Why do the actors and writers give so many weird and contradictory statements about destiel? How can the actors validate fan POV by saying that "you can ship what you like", but at the same time insist that Dean is straight? Despite everything that happened on the show? A lot of people who are wondering about that, are forgetting that the actors are not necessarily telling what they think, but rather what they are allowed to say.
When SPN was filmed, the actors may have suggested small changes in the dialogue, but they were not writing the show. They had no control over the plot, but still were put out there to do interviews and promote the show, and collect eventual backlash from unsatisfied fans. The writers were not writing whatever they wanted, but had to abide to what the showrunners, the producers and, above all, what the studio allowed. And Warner Bros. said no to mutual canon destiel. Back in 2013 Chad Kennedy (WB executive) said that all leading characters on SPN are straight. And that stayed as the official company line to this day. Thatâs why everyone is still denying that Dean had any romantic feelings towards Cas. With Castiel one can argue that he is not the main lead, because he has less screen time than Sam and Dean, so he can be not straight, but still his confession scene was written ambiguously enough to allow many people to interpret it as a platonic one. And many of them did.
Why was the confession written ambiguously? Because if Cas has romantic feelings for Dean, then the most natural question will be asking about Dean's feelings, and the WB can't have people questioning Dean's sexuality (why WB is so rigid about their characters is unknown to me yet).
After Nov 5, 2020 many respectable news outlets were writing about destiel (examples here). We know that Cas' confession in 15x18 was the first thing Berens wrote when coming into the writers' room for season 15, so it seems to be an important part of the show and the last season in general, but did anyone from the press interview Jensen on Dean's feelings? I don't recall. The best they could do was to allow Jensen shortly talk about The Handprint in a scene euphemistically described as "Castiel's Goodbye Scene". Variety will do an interview with Jared and ask him about the blurry wife, but asking about a big arc of season 15, that is the Dean and Castiel's relationship a no-go zone. Some journalist will even admit that, in the past, they were forbidden from asking questions about destiel when interviewing actors, and it seems to be true even today.
The WB generally does not pay much attention to what actors are saying during conventions - unless that info reaches the media (that's why Jensen often seems to be pro-destiel during autos and photo OP, but avoids talking about it at panels - he knows that these will be recorded and put on the internet). In 2021 Misha was a little too loud about Castielâs confession being a âhomosexual declaration of loveâ, WB got mad, and then at Denver con Misha had to backtrack his previous statements and Castielâs confession was âopen for interpretationâ.
Generally, during panels, everyone can make jokes about âthe gay angelâ, but the moment when someone seriously asks about Deanâs feelings, everyone changes topic or talks nonsense, like: âitâs not a show about heterosexuality or non-binary â or âCas is an angel so he is able to love a level and on a plane that- that human emotion doesnât necessarily comprehendâ (notice how that one still is not addressing Deanâs feeling in that moment) or âDean was accepting Castielâs confession like a parent accepting coming out of a family memberâ.
Misha at one panel said that during confession âCas saw love in Deanâs eyes.â but notice how he didnât specify if this was romantic or platonic love and how he didnât say "in loveâ - because officially he isn't allowed to say that Dean was in love with Cas. And neither is Jensen.
During conventions Jensen can't say things like "I interpret Dean as bi, but in the show he is intended as straight". Imagine the pandemonium if that got out to the press. The WB would kill him. So he sticks to saying, that he interprets Dean as straight, but the fans can interpret Dean as they want. (Is this his genuine opinion or is he only presenting the company line because he has to? We will probably never know)
Robert Berens, Misha and everyone will say that only in season 15 they were writing Castiel as being in love with Dean (again, no one mentions Deanâs feelings), and stuff from previous seasons that can be interpreted as a sign of romantic feelings? According to Berens (and others), just a coincidence. All of that despite Brens writing himself in 10x17 that Cas is Deanâs Colette. Berens wrote Cain saying that Dean is living his life in reverse:
So for Cain the killing order is: Abel, Colette, the rest of his family. And for Dean the killing order would be: Crowley, Castiel, Sam. (also Cainâs story ends with him being killed, and Dean starts this season with being back from the dead). From a conversation in 10x17 between Dean and Crowley, we know that for Dean, the blood isnât the deciding factor for counting someone as family. In episode 10x02 Dean pushed Crowley on the floor and later in the episode wanted to kill him for ratting him to Sam (in 10x14 they are still not on completely friendly terms). In episode 10x22 Dean will beat Castiel and will be tempted to kill him. In episode 10x23 Dean will beat Sam and will be tempted to kill him.
All of this happened across multiple episodes, written by different writers, so it must have been coordinated by the showrunner.
And at the end, the most damning evidence, that Dean was in love with Cas, but no one is able to officially admit it: in 15x19 Lucifer is impersonating Cas, so Dean would let him in to the bunker. This is episode written by the Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner duo, so I doubt that this was their idea. Also Lucifer impersonating a dead love interest is a thing that is consistent across multiple SEASONS, so I would assume that it was something that was heavily talked about in the writers room.
