this is such a confused take.
youāre mixing up two completely different things: narrative stakes and actor logistics.
first : prequels donāt live or die based on whether a character gets a āhappy ending.ā we already know where stories go and still watch them anyway. thatās literally how prequels function.
House of the Dragon didnāt fail because we know the Targaryens crash and burn. if anything, that inevitability is part of the appeal.
second : the idea that a prequelās success depends on Soldier Boy becoming ābetterā later on is just⦠not how storytelling works.
not every character is meant to be redeemed. and forcing that just to keep audiences comfortable is weak writing.
third : the age argument is honestly the least convincing part.
Jensen Ackles being āalmost 50ā doesnāt suddenly break the concept of a prequel. recasting exists. timelines can shift. flashbacks can be selective. this isnāt a new problem the industry just discovered yesterday.
weāve had multiple actors play the same character across different ages for decades. somehow audiences survived. (Batman anyone?)
if anything, the obsession with a redemption arc says more about the audience than the character.
people donāt actually want complex characters, they want attractive ones to be morally reassuring. (Youāre missing who Soldier Boy is and your moral compass is based on looks?)
and when theyāre not, suddenly the story is the problem.
be honest: this isnāt about storytelling.
itās about people wanting a bad character to be a good guy because heās attractive.