Former Supernatural co-star Jared Padalecki says he is "gutted" by the announcement of Jensen Ackles' upcoming spinoff series, The Winchesters."Dude. Happy for you," Padalecki said on Twitter, in response to Ackles' announcement of the series. "Wish I heard about this some way other than Twitter. I'm excited to watch, but bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever." In response to the Supernatural fandom's hopes that this exchange between the actors was a "bad joke," Padalecki said, "No. It's not. This is the first I've heard about it. I'm gutted."
The Winchesters is currently in development at The CW with a script commitment and will be written by Robbie Thompson, who also served as a producer and writer on Supernatural. Produced by Jensen and Daneel Ackles through their production company Chaos Machine Productions, The Winchesters will follow the "epic, untold love story" of Sam and Dean's parents, Mary and John Winchester, and how the two characters "put it all on the line to not only save their love but the entire world."
Ackles is set to reprise his role as Dean Winchester, who will serve as the series narrator. In Supernatural, the roles of John and Mary Winchester were originally played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Samantha Smith, respectively, with Matt Cohen and Amy Gumenick playing younger versions of the characters. Apart from Ackles' involvement, no other casting information for The Winchesters has been revealed.
"When Danneel and I formed Chaos Machine Productions, we knew the first story we wanted to tell was the story of John and Mary Winchester, or rather the Supernatural origin story," Ackles said when the series was announced. "I always felt like my character, Dean, would have wanted to know more about his parents' relationship and how it came to be. So I love the thought of having him take us on this journey."
Created by Eric Kripke (The Boys) and starring Ackles and Padalecki as monster-hunting brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, Supernatural ran on The CW for 15 seasons, wrapping its 327-episode run on Nov. 19, 2020. All 15 seasons of Supernatural are currently streaming on Netflix.