Hyped

My flippant answer would be “look at who they stan.” But I think that’s letting them off too easy (while acknowledging that is a part of it).

Jared isn’t exciting or fun. He comes in, does his job, and leaves. And I don’t even write that as an insult. It just…is.

They see Jensen fans getting excited over all his different projects. The shows, the publicity, the photo shoots…He’s turning into a “star” in front of their eyes, leaving Jared behind. Jared, who was number one on the call sheet. Jared who had steady work with the CW/WB for over 20 years…Jared, who they think should have the career and popularity that Jensen does…and they can’t stand it.

They see Misha just having fun with his life and continuing to amass fans. His panels are fun…his social media is both thoughtful and downright silly…he’s living his best life and doesn’t have to be starring in a tv show to stay relevant…and it literally angers them.

They have to start hashtags like “we love you…” to get Jared trending. His social media is stagnant unless he’s trying to sell them something or he’s promoting his wife. The most popular tweet about him was an AI rendering of him.

I’m not arguing that the show in its origins isn’t about 2 brothers. I’m saying it expanded to be SO much more than that. And the writers (Kripke) purposely triggered that when Bobby was introduced at the end of the first season.

As far as Sam v Dean, whether by design or due to Jensen’s talent and charisma, while it seemed given the storyline in season 1 &2 that Sam was written to be the lead, that didn’t bear out in the actual episodes.

It’s not like they could just go on season after season and not acknowledge Jensen was leading the show from like the third episode. People highly underestimate the power of knowledge when it comes to bonding with characters and “Dead in the Water” was all the primer we needed to know who the one to follow was.

They gave us everything in Dean, everything as he grew as a character. I still don’t know what Sam’s favorite food is, what his favorite book is, and who he is as a person who isn’t a victim of something. He was “ the victim” so often it just became his personality that people liked to coddle.

Jensen was hired first, to play Sam. They trusted him and wanted him enough he didn't even have an "audition". They had a meeting, which they flew in him from Vancouver for. They discussed the character and story, did a few line readings for feel, Jensen mentioned during the course of this meeting how much he liked the brother Dean but he was there for Sam and they hired him for Sam. Jensen even says in an interview during the pilot it was kind of a late stage change he went from Sam to Dean.(Before the "official story" was set I guess)

Then the network came in and strongly "suggested" Jared, I think they had some sort of deal with him. Jared auditioned and the producers still wanted Jensen, that's why Jared's manager, by Jared's own admission, had to call and basically beg Kripke to believe Jared could play an intellectual.

At which point they were kind of stuck - the network wanted Jared and the network was the one making the decision on whether if not the show would air, the producers still preferred Jensen and did NOT want to lose him.

That was when I think Peter Roth brought up Jensen had mentioned about his interest in Dean. So because Jensen is a good guy, was more concerned about doing something that interested him and telling a good story than his spot on the call sheet, it worked out perfectly. They didn't have to lose Jensen to satisfy the network.

But it was kind of late in the game and they had a basic framework for the story so they stuck with it for now but imo clearly with the idea that Dean was now going to be an equal lead and he was hired as such whatever call sheet numbers were. They knew Jensen had really kind of saved them from difficulty and drama by being a stand up guy, given they'd hired him and the actual people making the show (the producers) wanted him in the "no 1" role and backstage politics pushed him out.

If Jared had just done the professional thing and tweeted "congratulations" and then left Jensen a drunk angry voicemail in private, people might still have speculated, since there were theories about a rift between them for a few years at that point, but there wouldn't have been any hard proof.

Instead Jared basically picked up a megaphone and told the world, "We're not really friends anymore." Jared did that, and Jared alone.

Yup.

Publicly they don’t say any of this though. Publicly it’s all “Jensen is a bad friend.”

But the character, in my mind, is just that good and interesting (as is the actor who portrays him!).

And I'm not alone in that thinking!

Thanks to @sweetonsugden for pointing the US Weekly article out to me and Elwood Reid's quote:

"The goal isn’t just to bring Jensen Ackles back on Tracker. During an interview with Us, Reid didn’t rule out expanding the universe with a spinoff. 'I’m going to try to steal Jensen,' he quipped to Us. “\'We worked on another show of mine before, so I’m going to try to kidnap him back from The Boys [and Countdown].'"

Can't wait for all the Jensen & Toni scenes. 😎

Kripke:

Wow! This is such a good article. I love how much focus on his varied skills Jensen is getting.

Well worth the read.

EDIT: I had to come back and edit after reading the article. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually got a little emotional reading it because of how brilliantly and how perfectly they described Jensen Ackles as any character.

Few actors can fuse athletic aptitude with complex emotional storytelling. Jensen Ackles is that rare blend. He’s the thinking person’s action hero. In Countdown, we will see where his past meets his present: years of grounded, expressive acting now overlaid with heightened prowess and physicality. The result will culminate in a “leading man casting dream” come true.

Why Action Looks Different on Jensen Ackles

Some actors learn to fight. Jensen Ackles learned to move. There’s a difference.

tommyhaut 📸 Can’t thank you enough @jensenackles. One of the best to ever do it. A true professional and just all around good dude! Thank you 🙏🏼

@sonyalpha #a7rv

The least problematic out of j2m would be Jensen and the most problematic would be Jared.

While I admittedly have a bias, I don't see how either Jensen or Misha are problematic. Where are their laundry lists of things they've done that are problematic?

I've never found him attractive. And maybe I pay so little attention to him (I've seen nothing he's done since the SPN finale, I don't follow him or Gen on socials, I don't watch J2 panels, nothing) that I don't notice any changes. But he doesn't look any different to me? The beard grosses me out, but beards on 99.99% of everyone gross me out. Yeah, bad plugs/hairline revision/dye job (whatever) but that's not new. Squinty little eyes, pointy nose and chin and skinny legs. Again, none of that is new. He looks kinda tired? Maybe? I guess? But he's what 45 now? He looks tired. So what?

What are you seeing that makes you say he looks ill or so much worse than usual?

I didn't see any red booze nose, bloodshot eyes, pallor, drooling, skin flaking off, obvious track marks, bruising, herpes sores, teeth falling out.. unless I didn't look close enough? Was he slurring and falling down or something? What?

(I might suffer from Jared blindness. I barely notice he exists at the best of times.)

He looks haggard and thin and about ten years older than he is. (He’s 42…not exactly “old”)

Hell on Fire Country just walking across a room made me think he was going to snap in two.

2021 (pre-car accident)

2022

2023

2024

2025

2025

https://x.com/azulasmind/status/1893317218881929235?t=RkbvIpCcNR-s5ej7fOtewg&s=19

The only thing that 1 (one ) fan asked was why jp doesn't participate on this stuff with the cast and his fans are acting like a legion is threatening jared life and burning his grandparents alive, they are so dramatically hilarious.

I’m crying over them saying Jared is Jensen’s “baby girl”

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Also, when did Jared ever take responsibility for his shittiness? 🙄

Funny how they “praised” him so much on the show that he was so wonderful, but they couldn’t find a spot for him in their spinoff? What, Sheriff Country doesn’t have firefighters?

😆

In all seriousness, I was just commenting to a friend here that I think Jared did more harm than good with his appearance on Fire Country. (And I don't even mean his character. His character wasn't even the worst part of that episode, and IMO the show has just gone downhill since that ep, not because of Jared.)

I think it showed that his ability to work as an actor is limited now - he's not going to be climbing buildings or appearing in fight scenes the way Jensen is becasue I think he CAN'T do it. Which should be worrisome to his fans. But they refuse to see what's in front of them.

The doctor show sounds like it would be good for him if it indeed didn't include a lot of 'action,' but even that seems to be so far off in the distance right now.

“ he was really doing it “ were awkward praise to me, like I would get after surgery for walking laps at the hospital.