The Supernatural Cast Returns to Sunny Orlando in 2024

The last two Supernatural conventions of 2024 came one right after the other, so I decided to embark on a whirlwind trip to do one con on the East coast, fly to the west coast to have some family time, and then fly to the next – on the East coast again. So, Orlando to San Fran to Nashville! Seemed like a good idea at the time…

Orlando is one of my favorite con hotels, and it was glorious to escape the wintery chill for a long weekend. I had lovely meals outside under the palm trees, in the evenings the fire pit was cozy, and I even brought a bathing suit to swim in the pool and enjoy the hot tub.

Con/vacation combo, which is a rare thing for me as a vendor who usually has to rush back to teach. But I was on sabbatical this past semester, so I got to do things differently – and I’m very grateful!

Here’s my table, with thanks to the friends from TheSPNVerse who helped me get it set up (and the talented Cris Griffin for the new table banner)!

I caught some of the Matt Cohen and Adam Fergus panel – I’d just had such a nice zoom chat with Matt a few days before, all about his new project Public Domain. (Check out that interview here if you missed it). Matt wore his Public Domain apron and gave us an update on the series and some of the Supernatural casting announcements.

Matt and Adam share their enthusiasm about being dads. Adam told us that his twins were actually born on different days – at 11:59 pm and 12:01 am!

We got to hear a bunch of dad jokes, thanks to a fan who pulled up a whole book of them on her phone and was brave enough to give it to Matt. (Well, it wasn’t Jared, so…)

Adam and Matt never worked together on Supernatural, but they are connected via acting. Adam’s wife had a kissing scene with Matt on General Hospital, in fact. Afterwards she said to Matt, “now you know how Adam tastes!”

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Supernatural Charlotte Con 2024!

 

Charlotte is one of my favorite Supernatural conventions, mostly because some of my best friends are there – and that’s one of the best part of cons. It’s a short flight, and the weather was gorgeous that  weekend, and that made it even better. Jared Padalecki unfortunately had to cancel, which we were all sad about, but I know how reluctant he is to have to do that so I’m sure it was an important conflict. We missed you though, Jared!

I flew down on Thursday just to hang out, and on Friday caught a little bit of the panels with some of my favorite people on the cast side of the SPN Family in between being at the book table in the vendor room. That includes, of course, Ruth Connell, who has embraced some of her inner Rowena.

Ruth: I found out that my grandmother, who was the most practical woman ever, also read tea leaves.

Also Ruth: I’ll try anything once. Except a Ouija board, that terrifies me!

I’m with her – still remember some of my childhood exploits with friends at sleepovers, all of us convinced “It moved!!”

Ruth is always inspiring, just like the chapter she wrote in Family Don’t End With Blood.

Ruth: Everyone has something creative inside them.

She feels her time on Supernatural was sort of meant to be. Her first episode was called Soul Survivor, which was a perfect reflection of her life at that time too.

She was supposed to be in the series finale too originally.

Ruth: I was supposed to be in Hell, finding out the news about Dean in the finale.

Like pretty much every single one of the cast, Ruth also had some encouraging words on a Season 16.

Ruth: I’m ready to wager that Supernatural will be back!

Me: (crosses all fingers and toes)

I also love that she was wearing a comfy plaid Supernatural shirt with SW-DW embroidered on it. In fact, I loved her entire outfit (as I often do – she has a wonderful sense of style).

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Supernatural Conventions 2024 – Return to Seattle!

Seattle is a city full of memories – some of them wonderful, some of them not, and some of them bittersweet. As I flew into the city, I was thinking of my friend Krista, who we lost not long ago. I spent one of the most fun days ever with her and a group of other Supernatural fan friends in Seattle. Krista was our unofficial tour guide, taking us to the original Starbucks and demonstrating how to navigate the fish markets with her trademark finesse and sense of humor. And then we all returned to the con to indulge our mutual love of Supernatural.

Beautiful memories…but I miss her.

Some of my other really fun times in this city have been with my friend Alicia, who picked me up from the airport like old times. We hadn’t seen each other in WAY too long. We had lovely coffee and catch up chat time on another Starbucks patio, reminiscing about some of the best days of my life – the ones we spent on the Supernatural set, driving across the border after a con here in Seattle to spend the day sitting behind Bob Singer or Phil Sgriccia or whoever was directing, watching the boys film our favorite show and overcome with gratitude.

Again, beautiful memories…but I miss my friend and I miss my Show.

Then of course there was that memorable Supernatural con in Seattle that got cancelled after half a day by an unexpected snowstorm. Snowpocalypse made for an interesting Friday afternoon, especially because I also was coming down with a terrible cold. I was lucky to escape on one of the few flights that got out, back to the East coast but sad about missing the con.

This time went a lot more smoothly. (There were penguins to remind those of us who’d experienced it of Snowpocalypse though).

I caught some karaoke on Friday night, with some of my favorite people – Matt Cohen, Osric Chau, Adam Fergus, Julian Richings, Alaina Huffman and of course DJ Qualls.

It was like karaoke in the old days, with Adam Fergus dancing on chairs in the audience.

I missed most of the panels on Saturday since I was on my own in the vendor room, but this con was fresh off the series finale of Walker and Jared’s candid comments about the disappointing state of the network that was Supernatural’s home for so long, the CW.  Matt Cohen talked about how important those comments were in his panel.

Matt: From his position of success, it’s very important for a guy like him to use his voice and reflect exactly what’s going on in the industry.

He said that so many in their industry are in a crisis of not working, there’s the threat of AI, etc.

Matt: I want you to look up what Jared said and support our guy.

I love how they all support each other, then and now and always.

I did make sure to catch Misha Collins’ panel on Saturday – it’s one I never miss.

Misha had some memories of Seattle too, including the GISH French maid world record attempt with tons of people packed into a sweltering gym.

Misha: Eventually seven ambulances came because French maids were passing out, but people still held hands to break the record!

(Despite this, most of us who did GISH regularly still miss it lol!)

Misha has been quite active in politics recently, and said he’d just realized the debate tactic recently used (overwhelming with lies) is called “Gish gallop”!

He brought on stage a student who had selected him to interview as someone from Washington who’s had a positive impact for a school project – good job, Addy!

Someone asked what he was interested in at school.

Misha: I was a bit shy. I was always the new kid at school, so I would observe people a lot.

He said he was always getting hurt or injured on his birthday for some reason.

Misha: Shit, it’s about to be my 50th, I’d better be careful!

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Supernatural Nashcon 2022 – Friday and Saturday with Misha Collins and SNS!

Nashville is one of my favorite Supernatural conventions. It’s usually around the holidays, and it’s usually at the Gaylord Opryland, which is a ridiculous Disneyland of a hotel with a river running through it and a boat you can take from one side to the other and so much walking that it makes my still-messed-up knee hurt just thinking about it. But I kinda love it too – also it’s a con that a lot of my good friends go to, and that alone makes it special.

This year the con was in a different hotel (sans inside river and boat) and Alana didn’t make it, but Kim and I had a lovely room and I was thrilled to have her beside me taking photos – I’ve missed her photos but I’ve missed her being my partner in crime at cons even more! She didn’t make it to many panels but the ones she did make, whew, there are some pretty pretty pictures from them! So this con gets two posts, this one for all the Friday people fun and Saturday with the Saturday Night Special concert, and stay tuned for the Sunday festivities and the Radio Company debut concert wrap up – it was a busy and awesome few days!

I caught a little of Osric Chau and Adam Rose’s panel – when I walked in they were reminiscing about how they initially bonded over Osric’s Goku cosplay. I remember that! I loved the early days of the cons when Os would show up in some incredible cosplay and Gil or Misha or Jared or Jensen would have no clue what to say in response. Priceless!

The two got along famously, and were soon busy planning a joint birthday party – which would inevitably be amazing.

Adam has become internet famous for being the blue cardigan guy on TikTok. He said it’s always funny when someone knows him as that and then suddenly is like, wait, you’re on Supernatural??

A fan asked how he convinced Jensen to do the cardigan TikTok.

Adam: I said, wanna do a TikTok? And he said…okay…

Of course Adam was planning a new TikTok with Jensen – maybe an evil red cardigan? Or maybe one with Jared?

Osric: Do they make them in Jared size??

They were asked what Supernatural’s tag line would be, and pondered.

Osric: Bitch…jerk?

Seems legit.

Osric was asked about doing the first Supernatural HIllywood Show video and said he loved doing it.

Osric: How many casts are so down for doing a parody of their own show??

They talked about writing, which Osric is doing a lot of recently. He also wrote an insightful chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood about his experience playing Kevin on Supernatural, which I love. He said that he was so sad about his character dying that he snuck out after filming that scene without even saying goodbye, he was so emotional.

Briana Buckmaster and Kim Rhodes also had a panel on Friday.

Kim got some questions about autism and had some great advice: if you want to know about autistic people, ask autistic people!

They both talked about how much they loved working on supernatural, with how collaborative and respectful an environment it was for an actor.

Briana: It’s wonderful to work on a show that makes you feel like an artist.

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Supernatural Phoenix 2022!

The Supernatural Phoenix con was special this year – a lot of my friends were there, which always makes it extra wonderful. A bunch of us talked one of our friends into coming to this con, and then surprised her with friends coming in from all over since this would be her last con – yes, she’s over 80, but honestly she’s 80 plus years young! It was so wonderful to see how surprised she (and half of our other group of friends) was to see the other half, and to make sure that the guest of honor enjoyed every second of what will probably be her last SPN con (not that she’s going anywhere, but this is the local one for her!) It got me thinking that someday I’ll have my own “last Supernatural convention” and that made me need tissues. But it was also so much of what cons and fandom are about, making friends from all over who support each other all year long.

In fact, there are only a few “Official Supernatural conventions” left, including this weekend’s Nashville one and the long-postponed San Francisco con in 2023. It feels weird that the rest of the 2023 cons are not called Supernatural conventions, even if we’ll have Jared, Jensen and Misha at all of them and many of the ‘regular’ guests that we know and love. Change is inevitable, I know, but I don’t have to like it – or at least I get to be ambivalent about it! I am excited to meet the casts of Walker and Windy and The Winchesters and The Boys and Big Sky of course, I just want everyone who I know and love to stick around too. Good thing I’m not in charge of conventions, they’d have about a million guests…

Friday was a short day for me because I spent most of it either flying or having lunch with my friends. The hotel had an outdoor patio with trees and water and cornhole and it was absolutely lovely, so we grabbed a big table out there and just caught up. I made it into the convention center in time to catch some of Adam Fergus’ panel and hear his story about being scared of everything as a kid, including the werewolf he was sure he saw at night that turned out to be a hat and coat on the bannister.

Adam talked about how on Supernatural, Jared was surprised to find out he was Irish. He also said that recently he had to do a Texas accent for a role and wanted it to be believable – so he called Jensen! (Actually that was a joke – he said he always has a voice coach when he has to do an American accent)

Someone asked about his favorite episodes and he said that one of the reasons that Supernatural was on for so long was the great writing and the way they took risks, like Baby and Scoobynatural. So agreed!

Speaking of writing, Adam wrote a chapter in There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done all about his time on Supernatural and his appreciation of fandom that’s really interesting, if you haven’t checked it out yet.

Jason Manns was busy as the Friday emcee, and it was nice to see his smiling face.

Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster also did a panel, which started out with Briana channeling her inner Stephen Norton… Shhhh, don’t tell him!

Kim and Briana always have something inspirational to say, and this panel was no exception.

Kim: I am fucking allowed to feel good about myself!

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Creation Supernatural Convention Kansas City 2022

It’s been a busy couple of months! It’s almost Thanksgiving as I write this, and I’m finally trying to catch up on Supernatural convention posts – first up, Kansas City Con!

Three days after getting back from the Supernatural convention at Denver, I headed blearily to the airport again on Thursday night to fly to the next one in Kansas City. I’d never been there, and there had never been a convention there, so that was exciting – enough to keep me awake at least. My lovely roommates had a delicious burger and fries waiting for me, so that helped too. So did a good night’s sleep!

I am rarely able to be at a con on Friday morning, so it was a treat to get to see Gabe Tigerman’s panel. Gabe has a chapter in There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done, and he’s also part of our earliest books, both Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls and Fandom At The Crossroads, so it made me all kinds of happy to catch up with him.  A fan asked what he would do if he had mind control like his character, Andy?

Gabe: I’d do the same thing he did – steal Baby!

Favorite line?

Gabe: I have an evil twin! Though I wish it was identical twins so it could be like me fighting me with a mustache.

Like so many guest actors on the show, Gabe said that Supernatural was his favorite job.

Gabe: As guest actors on that show, we really got to act – and then do these conventions!

He wishes Andy didn’t have to die, because it made so much sense for Sam and Dean to just take Andy’s van and go hunting with him.

I was extra thrilled to hear him tell the infamous 5-legged steer story, about the time he and some buddies went to see the world’s largest groundhog and found it stuffed – and then were chased by a cow with a whole ass extra leg hanging off its side!

He also told the story of him fanboying Michael C Hall at a restaurant, and taking out his Invisalign at the exact moment that Hall walked by and said hello, so that Gabe looked up at him with a spit string attached to his Invisalign hahaha.

Gabe took an informal poll of how many times people in the audience had watched Supernatural start to finish – the winner was 35!!

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Julian Richings too – only in the Supernatural fandom does Death exuberantly take the stage like this!

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Supernatural Orlando Con 2022!

The Creation Supernatural convention tour returned to Orlando for the first time in a long time last month, in a new hotel with a very lovely pool and lots of palm trees. I got there just in time to catch some of David Haydn-Jones and Adam Fergus, David looking very Florida indeed. Without any context when I arrived, Adam was saying to David, “you like to go deep!” and David was agreeing. They like to joke that their panels are mostly innuendo, but I for one enjoy that thoroughly.

Someone asked who their characters were closest to on the show, and Adam said that there was a special bond between Mick and Sam – but that Mick also wanted Dean’s approval.

David said that Dean and Ketch grew close – after all, “I’ve tended Dean’s wounds…”

Kim and Briana were up next. Kim said she’d started watching Supernatural again and was up to season 4.

Kim: I forgot how much I loved the Ghostfacers!

What was the first time they met Jared and Jensen like?

Kim: The first time I saw them, they were riding mini bikes around the set playing catch with each other.

She thought oh god, they’re not going to be helpful at all when she had to do a big emotional scene after Jody lost her family, but the boys surprised her.

Kim: But when my scene started, they were both like, “what do you need?”

Briana: Jared and Jensen are amazing hosts. They’re so aware that they’re only as good as the people they work with.

Briana: I was introduced to Jensen and I just kept on walking because I saw his face and said, uh oh, that’s pretty…

Understandable.

Kim: For some reason, Jensen makes my upper lip sweat and all I hear when he’s around is mmmmmmm.

Also understandable.

Briana: Phil Sgriccia told Jensen that I was a professional comedian, so he took it as a challenge to try to make me break in the donut scene.

He failed.

Kim said that her character Jody had a special bond with Sam, because he saved her from having to shoot what had been her son.

Kim: That was the foundation of her trust in those boys. She would have died for Sam.

They both talked about how knowing the Supernatural fandom taught them that being on the ‘celebrity side of the fence, they still saw fans as loving – and that, for Kim, let her feel okay about loving Neil Gaiman as a fan herself.

The caption: weapon of choice or sex toy?

I’ve been watching too much of the boys, so my instant reaction was: both??

Friday night I had dinner in the outdoor courtyard under the palm trees and then joined a bunch of other fans in the ballroom to watch the Supernatural pilot. It was so much fun to watch it all together, everyone clapping at all the iconic moments. Damn, I love this Show.

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Supernatural New Jersey 2022!

I definitely could not have anticipated how eventful the NJ Supernatural convention a few weeks ago would be! It’s my “home con”, which means I can drive to it. I hate driving by myself so I was happy to be able to drive with a friend, and we headed out early, full of gleeful anticipation. All went well until we got there and drove around the parking garage – and could not find a single spot. I am not a fabulous driver on my best day, and an unfamiliar garage that was nearly impossible to navigate was not helping. My friend was equally nervous, so I couldn’t convince her to take the wheel either – so we gave up and parked at the hotel entrance. She stayed with the car while I went inside and asked what I should do if there were no spots.

Lovely security guy standing nearby: Ma’am, that’s not possible.

Me: I can’t swear that I didn’t just miss them in my panic, but I did not see any.

Lovely security guy (sighing): Okay, come on.

He rode in the back seat as we drove back into the garage, and patiently navigated our way to the entire wing of the garage that was hidden in the back. Oops.

Anyway, I’m a fan of the con hotel for life thanks to that lovely security guy.

In between being in the vendor room, which still feels like a family reunion after we all missed cons for so long. I caught a little of Kim and Briana’s first panel.

They’ve talked before about how much they loved doing some of their own stunts (and would have done more if Wayward Sisters went to series), but Briana also said that she didn’t really know how to move for some stunts. She did an imitation, laughing at herself the whole time.

Kim said she was inspired by the film Wonder Woman, especially how she looked out for her little sister, which was a very Supernatural thing to say. Similarly, they talked about how important it is to “get back on the horse” when you’re had a setback.

Briana: Just make sure you have your people around you. Fandom is a great example.

Kim and Briana together are always magic. There are so many lifelong friendships that were forged from this show and this fandom. They gave us some examples by reading their most recent text conversation aloud. Complete with emojis.

Kim talked a bit about shooting the scene of vamp Dean biting her, which she didn’t mind one bit – except that Jared and Jensen were busy making all kinds of jokes, including yelling for condiments!

I personally would not have wanted the Supernatural finale to end any other way, but I know some people found it really hard to have Dean die so young. Kim had an alternate ending: Sam and Dean turn out to actually be little kids playing, with a little toy Jody and Donna… then we pan up a tree to Cas… and Lucifer… in real life. Waiting.

Dark, Kim! But adorable too.

They gave us the good news that they’re about to record more of the Wayward Podcast, which I really enjoy. Yay!

If you’d like to hear more from Kim and Briana, they wrote very powerful and frank chapters in Family Don’t End With Blood – which are also very inspiring.

Adam Fergus and David Haydn-Jones also had a panel on Friday.

Adam said that David is more like Sam and he’s more like Dean in real life, though I can’t imagine either Sam or Dean in that velour track suit even if they were in New Jersey!

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Supernatural Indy Con 2022!

This was my first convention in Indianapolis, though not my first time there since I’ve been to other conferences and business meetings in the city. It’s a quick 1.5 hour flight so I got there on Friday in time to at least catch a few panels – though I was very sad to miss Gabe Tigerman’s panel. I love Gabe and I love his chapter in There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done – I at least got to say hi later that afternoon luckily.

I did catch some of Adam Fergus and David Haydn-Jones panel, which turned out to be delightfully full of all kinds of innuendo and just blatant naughtiness. These are good things imho.

David said he was lucky to get the role of Ketch. He had his final callback for Supernatural after working until 6 am the night before filming a Hallmark movie and he was exhausted. (But apparently not too exhausted to throw on a suit and be perfect for the part!)

Adam agreed, and gave him all the props for his portrayal.

Fan: Sorry David killed off your character, I liked him.

Adam: I liked him too!!

They had some amusing stories to tell, including the one about David and the motorcycle helmet – they couldn’t find one that was big enough to fit his head, so when they put it on it looked like a little kid’s helmet – which apparently was hilarious.

They also had a few serious things to say about their roles on the show. David said that one of his favorite character moments was when Mary told Ketch “this is just a one night” thing. He wanted to show a glimmer of broken heart in Ketch. Near the end, David said that Ketch also felt guilty and wanted to redeem himself.

David: In the hospital, that was the first time he called them ‘friends’.

Adam: Mick and Ketch were brainwashed as kids, but Mick was trying to break out of that.

Both Adam and David had lots of positive things to say about working on Supernatural.

David: The best working experience I’ve ever had is Supernatural. Jared, Jensen and Misha are the best, and the crew that’s been with them since the start and stayed the whole time, that really says something.

Adam talked about the first prank the boys played on him and then about the atmosphere on Supernatural and how special it was.

Adam: It’s so much fun to do what we do, and on Supernatural they are all so nice, and the leads never phoned it in – ever.

A fan asked about shipping Ketch with…. (pause)… Rowena?

David: I thought you were gonna say Ketch and Mick.

Adam: I was hoping!

Jason Manns helped out with the music and the emcee duties on Friday, along with Adam.  It’s always nice to have his beautiful voice on stage.

Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster were up next. A fan asked Kim to answer a question about working with the boys on Zach and Cody and Briana attempted to answer – hilariously.

Briana: So Zach and Cody were in the make up trailer…they liked to put on their own rouge and makeup… just like Jared and Jensen!

Kim: lol

Someone asked them their favorite words and Briana said “audacious”.

Briana: I love the word audacious. It’s used sometimes to mean that women are being too bold, but I love being told that!

Her favorite quote is by Isadora Duncan: “Darling, don’t let them tame you!”

Kim: I love the word “home”. It means different things to all of us, but we all know what it means.

Kim invariably makes me tear up at some point in the weekend. In a good way.

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Supernatural Closes Out 2021 with a Holiday Con in Nashville! Part One

There was extra excitement in the air when Creation’s Supernatural convention returned to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville earlier this  month – not only was it the last Supernatural con of 2021, but it was a chance for friends to come together to celebrate the holidays in grand style too. The Gaylord is a ridiculous hotel (but I mean that in the kindest way), so gigantic that there’s a freaking river that flows through it and you can take a boat ride down it from one side of the hotel to the other. It is always decorated like it’s Disney World, but for the holidays, they went all out. I am always slightly disoriented when I’m there because it’s a maze of bright lights and indoor jungle pathways, and have been known to get hopelessly lost and call my friend Alana to come find me. I don’t have much of a sense of direction. I also still have an injured knee, and a hotel that’s a boat ride long is not the best place to be when you can’t walk very well, but despite that, I was looking forward to Nashcon 2021. And it didn’t disappoint!

Friends who I hadn’t seen in far too long were at this con, and there were joyful reunions throughout. One group of friends had their whole room decorated like a motel the Winchesters would frequent, free postcards with gorgeous fan art on them hanging on their room door and free for the taking. Another group of friends proclaimed this “Gown Con” and packed their fanciest dresses, then posed for photos all over the hotel – which is just made for photo ops! Other friends wore their own unique versions of Santa hats, which ranged from nice to definitely naughty. I was reunited with my partner in crime, Kim Prior, who of course had her camera and incredible photography talent with her to make the con extra special (as you can see throughout these posts!). And it wasn’t just the fans who were glad to see each other – the actors are also grateful to be reunited, this time with Matt Cohen and Gil McKinney rejoining the fun.

I got in mid day Friday, and managed to catch a little bit of the threesome of Gil, David Haydn Jones and Adam Fergus. Their panels usually go a little off the rails and I always appreciate that.  There were sweet moments too though – Gil said that he can’t really facetime with his 5 year old daughter when he’s traveling because she just loses it seeing him when he’s not there. Awww.

Gil was also happy to talk about how it feels to be the Winchesters’ grandfather.

Gil: I mean, Jared and Jensen and Jeffrey Dean, they came out of me…

Gil told some of his ‘yes I was pranked’ stories from Supernatural, including the time there were suddenly filthy pictures on a screen, designed to make him laugh during his coverage.

Adam clarified what’s true about the Supernatural set and the pranks though, after sharing a few pranks he’d experienced too.

Adam: All that and the environment on Supernatural made it more collegial, made us all feel like part of the family.

David came dressed as a cowboy – maybe a guest spot on Walker is in order?  He said he knew about Supernatural’s reputation as a great show to work on even before he was cast, because his roommate at the time was a big fan.

A fan asked how it was to play someone so different from himself in Ketch, and David said it was fun simply because he was so different.

David: I’m gonna be brave enough to come out and say I’m anti murder…

The panel did go off the rails eventually, with a fan asking them to play truth or dare and something about if Supernatural was a telenovela.

David: I’d be Sam and Dean’s stepfather….and dominate them… (something about spanking…) …you’re welcome, Ao3!

The Adam and David bromance was in fine form too.

Awwwww.

You can read all about Gil’s experience on Supernatural and how the fandom changed him in the chapter he wrote in Family Don’t End With Blood, and about David and Adam’s experience in There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done.

Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster were next up, equally overflowing with affection for each other and the SPNFamily.

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