeping them under the rug, knowing that eventually I was gonna have to deal with it – and then Covid happened and I didn’t have to!

(For a while anyway!)

A few days after wrapping the show, Jared said he didn’t know if he’d unpacked what that final brother moment really means emotionally.

Jared: I’ve been avoiding really delving back into that mindset and what it means and what it meant… Like Jensen said, we had to treat that like another day at the office even though Jensen knew and Jared knew like hey, “Supernatural” is done come Thursday, we had to treat it like this may be the last minute of the Super Bowl but we’ve still got plays to make.

For me personally, I’d gone through a lot of emotions leading up to this, so I’d already cried a lot of tears and smiled and laughed and everything in between. So [in the last scenes] I’m sure Jared bled through at some times, but I tried to be as true to Sam between action and cut as I could possibly be, knowing it’s goodbye to these characters because the show is gonna be over…  I tried to keep all the emotions belonging to Sam and be the best vessel I could be to help tell his story.

Jensen: One thing you’ll see, for me, is the lines that separate the character from the actor get heavily blurred in Sam and Dean’s last scene together.

I’ve known I’ll be a wreck during the series finale, but reading this? It’s gonna be worse (and also better) than I thought. Stocking up on tissues!

Similar to what Jared and Jensen both have said in their chapters in There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done, they both said they’ll take “Supernatural” into their future projects.

Jared: I’m gonna take Sam Winchester and the lessons I learned from “Supernatural” into everything I do. Proudly. And probably outside of jobs, just as what kind of human being I want to be.

Jensen: (nodding in agreement) Dean will be a part of everything I do. The last 15 years was not just going to work, it was an educational experience. I learned a lot about everything I do. Jared and I didn’t go to school for this, we learned on the job. I never anticipated being this educated in what we do and I think that will only help us in what we do moving forward. I’m thankful for that and for what I learned in this experience, and I will happily take that moving forward into whatever I do.

Jared: It was sorta like good acting by default, because we could feel the gravitas and the importance of it. When they called action, we were already kinda in the right headspace.

He also said they didn’t let COVID stop any brother moments, with the costars getting tested every three days and only interacting with each other and essential personal, including the director, cinematographer and their key makeup and hair artists.

Cheatsheet Talks With Andrew Dabb

In an interview with Cheatsheet.com, Andrew Dabb said that eventually those emotions did hit Jared and Jensen.

Dabb: I think they both took it really hard. There’s a scene in the last episode which I won’t spoil but you’ll know when you see it, that it really hit both of them really, really hard. You can see it on screen. These guys, they’re amazing actors, yes, but they’ve also inhabited these characters for so long that they feel real to them and to us. The problem is when something happens to them, even if it’s a good thing, even if it’s something triumphant, I think they just feel it a lot more than your average actor would being handed a script and everything like that.

I think you see that a lot in the final episode. I think you see it all over the place. I’m just really, really happy in how it came together and I have a huge amount of respect and awe for these guys and how they were able to help us tell that story, or not even help us. They told the story. It’s all them.

(We are so damn lucky!) You can continue to the next part of this “Supernatural” News article here.