The boys of Supernatural will have great careers ahead of them. Of course, since the show ended after 15 years, it's natural to wonder what Jensen Ackles will do as well as what Gilmore Girls alumnus Jared Padalecki will be cast in, aside from another CW show that is.
Fans of the show, which ran from 2005 to 2020 on The WB and eventually The CW, are still reeling from the spectacular series finale. Given that the show had survived being canceled on multiple occasions, it was incredible to see it fo that far. A 327 episode life-span is not at all what series creator Eric Kripke had in mind, according to an excellent article by TV Insider. Then again, Eric didn't know he was creating a special show about a brotherly bond. At the beginning of things, he was more focused on the horror aspect of Supernatural. Here's how the show became what fans knew and loved.
The Inception Of The Show Was Developed In A Pitch
Every series has a starting point, but it's really as clear-cut as a singular memory or moment of inspiration. Usually, shows take quite a bit of time to develop before they even make it to a viable script. And even after a show is finished filming and airs, it can take a few years for it to find what it's truly about. Eric Kripke's Supernatural didn't have THAT hard a time, but the writer didn't know he had found something special with the brotherly-bond story at first. When he started writing Supernatural in the early 2000s, after The WB asked him for a pitch, he just wanted to do a horror show.
"I came up with an idea about a reporter who traveled around in a van writing about urban legends. It was basically a terrible rip-off of [Kolchak: The] Night Stalker," Eric Kripke said." Susan [an executive at Warner Brothers] wasn’t interested in the reporter, but liked the area of urban legends and asked if I had anything else. The first rule of pitching: Always say you can ride the horse. I said, 'I have another version about two guys cruising the country, diving in and out of these legends.' Then, on the spot, I made up '…and they’re brothers.' I told her all my notes were at home and spent a week writing what became the pitch for Supernatural."
The Show Didn't Find Itself Until The Right Actors Were Cast
Since The WB was now expecting a show about brothers, that had a horror backdrop, Eric knew that he had to be very careful about who he cast. After all, the show was now largely dependent on the chemistry of the two people cast. Luckily, he found Jared and Jensen...
"Jared and Jensen were both in contention for the role of Sam. [Warner Bros. Television president] Peter Roth didn’t like any of our Deans and asked, 'Why don’t you make Jensen Dean?' So, we went and told Jensen that we didn’t know if he was interested, but he could get the part of Dean, and he said, 'That’s the part I wanted anyway'" Eric explained to TV Insider.
"If you had told me 16 years ago that I was auditioning for something that would go for 15 [seasons], I would have been even more nervous than I was," Jared Padalecki said, even though he had already been cast on Gilmore Girls, albeit not in a leading role. "We read through several scenes, and there was no applause or laughter. But after we came back from the waiting room, Peter Roth congratulated us and everyone stood up and started clapping. It was a pretty magical start."
Finding The 'Third Brother'
The 'third brother' on Supernatural, at least for the beginning of the show, was the 1967 Chevy Impala. It was Sam and Dean's home for many years and the story device that took them into new adventures. The car was vital to the series and even had its very-own POV episode in the 11th season.
"Having a car that was like the third lead of the show was really important to me," Eric said of his series. "When I told my neighbor in Venice [California], who was a mechanic, that I wanted a bad**s car and was thinking of a ’65 Mustang, he said, 'Yeah, a Mustang is the perfect car if you’re a p***y.' And without missing a beat, he said, 'You want a ’67 Impala because you can put a body in that trunk.' I ran to my computer to look it up, and it was perfect."
"The first song I listened to when I got in [my] Impala [gifted to him after the series’ wrap] was 'Carry On Wayward Son.' I see it in my garage and I already feel nostalgic about how many hours of my life I probably spent in that vehicle," Jared explained.
Together, Jared, Jensen, and that car made the series what it was. While the supernatural aspect of Supernatural was the first draw of the series, creator Eric Kripke found the heart on the fly in a pitch meeting.