Somehow it’s been five years since the Show that changed my life aired its final episode.
Last year I wrote that same sentence (with a four obviously). It’s still true that November 19, 2020 seems like a lifetime ago and yet something that happened just yesterday. The entire world has changed since then, but all those changes seem to have only made Supernatural more relevant. Its message, to “always keep fighting” no matter what the odds you’re up against, is a reminder needed now more than ever. There are days when it seems hopeless, with so many things going in the wrong direction – but then I remember, that’s what Sam and Dean faced just about every day. And they never gave up.
That might be Supernatural’s most powerful legacy – giving us some inspiring role models to help us keep going when problems seem insurmountable. I can still rewatch an episode and feel just a little bit more hopeful, and some days I really need that.
Five years ago, I turned on my TV to watch the series finale live, as I had watched almost every single episode of Supernatural for the past 15 years. Jared, Jensen, Misha and many of the other actors tuned in too, all of them as emotional as we all were.
I had friends on zoom to watch “with”, but the rest of the family knew to give me some space because there was sure to be some ugly crying. (There was, and they were probably grateful to miss it!)
Misha pulled off the crying alot better than I did.
My tears then were for a multitude of reasons. Sure, Dean dying was agonizing – and a master class in acting from Ackles and Padalecki – and I let myself sob so much I felt sick, quite literally.
Sam grieving his brother, and the perfect music cues that accompanied that, kept the tears flowing.
The montage that followed, the realization that the cycle was broken, that Sam did live and left hunting and had a life while he waited to join his brother – that made me cry too. Not out of sadness, but out of appreciation for what the Show managed to do in its ending, and how much that made sense to the story I’d been following for 15 years.
I cried through the bridge scene too, smiling through my tears – emotional with gratitude that the Show allowed us the only kind of happy ending that made sense for the Winchesters. Seeing Sam and Dean’s joy in being reunited warmed my heart – seeing the behind the scenes photos of Jared and Jensen celebrating all they accomplished over those 15 years did too.
And then Supernatural gave us an extra gift. They included all of us – the fans who had kept Supernatural on the air for all those years – in its final goodbye. We all got to hear Bob Singer call “cut” for the last time. We all got to metaphorically stand on that bridge and say goodbye to something that has meant so much.
I’m still grateful.
I worried that the fandom would disappear after the finale – that it would finally fragment for good and people would drift away to other shows and actors and fascinations. Of course there’s been some of that. Social media platforms have changed, fans continue to split into factions who see the Show and the characters differently and struggle to allow others their own perspectives. Other shows have captured fans’ imaginations. And yet, five years later, there is still an active and vibrant fandom. Sometimes the factions arguing about whether Dean or Sam was John’s favorite or what the color of a wall really means threaten to take away some of that joy, but then I realize that means people still care enough about the Show to argue about it – so I should really be grateful when I see the passion still there in the arguing!
I’m even more grateful that creative and talented fans are still making edits and videos and art and fanfiction and writing articles about the show. They’re still passionate enough about it to spend their hard earned cash to go to conventions – even now, five years later, there are more Supernatural conventions than any other show. Every time I’m at a con, the number of new fans who just discovered the show and binged it is shocking. In a good way!
That means the Supernatural actors have stayed close too, spending time together at conventions and in their free evenings during those weekends. Most casts wrap filming and go their separate ways, but this cast never has completely – and it seems like they like it that way. Rob Benedict and Richard Speight, Jr. bring their fellow actors together on their Supernatural Then and Now podcast regularly, along with the writers and producers and crew who helped make the show so amazing. Jared starred and Jensen directed and Jake Abel guest starred on ‘Walker’. Rob, Rich, Ruth Connell and Gil McKinney joined Jensen on ‘The Winchesters’.
And coming up, we’re a very very lucky fandom indeed – because Jared, Jensen and Misha are all reuniting in an episode of ‘The Boys’ thanks to Supernatural creator and The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke. To say that I’m looking forward to that is such an understatement, it’s laughable.
I’m glad the actors have stayed close, but I’m even more grateful that the friends I’ve made through Supernatural have remained close too. I met some of my best friends in this fandom, and those friendships continue to stand the test of time. We’ve been there for each other through a lot of ups and downs over these past five years, from pandemics to politics to personal crises. There are no better friends than my fandom friends, who are now way more than that – they’re forever friends. We met through Supernatural though, and I’m so glad that we still share a love for the show. I need people in my life who will never say no to a rewatch of The French Mistake!
Of course I miss the Show. For a while, there was talk about revisiting the Supernatural universe “in five years” – which would be now. Obviously that isn’t going to happen, and who knows if it ever will since its actors are busy doing all sorts of other exciting things. In the last year alone we’ve had Jensen starring in ‘Countdown’ and guest starring on ‘Tracker’ and Jared guest starring on ‘Fire Country’. Jensen will be revisiting Soldier Boy in Season 5 of ‘The Boys’ and starring in the prequel ‘Vought Rising’. Jared will soon start filming ‘The Bodyguard’. They’ve both got other projects in the pipeline as producers, and Misha is developing a film project and is in the process of writing a dystopian novel.
The fandom has supported them in all their subsequent projects – I think we all feel a special sense of pride when “our boys” are doing what makes them happy. But even if they never put out any creative content again, I’d always be proud of them for what they created with Sam, Dean and Cas. They created something unique – special – that changed lives for so many people.
It’s been almost ten years since we wrote Family Don’t End With Blood, and five years since we wrote There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done – both books were intended to celebrate all the ways that Supernatural is special. Its chapters, written by the actors and by the fans, are about all the myriad ways Supernatural has changed all of us. It’s a permanent reminder of what made Supernatural special.
A few months ago, a publisher contacted me to write another book, for a series of books on the TV shows that have mattered, that have had an impact. Unsurprisingly, Supernatural was one of them. I couldn’t say no. It seems fitting to be working on that book when the 5 year anniversary comes around. Because Supernatural HAS had an impact – on me, and on so many others. I can’t count how many people have stopped by my vendor table or emailed me after reading the books to tell me their own personal story of how the Show changed their lives – or saved it.
Five years later, my love – and my gratitude – are as strong as ever.
Thank you, Supernatural. I miss you….for now…
Lynn
You can remember all the ways Supernatural was
special – to us and to the actors – in their own words
in Family Don’t End With Blood and There’ll Be
Peace When You Are Done. Links on the home
page here or all the info at:
