I'm pretty sure Jared was/is aware of the state of Jensen's marriage. But I don't think that played any part in him forgiving Jensen. Jared said that he had to think intensly about salvaging the friendship or to move on. I guess they were more points on the pro side than the contra and that's why he choose the friendship. But I also think that Jared gave him a hard time and talk. I think that Jensen apologized and groveled in their mano-a-mano talk and Jared believed and forgave him.

Jensen knows how much he fucked up with prequelgate, you can see how uncomfortable he is when it comes up. He himself probably wants to forget it ever happened.

1. First and foremost I still love the shit out of Sam and Dean. I have for going on 13 years and I don’t foresee that ever changing regardless of what happens in the lives of the actors or anyone else’s real life. Sam and Dean hugging each other is the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I see before I go to bed at night. The characters to me are different entities than the actors.

2. I am still firmly team Jared but I am not a Jensen hater or anti Jensen. I’ve forgiven him as much as I can for prequelgate and I am indifferent to him at this point in time. I even gave his new show countdown a try- it’s alright, but I’m not sure yet if I want to watch more. I’m not much for heavy action shows. I am interested in the brain cancer storyline though.

3. I do still enjoy J2’s friendship and interactions and I do believe that their friendship is real and not just some PR stunt to make Jensen look better after prequelgate or whatever. I think Jared has too much love and respect for himself at this point in his life to be putting on a front for the cameras with someone who hurt him the way Jensen did 4 years ago. Jared would not sit back and swallow his feelings while making up stories about fake J2 outings and fake phone conversations at cons and letting Jensen say his kids still call Jared uncle Jared and vice versa. If Jared didn’t think Jensen was deserving of his friendship anymore, I think we’d know.

4. Related to the above, the biggest reason I’ve chosen to forgive Jensen for the most part is because it seems that Jared has and I trust Jared’s judgement. I am a Jared fan first but if Jared says he can sit at the table, than he can sit at the table- so to speak. My feelings on Jensen will never be the same as the were before prequel gate and I’m sure Jared and Jensen’s relationship will never be exactly the same either, but it does make me happy that it seems there is/was enough genuine love between them to maintain their friendship even after that fallout.

5. Back to the fun fandom part, I just recently started a full Supernatural rewatch and am at the end of season 1! (On DVD, with the original music of course). I’m loving falling in love with my beautiful boys Sam and Dean again- I might be on here musing about them from time to time 💕.

NO IT’S REAL AND DELETED SKDJKSJFKSD

It’s really long, but I think I make some valid points.

Supernatural was on for 15 years. There have been interactions with the cast, some crew, some producers, directors, writers, etc. due to the ongoing conventions and the existence of social media. Writers will talk about changes to scripts, actors will talk about filming, directors will talk about why they chose a certain angle.

Given that most of the fans/stans do not personally know any of the people involved or personally know anything about the things that are/aren’t going on, it’s weird the way some fans/stans speak so confidently about what happened with SPN behind-the-scenes, production, writing, casting, you name it! 

Especially when it comes to PrequelGate. People will state with their whole chest, that their version of events is absolutely correct. One J is an asshole, and one J is an innocent baby. Which J is which depends on who is talking. It can be either or both. The only thing that all fans who have theories have in common is that there is a definite good guy and a bad guy.

But the Js are still friends. They say they got over it and forgave. Since no one has given any details, I thought I’d join the bandwagon and come up with a theory of my own. One where there is no good guy/bad guy. So here goes.

I fully believe that the story of The Winchesters was not meant to be an AU. It was supposed to take place between 15.19 and 15.20, with Dean and Sam finding out about their parents.  They had to switch it to the AU version because of the leak, a new timetable, and the fact that Jared was no longer available. There is also a recent podcast (I don't have a link) where a writer from The Winchesters said that Robbie Thompson, the writer and show runner for The Winchesters, kind of knew that they were only going to get 1 season because of all the mergers/sales of the networks and studios.

Robbie Thompson said in an interview (https://tvline.com/news/the-winchesters-recap-season-1-finale-dean-heaven-multiverse-jensen-ackles-1234942742/)  “There was the spot that takes place in between Episodes 19 and 20, when what happens to Dean happens to Dean… So there was an opportunity to tell stories there, but that just didn’t work for me because we wouldn’t have access to Sam in that way, in a way that we could easily explain or at least emotionally explain, and that just didn’t feel like it was a story that certainly I wanted to tell and none of us did.” (Underlining mine) They wouldn’t have access to Sam because Jared could not be involved. Not because no one wanted him, but because he just couldn’t.

The reason I believe this is because of the following.

It starts with Virtual Con (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADYwrZ787a0) held in March 2021. In the video, the question about Chaos Machine projects starts at around 23 minutes. Watch Jared’s face throughout Jensen’s whole answer. He’s nodding along, looking at his screen, and not even showing the slightest surprise in what Jensen is saying. He doesn’t because he already knows. To me, that is the face of someone who already knows what the other person is talking about. Jared already knows which projects Jensen is working on. He knows which alum he is talking about. So he just sits there and lets Jensen answer.  His quip at the end that he will also be acting in it is just that, a quip for the fans.  Because (supposedly) he is bound by a 5-year contract to CBS. He can not legally get involved in Jensen’s project with WB. He can acknowledge that he knows about it, but he has to show that he is absolutely not involved. 

Next is the announcement of The Winchesters in June 2021 by Deadline. There were tweets by Jared that said he was upset that he didn’t know about it and that he wasn’t involved. There was also a tweet directed at Robbie Thompson calling him a back stabber that was later deleted. And, silence from Jensen, because he was unable to come online and address anything because he was on set in Canada. 

Things were set in motion that were not meant to be put in motion for a while. I don’t think Chaos Machine was ready to start casting/filming yet. I think Jensen and Jared were trying to make it work with CBS so that Jared could be involved in the prequel. But those talks weren’t finished, or possibly even started yet. But the leak by Deadline, the WB/Discovery merger, and Mark Pedowitz leaving, combined to put pressure to do the show sooner, while Pedowitz was still in charge. If they waited, then nothing might come of Chaos Machine’s deal with WB once the new owners came in. Maybe they were waiting for Jensen to finish shooting The Boys to get together and talk about all this, but they still hadn't.

And this is what Jared was upset about. He thought there was time before the show would start, so was surprised that it was announced without him knowing. It also explains why he thought Robbie Thompson back-stabbed him. Because he was going to be a part of this show, and now he couldn’t. He couldn’t even say he had been part of the development from the beginning because it would be against his contract with CBS. He can’t even say wants to be a part of it now, because again, it would be against his contract with CBS. He’s upset, because he hasn’t had any communication from Jensen about this going through, and Jensen was also unreachable. So he vented online a little.

Once this narrative that Jared was never involved, and would not appear in it, spread, all of them had to run with it. Jensen apologized for not telling Jared. He said he was superstitious. He wanted to tell Jared, but he didn’t have his phone. That he was on set. That Jared couldn’t participate because he was busy. Etc. etc.

But, when Jared spoke with Jensen, and was (possibly) made aware that the news came out because it was leaked, and that they didn’t have time to clue Jared in, and (possibly) they were thinking of doing the show sooner because of WB, Pedowitz, Zaslav, etc., and that they were still in a holding phase, Jared forgave Jensen.

All of the above explains the inconsistencies and “lies” and “tantrums” and finally the forgiveness, and moving on. 

I choose to believe that neither Jared nor Jensen are entitled assholes. They do not owe the fans any BTS details.