Supernatural Season 15 - What We Know So Far

The CW launched in 2006, formed from a combination of two other networks, the WB and UPN. A few shows carried over into the new entity, but now, there's just one remaining survivor of that pre-merger era: Supernatural. The genre piece about two brothers who travel the country in a black Impala and hunt the things that go bump in the night premiered in 2005 on the WB. In the fall of 2019, it will premiere its 15th and final season.

Supernatural will go down as the longest-running sci-fi/genre series in the history of American television. Over the last 14 seasons, the Winchester brothers have battled every kind of monster in the book, and this year, they'll be facing the biggest one yet — God. It seems only fitting that the end of such a successful show should come with the actual Apocalypse. But the impending end of the world scenario is only the beginning of what's to come this season. Supernatural has a number of loose ends it'll need to tie up before it takes its final bow, and we've got a few clues about what those will be.

While shows on the CW typically run 20 or more episodes per season, some of their more recent series have ended with abbreviated seasons. Both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals said their goodbyes with fewer episodes than was typical — TVD had only 16 episodes, while The Originals stopped at 13. Supernatural fans, however, will get a full final season. The show will run 20 episodes beginning October 10, 2019 at 8 pm ET.

At least one of those episodes will bring Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) back into the director's chair. The star's last time behind the camera was for the season 11 episode "Bad Seed," but he's set to direct season 15's fourth episode. Ackles posted a selfie to his Instagram in July with the caption, "Started my prep as director yesterday. Season XV has begun. Here's my 'intensely scouting locations' selfie. (Pretty sure we were just sitting at a red light). Regardless...let the games begin!!!"

The end of Supernatural's 14th season was a cliffhanger like no other. After the Winchesters' adopted Nephilim Jack (Alexander Calvert) burns off his soul so they'd have the edge required to kill Michael, he accidentally kills the brothers' mother, Mary (Samatha Smith). Realizing Jack is now a danger to the world, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean ask for help from Chuck/God (Rob Benedict), who gives them a gun that will kill any celestial being, but also the person who wields it.

Dean, of course, volunteers, but in the end he's unable to go through with shooting Jack. This leaves Chuck a little less than pleased, especially because he had been so entertained by the Winchesters for so many years. But when God decides he's pissed at someone, he takes it out on the entire world, so of course, the natural outcome here is the beginning of the Apocalypse. Chuck opens the gates of Hell and releases every monster Sam and Dean have ever defeated, as well as an undead army to keep them occupied while evil takes over.

Season 15 of Supernatural will pick up immediately where season 14 left off. In the digital featurette "The Winchester Mythology: The Choices We Make" (via Entertainment Weekly), showrunner Andrew Dabb talked about Chuck's decision to end the world, saying, "The question of what that looks like, the question of how Sam and Dean deal with that, I think those are the big things that we're going to explore going into season 15." Jensen Ackles called the upcoming season an "all-out free-for-all," and said he felt like this could be "the best season of the show."

Executive producer Robert Singer spoke with Den of Geek and indicated that the Hell monsters and undead army released at the end of season 14 would be dealt with by around the fourth episode. The rest of the season, he said, will focus primarily on what's going on with Chuck, as well as what happened to Jack. He was last seen in the Empty, a place that existed before God created the world and where angels and demons go to sleep for eternity.

There's a running joke on the set of Supernatural that no one ever stays dead on the show. It's true — Sam and Dean have found themselves on the wrong side of mortality more than a few times over the years, but they've always managed to make their way back. If they were to die at the end of season 15, how would that be any different than the times before?

According to Andrew Dabb, who was part of a Supernatural panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour (via TV Guide), everything the Winchesters have been able to use in the past will no longer be available to them. "They're going to be facing life or death," he said. "They face it a lot, but this time it's for real."

For Misha Collins, who plays the angel Castiel, death sounds like the right choice. "I hate to say this but I kind of hope that the main characters on the show die at the end," he told TV Guide. "I feel like we need that finality."

For some, it may feel as though Supernatural is ending prematurely, but its stars have been adamant that this is the right time to go out. Speaking to the crowd at VegasCon in 2019, stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki assured fans that cancelling the show was a community decision. "It wasn't an easy decision," Ackles said. "It was months and months, if not years of discussion... Nobody wanted to see this show fizzle out." For them, and everyone involved with the series, ending Supernatural before it became irrelevant was important.

This sentiment has been expressed repeatedly throughout the show's press events. At the Television Critics Association summer press tour (via TV Guide), Padalecki compared the show to a party, saying, "You don't want to be the last person at the party, even if it's the best party on the planet," explaining that it's in true Supernatural fashion to "say goodbye too soon." Realistically, 15 seasons is a long time for any series to remain on the air, and it's an especially long time for a group of actors to play the same roles. Regardless of the show's success, it's better to end things before they get bad.

Sorry to say, Supernatural fans, but there's little hope of a spin-off that isn't centered on the Winchester brothers. Executive producer Brad Buckner explained to CinemaBlend that the show's success was largely based on "wonderful happenstance," and wonderful happenstance isn't a thing that's so easily recreated.

To date, series execs have made two attempts at a Supernatural spin-off: there was 2014's Supernatural: Bloodlines, about the monster-run mafia in Chicago, and 2018's Wayward Sisters, which centered on Sheriff Jody Mills and her clan of young female hunters. Neither series made it to full production and will instead live forever as one-off episodes in the Supernatural universe.

According to Buckner, it all comes down to Sam, Dean, and Castiel. "The boys, and then Misha [Collins], added Misha, worked out tremendously... You screw with the tried-and-true formula and there really is no formula for the show." Since it was largely the cast's decision to end the show in the first place, seeing them immediately sign on for a spin-off is unlikely.

One thing we can most certainly expect to explore in Supernatural season 15 is how the Winchesters will deal with Chuck's penchant for creating multiple universes. In the season 14 finale "Moriah," Sam asks how many alternate realities have been created. "I don't know," Chuck responds. "Kinda lost count." We've seen alternate universe versions of several characters throughout the show's run, most notably the Apocalypse World versions of Michael and Bobby (Jim Beaver). There have also been times when the Winchesters are thrown into other realities, like in the season 6 episode "The French Mistake," which takes place in a world eerily similar to our own.

But season 14 had a particular emphasis on the idea of alternate universes. In the episode "Nihilism," Michael explains to Castiel the full extent of Chuck's favorite pastime, saying, "My world? This world? Nothing but failed drafts. And when he realizes that they're flawed, he moves on and tries again." Since the season ended with Chuck ushering in the Apocalypse, it stands to reason that at least one of these other worlds will come into play.

With the possibility of Supernatural visiting one or more realities in season 15 (not to mention the gates of Hell opening in the season 14 finale), there comes the chance of having a practically endless number of characters from the past make their return to the show. It was confirmed at the Supernatural San Diego Comic-Con panel in 2019 (via TVLine) that at least two old favorites will be coming back — Jake Abel is set to reprise his role as the Winchesters' half-brother (and former Michael vessel) Adam, while Matt Cohen, who played the younger John Winchester, will be coming back as director for at least one episode.

According to Den of Geek, we can also expect to see Rowena (Ruth McConnell) and Eileen Leahy (Shoshanna Stern), the latter of which being the deaf hunter who was killed off by hellhounds in season 12. Of course, series leads Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins will all be returning.

While a few characters have already been confirmed for season 15, there are plenty that Supernatural's stars would love to return (but can't say if they will). At the top of the list are the ladies of Wayward Sisters. Producer Robert Berens all but confirmed we'd see them again, telling Den of Geek, "I think we have a responsibility to see them again as individuals, and then there's the narrative responsibility of a few pieces of story that need to be closed out."

But more surprising would be Jared Padalecki's wish of having his wife and kids join the cast for its final season. Genevieve Padalecki played the demon Ruby throughout season 4, following Katie Cassidy's portrayal. But Padalecki says things look pretty promising. He told Den of Geek, "She doesn't have an episode or anything yet, but Gen and I are like, 'We've got to have Tom and Shep and Odette [their kids] on the show! In some way shape or form, even if they're sitting in a diner somewhere or something."

Other favorites fans would love to see one more time include deceased hunters Ellen and Jo Harvelle (Samantha Ferris and Alona Tai) and the demon Azazel (Frederic Lehne).

With Supernatural's 15th and final season premiering October 2019, there's not yet an official trailer. We can probably expect one when the networks start ramping up their fall season promos in September. Until then, however, Entertainment Tonight has released a video interview with Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, hosted by none other than Matt Cohen, where the pair discuss the final season and the show's effect on their lives.

When asked to deliver a message to their fans, Ackles said, "I think we've gotten to a point where we feel really solid about where we are, and we feel like we still have tons of energy, tons of passion, and tons of love, enough for the show to go out with a bang." As for Padalecki, he hopes to one day pick up the Winchester mantle again, knowing they left on a high note. "The show could go for many more years and still be a great show... I'm never going to say goodbye, it will always be a part of me."

Just because Supernatural the series is coming to an end after season 15, it doesn't mean there isn't the possibility of seeing it on the big screen someday. Executive producer Robert Singer told Digital Spy that a Supernatural movie could one day happen... but it's going to be some time before it does. "I don't think it's a pipe dream," he said. "But I think, generally, when they make a movie of a TV show, there's a certain time lapse between the two."

The cast feels the same way, it seems. Jensen Ackles told the crowd at the Television Critics Association summer press tour (via TV Guide) that he isn't ruling out the possibility of playing Dean again, although he's made it clear that at this point in time, nothing is being discussed. "I think we're just going to go away for a while," he said. "How long I don't know." So will there be more Supernatural? Maybe. Will fans have to wait a while to get it? Definitely.