Supernatural in The Big Easy: SPN NOLA 2023

Supernatural in The Big Easy: SPN NOLA 2023

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I have enjoyed every Supernatural convention that’s been in New Orleans, which is one of my favorite cities in the US. The food is incredible, the history and architecture are fascinating, and it’s a place where people are determined to relax and have fun – which makes it a great place for a con. This year was the first time it was a Road So Far Creation con instead of an official Supernatural con, but it was once again a wonderful time, in part because I had lots of friends there.

And because  – New Orleans!

My friend Tedra brought a bunch of free postcards to put at my vendor table, from artist @sfwFandD, which were needless to say very popular.

I love when fans do things for other fans just out of wanting to share the joy – so much of what makes fandom special!

(Also they made great bookmarks for the books)

I had to work later than usual, and then flights were wonky, so I didn’t end up actually getting there until Saturday late afternoon – which meant I missed a ton of panels and people that I really wanted to see. First Misha panel I’ve ever missed, I think. Boo work.

I did make it in time to have dinner with friends, and for the Saturday Night Special, luckily!

This was a uniquely awesome SNS because the stage at this venue was very very far from the first row of seats (which makes no one happy) so the ever resourceful Creation tech team constructed a catwalk to bring out a portion of the stage – and every single actor and musician seemed to love it as much as the fans did!

Kim performed one of my favorite Blondie songs, which is a perfect fit for her.

Creation’s own Stephanie Dizon performed, which she used to do a lot back in the day, so it was great to have her (and her great voice) onstage again.

It’s also great to have Gil McKinney back – at the cons and at SNS singing. (Check out our exclusive interview with Gil recently here if you missed it)

And look at those fabulous back up dancers aka Kim and Briana!

And newcomer to the cons JoJo Fleites also joined in the SNS.

They absolutely blew everyone away with their beautiful rendition of ‘Hard Times Come Again No More’ which was also performed this season on ‘The Winchesters’. Wow!

‘The Winchesters’ cast is as talented as Supernatural’s actors have always been apparently – Meg Donnelly also performed, showing off her onstage experience.

Of course Jason Manns and Rob Benedict sang the traditional Hallelujah, always moving with their beautiful harmonies and having the audience sing the chorus.

Briana Buckmaster made excellent use of that catwalk to bring the house down too.

Of course you can’t have an SNS without Louden Swain, who rock it every single time.

They also enjoyed the catwalk and made good use of it!

 

The band did an acoustic version of the classic ‘She Waits’ that brought tears to my eyes, fans waving finger lights in support making it extra moving.

And then everyone joined in for a rousing rendition of the Beatles ‘Come Together’ to close the show.

 

Sunday morning was the gold panel with Jared and Jensen, as always. Jared looked a little bit Sam Winchester and Jensen looked a little bit Western and both looked amazing. Shocking, I know. Their hair is more or less the same length now, after all those years of Jared being “the long haired one” lol.

They also enjoyed the catwalk, because of course they did!

Jensen was the loose cannon that morning, telling a dirty joke right off the bat.

Jared (laughing already): It’s 11 am, Jensen!

He wasn’t the only one though. At one point, Jared (in the midst of dad jokes) proclaimed “I’m on fire!”

Jensen (deadpan): And I’m not gonna put you out!

They spent some time just chatting, which is always excellent fun to listen in on, talking about sending things to their Wordle text thread at 2 am.

As best friends do.

Jensen related a story recently when he heard some Dad jokes – and said he immediately thought of Jared.

We also got some new information that I have to admit made me all kinds of emotional, and nostalgic for Supernatural and ‘the old days’. Not that I’m not emotional and nostalgic about Supernatural pretty much all the time every day…

Jensen: I have the OG Samulet. It was so heavy, it tried to chip my tooth many times. In fact, that one is in the pilot of ‘The Winchesters’.

They talked a little about the series finale of Supernatural too.

Jensen: I’m glad the bridge scene worked so well. It wasn’t the original pre covid ending.

(That ending had Sam arriving in Heaven to Dean and alot of other familiar faces at the Roadhouse).

They were asked about playing ‘bad guys’, which all actors seem to relish.

Jensen: It’s fun to play the asshole. Soldier Boy doesn’t think he’s a bad guy. Like, Jared is a great guy, but he loved playing Soulless Sam.

Jared agreed. And both of them did an amazing job with those ‘bad guys’!

Jensen also gave us a tiny bit of information about the next time we’ll see Soldier Boy, which I for one absolutely CANNOT wait for!

Jensen: Soldier Boy pops up in The Boys spinoff. I was there with Kripke and we spitballed and collaborated on that.

Me and everyone else: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The Boys social media account: SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Jared (smirk): Wait, he “pops up”???

Jared totally should’ve gotten a rim shot for that, just saying. Too bad there’s no Norton onstage during the gold panel.

Jared and Jensen also got serious, talking about how they learned so much on Supernatural that they’ve taken to their new projects. Jensen said they learned confidence on SPN. Jared said that even the hard days felt good after what they’d experienced, and it taught them to “get through it”.

I love that everyone raves about their work ethic and the kind of set they created on Supernatural, and that now Jared has created a similar type of set on Walker. A legacy for sure.

A fan asked Jared about his guest spot on Walker Independence. He said he had so much fun on that show, riding horses between takes (with Matt Barr I’m guessing). I miss Windy so much, what a beautiful and unique show. Fingers crossed all the boys’ shows land on their feet somewhere!

It was a great gold panel, and Jared and Jensen thanked the fans and walked offstage with Jensen’s arm slung around Jared and a little butt pat in return. I love the way they always end their panels with some acknowledgement for each other of “hey we got through it”, just like they talked about learning on Supernatural together.

Sunday also had a Mark Sheppard panel, which I  managed to catch some of. I missed Mark Sheppard SO much when he wasn’t doing these cons, and it’s so wonderful to have him back. His genuineness and honesty is refreshing, and his panels are invariably a mix of inspiring and hilarious.

He said they have a new puppy, which is proving challenging – as it always is!

Mark got a bunch of questions about Crowley and the show.

He said that there’s a great deleted scene where Crowley exploded a woman, and there were gallons of (fake) blood spraying all over, but Standards and Practices said no. (Which is weird because just think of some of the things Kripke and co got away with!)

Mark: I loved that in the scene of Crowley and Jody, on his phone the call from Dean comes in as “Not Moose”.

Us too!

Fan: What happened to your hell hound?

Mark: Juliet? Probably got a series on The WB…

Lol

Mark said that the foursome of J2M2 was both wonderful and challenging.

Mark: They hated putting the four of us together because chaos just ensues…

He also cracked up remembering the ONE time Jensen Ackles couldn’t get a line out.

Mark: Jensen never makes mistakes. But that ‘slapped by a girl in a Zorro mask’ line? Probably 20 takes!

He also had some serious things to say about the show we all miss.

Mark: Supernatural brought people together. It’s about love, about brotherhood.

As he was talking about how special Supernatural is, he walked over to me to say hello.

Mark: You know that, you wrote a book about it!

(I did – Family Don’t End With Blood. And Mark has an inspiring chapter in it all about how special the Supernatural fandom is. There’s a link at the end of this article if you’re curious what all the other actors had to say in that book)

As Louden Swain took the stage to end his panel, Mark had some heartfelt words for the fandom.

Mark: A Supernatural convention is the best place in the world to have a heart attack, because everyone will help you.

Rob: Or a stroke!

(That’s what Rob writes about in his chapter of Family Don’t End With Blood, in fact – the time he did have a stroke at a Supernatural convention, and how the SPNFamily helped him survive it after it was touch and go for a while there.)

The next panel was Walker – Keegan Allen, Jeff Pierre and Mitch Pileggi.

They had such a good time, and were thoroughly entertaining as a panel.

Mitch when they told him that Jeff was joining the cast: Another great looking guy???

Jeff teased Keegan, wanting a little credit for Trey in helping save Liam’s life.

As most Walker fans know, Keegan Allen is a gifted and prolific photographer, gifting the fandom with lots of gorgeous bts set photos.

Mitch: When Keegan takes out his camera, it’s all blue steel all around. Jeff never takes a bad photo!

Keegan: He’s an Adonis…

Audience: does not disagree

The writers and WGA are currently on strike, which has raised awareness for a lot of people about the reasons that strike happened. Keegan, at this convention, expressed his appreciation for the Walker writers.

Keegan: Our show is an actor’s dream because the writers welcome collaboration.

They all expressed appreciation for Jared as their Exec Producer.

Jeff: I was worried when Micki left as a character, but Jared called and said, ‘don’t worry’.

Also Jeff: Working with Jared is a challenge because he’s great but I like to stay in character and he’s a prankster!

Some things never change!

Then it was time for the J2 afternoon main panel – which meant Jared, Jensen and Rob HAD to use the catwalk for their jumps because of course they did.

 

Jared and Jensen also had to take to the catwalk for a little “male modeling”, Jensen demonstrating that he hasn’t forgotten what he learned when modeling as a kid lol

I love that both J’s are perfectly comfortable being dorks and telling us stories about them being dorks, without a trace of embarrassment or need to “look cool” in front of their fans.

Jensen said he recently tried to impress the kids doing a drum solo in the car – and threw his neck out. Ouch.

Jared said he threw his back out trying to do a four minute plank on the USO tour he did recently.

Also ouch.

They both have a sense of humor no matter what is brought up, which is why their panels are so much fun.

Fan: If I were Jensen, I’d just stare in the mirror…

Jensen: …

Someone asked about voice acting and they both agreed that the experience can be challenging.

Jared told a story about how difficult (and stressful) it was to do the voice acting for the animated Supernatural series, and Jensen patted his knee in reassurance, immediately remembering and trying to comfort him as he recalled being traumatized by trying to match the audio to the already filmed anime.

Also Jensen: That’s why I didn’t do it!

They have their strategies for such things though.

Jared: We have an ongoing joke about doing things badly on purpose…

(To get out of having to do them!)

Jensen talked about being able to use an actual Led Zeppelin song on ‘The Winchesters’.

Jensen: Kripke was like, how did you get Zeppelin? I said, name your kid Zeppelin…

(And pay the band well, of course)

Someone asked what would Sam say if Baby was possessed and had to be put down – which, why, fan, why??

Jared: Get up to Heaven and wait for my brother.

Me: Awwww

When it comes to Supernatural, they both said they knew early on that it was something special.

Jared: I felt like we had lightning in a bottle from the pilot.

Me: Us too!

Jensen: Wendigo (the second episode) was an important episode, because we knew we were taking this journey together.

Jared: Especially in the beginning, it was nice to be in Vancouver. We weren’t distracted and we were loving the process.

Jensen: There was the least amount of problems and drama on Supernatural than on any other show.

He said that because of all the time he got to spend on that show, he got to know it (and his character) the deepest.

Jared and Jensen: The hardest part of Supernatural was walking away from it. The best part was the relationships we made along the way.

Me: Tissues!

Jared and Jensen: When we walked away from Supernatural, it wasn’t goodbye. It was see you later. Ask us again in 2025!

Me: More tissues!

Jared and Jensen took to the catwalk to thank the fans, fist bump and butt pat, and sign off.

What a great panel – and I’m definitely gonna miss that catwalk!

 

I caught a little of Ruth Connell’s panel before I had to run out to close up the vendor table – one of my favorite people!

Ruth made good use of the catwalk too.

Ruth on working with Jared and Jensen: It was fun!

Everyone: We do not doubt this…

Nola was such a fun con because of the friends I got to spend time with, including the friends I met when they started an online book club to read Family Don’t End With Blood.  It’s still up and running, and over the years some of the Supernatural actors and writers have even dropped in to chat with the book club about their chapters in the book, because that’s just the kind of cast and crew they are.

We all got a Baby op and had a blast clowning around with her, and then we ended the con with a delicious dinner at a local restaurant with an outdoor patio – good music, good food, and best of all, good friends. It feels so good to just sit around the table and talk about this show we love so much.

The next morning, it was the traditional Cafe DuMonde with my roomies before we all went our separate ways…

I’m cherishing it, this whole incredible experience, every single moment I get to have it.

Additional (beautiful) photos by Liz Madsen Photos.

–Lynn

You can read about what makes Supernatural

and its fandom so special in Family Don’t End

With Blood and There’ll Be Peace When You

Are Done, with chapters by the actors and

the fans – links here or at:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 thoughts on “Supernatural in The Big Easy: SPN NOLA 2023”

  • Thanks for the comprehensive report, as always, Lynn! I don’t know where you get the energy to write it all up, I have enough trouble uploading a video after I’ve been to a con. 😂

    Reply

  • That’s why it took me over a month to finally do this one lol – and I still have NJ to write up too! I’ve been doing it for so long, I’m trying to keep going for as long as I can so I have a complete record of many of the SPN cons. A piece of history, if you will!

    Reply

    • It’s a cool legacy, and rather more positive than sewing discord on Twitter! What you do makes people happy and these days that’s a precious rare thing.

      Reply

  • Hey, Lynn! My daughter, her boyfriend (who she had heard was a Supernatural fan before she met him, so she walked up to him in the gym and told him she was, too, and they’ve been together ever since!), and I got to go to SPNNOLA and loved every minute of it, so thanks for a revisit! We all took Friday off to get there early so we could see Tim Omundson’s panel and get our photo-ops because we loved him on Supernatural and also in Psych. He was such a sweetie and inspiration to everyone! That catwalk was amazing and I know every guest, especially those who performed, loved it as much as we did! I wore my Air Force Mom t-shirt and thanked Jared for the USO trip, trying not to cry, and he said it was an honor, also trying not to cry. I got to talk with Cliff for a few minutes and he said Jensen and Misha also would love to do that, so I know they’ll be trying to fit it into their demanding schedules if they can. I saw you from a distance with your friends but never did get a chance to say hey personally and thank you for all that you do, so maybe another convention someday. Until then, I always enjoy and appreciate your episode reviews and convention reports! Take care and God bless!

    Reply

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