WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 15, Episode 20 of Supernatural, "Carry On," which aired Thursday on The CW.
After 15 long years on the road, Sam and Dean Winchester's journeys have come to an end. Along their record-breaking run of television, they've stopped the apocalypse; slain primordial entities; pissed off almost every angel in Heaven; brought upon them the wrath of God himself and eaten a huge amount of pie. Their legacies secured and their freedom finally won in the show's penultimate episode, the boys enjoy a subdued but heartbreaking epilogue in Supernatural's finale.
Here's what the end of the road looks like for Sam and Dean. And grab those tissues because, as the latter would say, it's very much a "chick flick moment."
Dean Winchester's End
John Winchester's right-hand soldier, the elder Winchester brother's life has long-been bathed in blood in the pursuit of the family business: "saving people and hunting things." Though Dean's hidden pacifistic streak eventually won out when it counted -- choosing to spare God's life in favor of a more fitting, lasting punishment -- there was almost no question that Dean would still always want to go down swinging. And he does.
After a brief respite (involving a pie festival, of course), Sam and Dean's normalcy is soon interrupted by a nasty home invasion case. Dean recognizes a skeleton mask worn by one of the assailants from their dad's journal -- a nice callback to the show's earlier seasons. The culprits are a nest of vampires who partake in a human "harvest," with children being their favorite prizes. Sam and Dean immediately track the nest down to rescue the two young boys they snatched from this particular raid.
Neither of them realizes it, but this is Dean's final hunt. After liberating the kids and decapitating their way through the horde, the largest monster of the group shoves Dean onto a metal spike protruding from a beam, fully impaling him. Unable to move his brother for fear of him bleeding out completely, Sam is desperate to call for help but Dean knows this is it for him. Making Sam swear to not try and bring him back, Dean exchanges a final, tearful farewell with him; his soul leaving his body as Sam tells him "it's okay" for him to rest, at long last.
On Earth, Sam -- and Dean's recently acquired dog -- give Dean a traditional hunter's funeral. Meanwhile, Dean is revealed to have made it to Jack's remade Heaven: a paradise that no longer traps residents in golden memories, but allows them to live in an organic, timeless neighborhood surrounded by their nearest and dearest. In Dean's case, that's OG Bobby, John and Mary and Bobby's old hunting buddy Rufus. There's even mention of the sorely-missed Castiel, too. Oh, and yes, somehow even Baby has made it Heaven, allowing Dean to hit the road while he waits for his brother's arrival.
Sam Winchester's End
The pragmatic, sensitive brother, Sam is, as you'd expect, is lost without the sibling he gave up everything for time and time again. But following a phone call from an old police contact about some dead bodies missing hearts, and Dean's last words about Sam "carrying on" the fight ringing in his ears, the last, living member of the Winchester family has no choice but to saddle up and leave the Bunker -- for the last time, it seems.
From here, we skip ahead to various points in Sam's life: he settles down with someone and raises at least one son, who he names Dean. It's not clear whether or not Dean II took up the family profession, but as he tends to Old Man Sam on his deathbed, he shares the brothers' demon possession-protection tattoo. Just as Sam did to release Dean from life, Sam's son tells his father "it's okay," and he passes peacefully. In Heaven, Sam joins Dean at the end of his ride -- reuniting the inseparable brothers forever.
Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins and Alexander Calvert.