Supernatural Actors You May Not Know Passed Away

"Supernatural" fans are all too familiar with death. During the show's 15-season run, hundreds of characters met their ends on screen, and tragically, the deaths didn't stop there. In real life, Death never takes a holiday, and there aren't any demon deals or loopholes we can use to evade its inevitability.

With such a long-running series and an almost incalculable number of guest stars, the cast of "Supernatural" has had to say farewell to a few of its own throughout the years. Whether lost through accidental tragedy, old age, or terminal illness, it's safe to say these actors are sorely missed by the Supernatural Family — as fans lovingly call the show's community.

As it turns out, "Supernatural" was even the last role for several of the show's esteemed guest stars. From those who played on-screen civilian casualties to terrifying monsters and everything in between, here are the "Supernatural" actors you might not know passed away.

Warning: Major spoilers from the entire show below.

Who hasn't watched their innocent young granddaughter get possessed by a demon and murder the family dog? We've all been there, right? No? George Coe's performance as Pat Fremont in the Season 3 finale "No Rest For the Wicked" is incredible to watch, even if we can't exactly relate. (If you can relate to Pat's situation, please memorize the Latin exorcism called the "Rituale Romanum.")

Not only did Coe have a memorable performance in "Supernatural," he's also a "Saturday Night Live" legend from the show's very first season in 1975. He even snagged roles in popular films like "The Mighty Ducks," "The Stepford Wives," and "Transformers: Dark of the Moon."

According to the LA Times, the 86-year-old actor and veteran lived with several diagnosed conditions, including lymphoma, prior to his death in 2015 — seven years after his role on "Supernatural." It's pretty darn impressive that he lived with lymphoma for two decades while he continued to act right up until his death. It's clear that Coe truly loved his craft, and the world is a more entertaining place for it.

Not many people get the drop on Sam Winchester, and even fewer are of the human variety. Don Sinclair Davis' Season 4 character Trotter manages to hold him at gunpoint in "Sin City" — albeit not for long. Fans expected to see a demon reveal when Trotter shows up, but instead, he's merely perturbed when Sam splashes holy water in his face, as any human would be. The scene marks one of the most unexpectedly funny scenes early in the show: Trotter's entire vibe is just flabbergasted, and it's great. 

Chances are, "Supernatural" fans have seen the actor appear in generically similar shows like "The X-Files," "Stargate: SG-1," and "Twin Peaks." Davis even appeared in the hit film "A League of Their Own" in 1992. As reported by Variety, just a year after his episode on "Supernatural," Davis suffered a heart attack at 65 years old, causing his death in 2008.

Throughout its run, "Supernatural" hosted horrific and unforgettable villains and monsters. One of the creepiest has to be Doc Benton in the Season 3 episode "Time is on My Side." Billy Drago played the immortality-seeking doctor who kidnaps hapless victims from the street to harvest their organs and birth new life into his ancient and deteriorating body. But it's totally okay because he stitches them up after snatching their body parts. He doesn't kill all of them with his outdated, maggot-based medicinal practice, after all: One or two live.

What's the point of living forever if you don't read a new book on modern medicine now and again? Of course, Benton's character ties in with Dean's impending mortality after a reckless demon deal. Sadly, time wasn't on this "The Hills Have Eyes" actor's side, either. 

According to Variety, in 2019, the "Untouchables" and "Delta Force 2" alum suffered a stroke, leading to his death at 72 years old. A true horror legend, "Supernatural" fans might recognize Drago from his reptilian stint on "Charmed" or his appearance in "Tremors 4."

Even on his bad days, Dean is a captivating guy, and there was no better portrayal of the aged elder Winchester than Chad Everett's in the Season 5 episode "The Curious Case of Dean Winchester." The "Psycho" actor had Dean's mannerisms down so thoroughly that we can almost believe a witch really hit actor Jensen Ackles with an aging hex during a poker game gone wrong. The only discernible difference in the aged version of the character is that Dean's decades of eating pie, beer, and greasy takeout seem to have finally caught up with him. The snark and the bravado? Everett still has that in spades.

Besides playing elderly Dean, Everett had a long stint on the show "Medical Center" before landing a role in "Airplane II: The Sequel." According to the LA Times, Everett died in 2012 at age 75, over a year after his lung cancer diagnosis. Many actors have played Dean Winchester at different stages of his life, but no one besides Everett came close to matching Ackles' iconic portrayal.

Anyone but the most seasoned demon hunter should probably avoid messing with the paranormal or opening a mystical door they don't know how to close. And yes, that goes for you, too, H.P. Lovecraft. There are plenty of movies based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and "Supernatural" jumped on that train in Season 6 with the character Westborough in "Let It Bleed." Antony Holland's last role centered around the Lovecraft mythos, as his character's mother is possessed by an invisible creature that Lovecraft unknowingly unleashed.

With a long and storied acting career, Holland made a name for himself on shows like "MacGyver," "Battlestar Galactica," and "Eureka." The actor's IMDb page is almost as long as his 95 years of life! According to the Vancouver Sun, the acting veteran's death occurred in 2015. Before that, he had a heavy hand in local theater and arts programs, even founding the acting program at Langara College called Studio 58.

When a show is on the air as long as "Supernatural," there are bound to be a few repeat guest stars now and then. The core cast of the series are the Winchester brothers, a trench coat-clad angel, a gruff baseball cap-wearing hunter, and an ever-rotating list of allies and foes. But most of the show's roles actually consist of civilian casualties and random passersby — and Vancouver, where "Supernatural" is filmed, is only so big. Many guest actors snagged a couple different parts on the series as a result, like Gabe Khouth, who appeared in the Season 7 episode "Time After Time" as Lester Young and as Herb Nelson in Season 12's "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell." 

"Supernatural" wasn't the actor's first foray into horror or fantasy. He also played two different parts on the '90s miniseries "It," along with lending his voice to a hefty number of voice acting roles and securing a significant stint as Sneezy in "Once Upon a Time." According to Variety, the actor died in 2019 from heart complications during a motorcycle ride at just 49 years old.

There are a lot of trios on TV, but most of them don't include a homicidal magician who kills his colleagues in order to stay young forever. In the Season 4 episode "Chris Angel is a Douche Bag," Richard Libertini played Vernon Haskell — one-third of a deadly magician trio. When the more morally sound Jay asks Vernon to stop their murderous cohort Charlie, Vernon decides instead to jump on Charlie's "let's kill people to live forever" train.

The "Popeye," "The In-Laws," and "Dolphin Tale" alum brought a level of realism and desperation to the role, and you can't quite hate Vernon despite his poor choices. Libertini concluded his acting career in 2015 after his final role as Saul Hodiak in "Aquarius." According to The New York Times, an 82-year-old Libertini passed away from cancer in 2016, just one year after he stopped acting. On "Supernatural," his character wanted a long life; his career certainly had one.

It was only a matter of time before the jaded and amoral vampire hunter Gordon Walker got his bestie Kubrick killed. Michael Massee took on the role of the latter hunter in two Season 3 episodes: "Bad Day at Black Rock" and "Fresh Blood." When you're on a delusional holy crusade to kill Sam Winchester, you're generally not long for this world. But unlike his character Kubrick, the talented Massee accomplished a lot, with a swarm of impressive acting credits to his name from "The Crow" to "Lost Highway" and even both "The Amazing Spider-Man" films.

The New York Times reported the esteemed 64-year-old actor's death in 2016, following a stomach cancer diagnosis. Massee had faced his own demons on "The Crow" set in 1993: A series of negligent decisions from the director and props department led to his prop gun firing metal instead of blanks — ultimately killing young actor Brandon Lee. Thankfully, Massee didn't quit Hollywood for good after that traumatic incident, as the blame doesn't lie with him. Instead, he gave us decades of stellar performances.

"Glee" is usually the first thing that comes to mind when someone says the name Cory Monteith. But before the actor was singing for William McKinley High's Glee club, he was getting mauled in the forest during the second "Supernatural" episode, "Wendigo." All Monteith's character Gary wants to do is play his Nintendo DS (relatable), but the hungry wendigos have other ideas. As "Supernatural" lore goes, wendigos are former humans who, for whatever reason, began eating human flesh — slowly warping them into creatures entirely devoid of humanity. In the case of these monsters, you are not what you eat.

As one of Monteith's earliest roles, the show helped launch the Canadian actor's career. He went on to do films like "Final Destination 3," "Monte Carlo," and "McCanick," along with other series like "Kyle XY." According to People, the young actor, only 31 years old, suffered an unintentional overdose in 2013. The news came several months after Monteith checked himself into rehab, but the actor, who struggled with addiction from the time he was 15, subsequently fell into a relapse that led to his tragic death. Since her son's death, Monteith's mom has kept his memory alive by setting up fundraisers for a Vancouver charity he was passionate about called Covenant House.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Plenty of "Supernatural" villains give us the heebie-jeebies, but few reach the level of Famine in Season 5's "My Bloody Valentine." There's just no coming back from an episode where a couple literally eats each other to death, and the series didn't shy away from showing the lovebirds taking chunks of flesh from each other. Yum. Famine served as James Otis' final acting role in 2010, but his retirement from the screen came a full decade before his 2020 death.

"Supernatural" was far from Otis' only appearance. In addition to a number of stage roles, he had stints on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "ER," "The X-Files," and "Criminal Minds." Displaying a clear propensity for intense and unnerving projects, he even had parts in "The Black Dahlia" and "The Prestige." According to the actor's obituary, Otis lived with an undisclosed illness before his death at 72 years old — and his hobby of fostering cats makes him a much more endearing guy than his "Supernatural" character.

No matter how many times "Supernatural" showed that things aren't always as they seem, the series managed to fool its fan base on the regular with cleverly-placed plot twists. When we meet Molly in the Season 2 episode "Roadkill," all signs point to her being a victim of a violent ghost named Jonah Greely. And while that's technically true, it's not the whole story: They're both ghosts, and it just so happens that Molly actually killed Jonah in a car crash. Ultimately, we discover that Greely opted to torture her in the afterlife on their death-iversary. 

Winston Rekert put on a phenomenally twisted performance as the vengeful spirit, which should come as no surprise given his former TV roles on shows like "Star Wars: Droids," "Adderly," "Neon Rider," and "Stargate: SG-1." According to the Vancouver Sun, the prolific screen and stage actor passed away from cancer in 2012 at age 63, a few years after his appearance on "Supernatural."

Donnelly Rhodes' two characters had a rough go of things on "Supernatural." (Though, to be fair, most characters on the show experience a fair amount of misfortune.) In Season 1's "Wendigo," Rhodes played Mr. Shaw, the lone survivor of a wendigo attack that killed his family. Fast-forward to Season 8, and we see Rhodes take on an aged version of the character Father Simon in the episode "Clip Show." His second character is, once again, a lone survivor. But as it turns out, demons don't take too kindly to priests who try to "cure" them, leading to Knight of Hell Abaddon slaying his mentor.

Rhodes enjoyed an excellent acting career with hit films like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "Tron: Legacy," and "Snow Dogs." He also scored significant roles on series like "Soap" and "Battlestar Galactica." According to The New York Times, an 83-year-old Rhodes died in 2018 after a cancer diagnosis and subsequent stay in a hospice facility.

Very few things scare Dean Winchester, but watching the normally suave demon hunter lose his cool is one of the funniest bits on the series. Of course, no other episode can top his massive ghost sickness freak-outs from the Season 4 episode "Yellow Fever." Whether it's emitting a banshee scream over a lurking cat, getting terrified of a snake, or simply startling himself, Dean's outbursts are high comedy — that is, until the ghost sickness literally tries to scare him to death.

Here to inflict some of Dean's terror was Michael Roberds as Mark Hutchins. The "Elf," "The New Addams Family," and "Hot Tub Time Machine" alum gave Dean quite a fright with his character's pet snake, and it's relentlessly memorable.

Sadly, according to the Digital Journal, 52-year-old Roberds unexpectedly died in 2016 after losing consciousness, with paramedics unable to revive him. But he's left behind a slew of stellar comedy for fans to enjoy.

Not many characters escape the wrath of Abaddon, but George Touliatos' character Larry Ganem is one of the lucky ones. In the Season 8 episode "As Time Goes By," we learn that the former Men of Letters (a secret anti-monster organization) member had his own brawl with the demon in the '50s. He may have lost his eyes, but he still managed to slip Henry Winchester the key to the Men of Letters bunker, making him a critical, albeit understated, character in Winchester history.

Sadly, Abaddon finally gets her revenge in the present, but Sam and Dean would never have gained access to the bunker without the heroic efforts of Ganem, played expertly by the "Double Jeopardy" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" alum.

According to Memphis Flyer, the talented actor even started his own Memphis-based theater in the '50s called Front Street Theater — which lasted a good decade before ultimately closing its doors. Little is publicly available about his death, but his local Washington Westford funeral home reports that the 87-year-old actor passed away in 2017.

Getting haunted by the angry spirit of your beloved uncle isn't exactly a walk in the park for a young kid, but Logan Williams' character Max Johnson proves that children can handle a lot more than their parents give them credit for in the Season 11 episode "Push." The young actor began his on-screen career in 2014 with the TV movie "The Color of Rain." He later went on to snag a significant stint as Young Barry on "The Flash" before landing the character Miles Montgomery in "When Calls the Heart."

But growing up in the spotlight at just 11 years old is a dangerous game. Sadly, according to The New York Post, Williams died tragically in 2020. With his whole life ahead of him and a fruitful acting career on the horizon, an unexpected fentanyl overdose cut Williams' life short just one week before his 17th birthday. His mother, Marlyse Williams, had sent him to rehab, but as she told The Post, "I did everything humanly possible — everything a mother could do. I did everything but handcuff him to me to try to keep him safe." She hopes his death will lead to more awareness about the opioid epidemic.

If you ask anyone who had the greatest impact on "Supernatural," Kim Manners' name will undoubtedly come up. Fresh off producing "The X-Files," Manners took on the same role for "Supernatural" back in 2005, eventually fleshing out his "Supernatural" duties by directing — and his vision was unparalleled. 

While he wasn't an actor, Manners was responsible for directing some of the earliest fan-favorite Season 1 episodes like "Dead in the Water," "Scarecrow," and "Devil's Trap." He went on to kick off Season 2 with the heart-wrenching "In My Time of Dying" and helm other gut-punch episodes like "Heart," "All Hell Breaks Loose: Part 2," and "No Rest for the Wicked." Not to mention, he brought us Castiel's iconic entrance in "Lazarus Rising" and the "Heat of the Moment" song from "Mystery Spot" that haunts the dreams of every "Supernatural" fan. Manners likely directed more than a handful of your favorite episodes. 

Sadly, according to Variety, the 58-year-old "Supernatural" savant died in 2009 due to complications from lung cancer. However, Manners' legacy and impact never quite left the show. At the end of the Season 4 episode "Death Takes a Holiday," "Supernatural" dedicated the entire season to the man who was integral to bringing creator Eric Kripke's vision to life. Manners even had a catchphrase: "Kick it in the a**," which beloved character Ellen repeats to Dean right before her devastating death in homage to Manners. That phrase describes exactly what the show — and these greatly-missed stars — accomplished.

Nicki Aycox's stint as Meg Masters captivated fans and critics alike from the minute she graced the screen in the debut season of "Supernatural." Aycox's family shared news of the actor's death in November 2022 via social media. Soon after, "Supernatural" cast and crew members began posting their favorite memories of the late star, who was 47.

In a tribute to Aycox, series creator Eric Kripke said: "She was a delight and delivered lines like honey and venom." Kripke also noted how she "made a simple word like 'lackluster' legendary." Aycox's last acting credits came in 2014 when she appeared in two feature-length thrillers, "The Girl on the Train" and "Dead on Campus." She then pivoted from acting to vegan blogging and later created the website Cashews and Olives. Though no cause of death was confirmed, Aycox updated fans and followers about her journey with leukemia on her blog's Instagram page, where she posted photos of the difficult times as well as snapshots of love, laughter, and bright moments in between.

Though Aycox only appeared in a handful of "Supernatural" episodes, she originated a vital character for the show, one that Rachel Miner would take over in Season 5. Aycox's delightfully sardonic and often saccharine acting choices set the tone for future demonic performances in the series. In addition to being iconic, Meg's arc kickstarted Sam's long pattern of romantic interest monsters, meaning Aycox's character became part of the DNA of "Supernatural."

Annie Wersching was a Kripke staple. Between shows like "Timeless," "Revolution," and "Supernatural," Kripke always had a part for the actress — big or small. After her passing in 2023, Kripke noted on Twitter, "Annie was so kind, brilliant, full of life. She was my secret weapon, I cast her in every show I made, was looking for her part in #TheBoys." Sadly, fans won't ever see that plan play out. 

According to Deadline, the actress continued acting despite a cancer diagnosis in 2020. Three years later, she passed away from the illness at 45 years old. According to her husband Stephen Full, Wersching's three sons were "the true loves of her life." "She found wonder in the simplest moment," he said in a statement. She didn't require music to dance. She taught us not to wait for adventure to find you. 'Go find it. It's everywhere.' And find it we shall." 

Though Wersching only appeared in a single episode of "Supernatural," her stint in the show is memorable as one of the creepier standalone installments in the series. In Season 2, Episode 11 ("Playthings"), she played Susan Thompson: a single mom who can't quite wrap her head around the fact that her daughter is having conversations with a vengeful spirit rather than an imaginary friend. Add in some sordid family history and a creepy dollhouse that replicates the hotel murders, and we've got ourselves a spine-tingling episode.