Some canceled TV series get a second chance at life on another network or streaming platform, but The Winchesters is not so lucky.
The Supernatural spin-off was one of the series The CW canceled in May as part of the broadcast network’s new focus on unscripted shows and cheaper scripted fare. Deadline reported at the time that Warner Bros. Television, the studio behind The Winchesters, was planning “aggressive” efforts to find the show a new home.
Matt Miller/The CW
Jensen Ackles, a star of Supernatural star and an executive producer of The Winchesters, also launched a #SaveTheWinchesters campaign on social media. “Looks like we’ve got some work to do,” Ackles wrote on Twitter on May 11, kicking off the campaign with a tweet that got over 20,000 likes and 1.7 million views.
Alas, Deadline reported on Friday, June 2, that Warner Bros. Television exhausted every possible option to resurrect the show elsewhere.
To all of you who watched, followed, and supported this story, THANK YOU. And to all those who brought this show to life…I couldn’t be more proud of what we all did together. But as they say…timing is everything. With a massive Network shift coupled with an industry… pic.twitter.com/qqDD9WC0KA
— Jensen Ackles (@JensenAckles) June 3, 2023
Ackles acknowledged the disappointing news on Saturday, tweeting, “To all of you who watched, followed, and supported this story, thank you. And to all those who brought this show to life… I couldn’t be more proud of what we all did together. But as they say… timing is everything. With a massive network shift coupled with an industry strike …welp …that’s some unfortunate timing. Sleep well, dear @WinchestersOnCW… until we meet again. Somewhere down the road.”
Focusing on the parents of Supernatural’s Sam and Dean, The Winchesters told “the epic, untold love story of how John Winchester (Drake Rodger) met Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly) and put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world,” as The CW explained.
The Winchesters also starred Bianca Kajlich, Demetria McKinney, Jojo Fleites, and Nida Khurshid, while Ackles provided narration.
The CW staked two other Supernatural offshoots before they even got going. In 2014, the network took a pass on the spinoff Supernatural: Bloodlines, which would have followed mafia-like monster families in Chicago’s underbelly. And in 2018, the network opted not to move forward with the spinoff Wayward Sisters, which would have centered on Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes) and a group of young women orphaned by supernatural tragedy.
