Ruth Connell Confirms She's Eager To Reprise Her Supernatural Role On The Winchesters - Exclusive

In its 15 seasons on the air, The CW's "Supernatural" served as the home to a wide array of deliciously evil villains. With targets ranging from werewolves to vampires, demons to shapeshifters, and even God (Rob Benedict) and Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) themselves, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) often have their hands full. However, no villain in the history of the series proves quite so perplexing as Rowena MacLeod (Ruth Connell), a powerful witch with a particular flair for the dramatic.

Introduced in Season 10 as the villainous mother of Fergus Roderick MacLeod (aka Crowley) (Mark Sheppard), Rowena initially eyes Sam and Dean in a decidedly unfavorable manner, and the two readily reciprocate such feelings. However, after a variety of confrontations, Rowena and the Winchesters develop mutual respect for each other. In fact, Rowena and Sam eventually form an unexpectedly close bond, one that makes it all the more difficult when Rowena insists that Sam send her to Hell in Season 15. 

It should be some consolation that Rowena lives an extra-long life on Earth. Although she may not look it, Rowena is well over 300 years old when she first meets the Winchester brothers. Understandably, this bit of trivia has led some fans of "Supernatural" to question whether Rowena could appear in "The Winchesters," an upcoming "Supernatural" prequel series set to focus on Sam and Dean's parents, John Winchester (Drake Rodger) and Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly). After all, would it really be that surprising if Rowena had prior interactions with the Winchesters that she failed to mention?

In an exclusive interview with Looper at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Connell talked about her upcoming role in "Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose." She also briefly teased whether she'd be interested in reprising her most popular role to date.

Unsurprisingly, Ruth Connell appears quite eager to step back into the role of Rowena MacLeod. When asked if she'd be interested in appearing in "The Winchesters," Connell admitted that she has already talked to two of the most important figures involved in making such a decision. "I have pitched it flat out to Jensen [Ackles] in the green room and Danneel [Ackles] over a drink," Connell said, immediately smiling at the idea.

Although we know where Rowena is left at the end of "Supernatural," it's still not entirely clear what she spent every second of the prior centuries doing (although we'd measure a guess that it probably wasn't all good). Therefore, it only seems logical that a younger version of Sam and Dean's parents could have had at least a brief run-in with the legendary witch. Interestingly, Connell already has a solution worked out to respond to claims that such an idea would break continuity between "The Winchesters" and "Supernatural." 

"There's no reason why not," Connell said. "She would've been alive; she just maybe would've wiped their memories afterwards so they couldn't remember it for future generations." Of course, a variety of beings in the "Supernatural" franchise have previously been shown to possess such abilities, including a number of witches and Rowena's own demon son, Crowley. Therefore, it doesn't seem like an especially big stretch for her to have had that power at some point in the past.

With such an easy explanation available, Connell says she is "open to it" and simply waiting for the call. "I've worked it out," Connell said, "so it's up to the writers now to work it out and put me in it." 

"The Winchesters" premieres on The CW on October 11.