Los Angeles Times: âTwo networks. A writersâ strike. COVID-19. Now, âSupernaturalâ faces one last twist â
âSupernaturalâ has enjoyed 15 years of masked and made-up characters roaming the set, but in the final weeks of production, a different type of mask was on the minds of cast and crew.
âIt was weird not seeing the faces that youâve been looking at for 15 years, because theyâre covered with a mask,â says Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester â a nomadic hunter of demons and other supernatural beings â on the show.
âIt was unique, but I feel like âSupernaturalâ has been through a lot. Writersâ strikes and network changes and characters dying and characters coming back and families and births and deaths,â says Jared Padalecki, who plays Deanâs younger brother and fellow hunter, Sam. ââSupernaturalâ is used to change, so letâs embrace it.â
(...)
What were your emotions going into filming this last season, given the times weâre in?
Padalecki: A lot of the unknown. I felt like, we have been going in to shoot a TV show for 15 years in ânormal times,â and now itâs like âHey, we have some regulations.â There are lanyards that have different colors and only certain people can be around certain people so we can contact trace if, God forbid, somebody contracts COVID[-19]. Thereâs a taped-off entrance and a taped-off exit so we can keep it one-way. All of the food is individually wrapped and thereâs no browsing at craft services.
Between action and cut, it was business as usual. Youâre with your director and your cameramen and women and your cinematographer and with your fellow actors and actresses. And youâre like âGot it. This is comfortable. This is like a warm blanket.â
Ackles: The good news for our industry is that youâre capable to be still working and utilizing these protocols to stay inside and stay healthy. I know that Jared and I, we take our cues from the reactions that we get from our crew members, which is essentially our audience. Our audience is the two-dozen people that are onstage with us. The guy holding the mike, the guy behind the camera, the one pulling the focus. We know that if we can make them laugh or make them cry or get some kind of emotion out of them, weâre doing something. And that got taken away. So that was interesting. We just have to rely on our instincts and on each other to tell each other, âYou hit it, you nailed it, you got it.â
I miss shaking hands. I know that sounds weird. I just miss giving someone a bro hug. I know that sounds trivial, but that contact is an important part of what we do on a daily basis in terms of the tone that we set on our set.
(...)
You guys beat out Harry Potter as the top fandom in pop culture back in 2016. How has your understanding of fandom changed by being on a show as popular as âSupernatural?â
Padalecki: No way! I had absolutely no idea. To be mentioned in the same sentence is really a testament to just how talented our writers and crew are, and just how wonderfully and passionately supportive our fandom is. Behind the scenes, we refer to âour fandomâ as âThe #SPNFamily,â as they have become a family of their own. Theyâve spent countless hours spreading the word about the show and showering us with the love and support that we certainly needed and felt during rough times. Being on the opposite side of that, Iâve realized just how much good people can accomplish together. A lot of them have made best friends, visited various cities, and raised an incredible amount of money and goodwill for assorted charities. Itâs been an honor to be a part of it.
Ackles: We beat out Harry Potter? Thatâs crazy! I think that the Harry Potter fans were probably just looking for a more mature show and that was us. I will say that the fandom that this show found, or that found this show, really have become an integral part of the success of this show. They are part of the fabric of what has kept this show alive and running as hard and as fast for 15 years that it has. They are also well-connected, which is really rare for a show that started 15 years ago. Itâs probably more customary now for fans to get online and have chat rooms. âSupernaturalâ started before the iPhone was around. We were still shooting on 35mm film.
It seemed that, during many previous seasons, the show couldâve ended. Now that it has, was your walk into the sunset what you imagined?
Padalecki: Letâs just say, our last scene â we donât know if theyâre alive or dead, but the last scene that I filmed as Sam Winchester, both as Sam and as Jared, I could not be more happy.
For the first several seasons, and thatâs the nature of TV, itâs written to where it could end or it could stay around because you donât really know for a couple of months whether youâre going back to work or not. I would say that probably when Mark Pedowitz came into the network and said he believed in the show, thatâs when I was like, âOK. Letâs make the show that we only can do with the support of the head of our network.â
Ackles: I feel like this was the version that needed to happen â that needed to exist. There couldâve been other ways of maybe getting to there, but I think the finality of this is right. I also think that this couldâve been done a long time ago. To be fair, Eric Kripke, who started the show and created the world, said he had five years and he stuck to it. That couldâve very easily been the whole run of the show. The fact that he left that door open and we were able to go through it and find another 10 years of story was just a testament to what a great world he built and what great characters he created.
What kept you around for 15 years?
Ackles: Thereâs an old adage in Hollywood, âYou want to see an actor complain, give him a job.â Well, that wasnât going to happen with me. The last thing I wanted to do was sabotage a good gig just to go back and find another one. I was super stoked right off of the bat with the story and this character. Itâs the kind of character I always loved seeing in movies. The character was modeled after Han Solo and another one of Harrisonâs [Ford] characters, Indiana Jones. He had some of that flavor in there. Kind of a John McClane. ...
When it comes down to it, why did I stick around all these years? Because I truly loved it.