What Would a ‘Supernatural’ Revival Look Like? Boss Details Ideas and Chances
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For 15 seasons, Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) saved people, hunted things (the family business) and stopped the world from ending more than once. Supernatural ended its run on The CW (after starting on The WB) in 2020. But what if it had continued? Had there been any plans for a 16th season? TV Insider recently asked Andrew Dabb, who served as showrunner for Seasons 12 through 15, just that.
While Warner Bros. and The CW both wanted to continue the show past Season 15, Padalecki and Ackles both wanted to do other things. “Totally within their rights, they’ve done great stuff,” Dabb said. Therefore, “Season 16, in terms of a plan, no, long story short, and I say that only because Jared and Jensen had kind of made it very well known that 15 was the last, we planned for that.”
And so the series ended with both brothers dead — Dean on a hunt, Sam when he was older and after he’d had a family of his own — and reunited in heaven.
However, he didn’t rule out the show returning in some way. “Look, my feeling is, as much as we tried to end it with some degree of closure, I mean, we’re looking at like, X-Files came back, Buffy‘s coming back, you know what I mean? Supernatural 10, 15 years from now, some huge fan that grew up on it will be running Warner Bros, and they might decide to bring it back, and it’s very easy to do it,” he noted.
In fact, he knows exactly how that can happen: “Sam and Dean wake up and Jack [Alexander Calvert] is there, and somebody beat him up, and he’s like, ‘Look, guys, I need your help.’ And then you’re off to the races.”
He did call that “just a set-up. It’s like, look, God got beat up, who beat up God, Sam and Dean figure it out. But where it goes from there, I have no idea. And by the way, that may be a horrible opening. That’s the other thing: Sometimes ideas are meant to be just ideas.”
Dabb also pointed out that the episodes are about to go off Netflix with the end of that deal and they’ll “probably” end up streaming on HBO Max. (Other CW shows are available on there.) “There’s a version where HBO Max goes to Jared and Jensen, ‘Come back, do six episodes,'” he said but quickly added, “I don’t think the landscape right now supports that largely because every streamer’s making cutbacks. And genre procedural stuff is not what buyers seem to want unfortunately.”
He does hope that the show returns “in some way, shape, or form. I think it would be fantastic. … I would hope that at some point we’ll either get Jared and Jensen back or get some more stories in this world because I do think the world is really interesting. That being said, I think we live in a time right now where that’s difficult, but I’m going to keep my fingers crossed.”
He also made sure to praise the one-season spinoff we did get (after two previous attempts didn’t come to fruition): “I also have to give credit, by the way, to Robbie Thompson and the guys who did The Winchesters, because I thought that show came together really well, and I think it was just a victim of circumstance and that we don’t have more of it.”
Dabb told us that while he loves Supernatural, calling it “my favorite job ever” and likely “the favorite job I ever have in my career,” he did say, “I honestly don’t know if I or anyone else involved in this first incarnation of the show is the best person to revive it. I think probably the best person to revive it is somebody who, during the finale, was on Tumblr live blogging their reaction. I think you need someone to come into it with a little bit of a different point of view, a little bit of a fresh take on it, a way that kind of explores it, both as a fan but also can kind of take it forward in a way, in a new and interesting direction. And if they wanted to bring a few of us old timers along for the ride, that would be fantastic.”
That being said, what he would want to see in a revival is “the guys back together and working cases of the week. Because as much as I love the myth and I love writing the myth and everything else, the core of that show is Sam and Dean rescuing someone by the end of 42 minutes. Nobody’s really doing that in episode in shows right now, but that’s what I would like to see personally. But in terms of where they go, what they do, I think it’s wide open.”
That would bring a revival back to the Winchester motto. “That’s what the show’s always been about, and that’s what the show, should it come back, should continue to be about,” according to Dabb.
Would you watch a revival of Supernatural? If so, what would you want to see? Let us know in the comments section below.
For a deep-dive into 20 years of Supernatural, from behind-the-scenes scoop to exclusive cast interviews, photos, and fan stories, pick up a copy of TV Guide Magazine’s Supernatural Afterlife: 20th Anniversary Special issue, available on newsstands July 25 and for order online at Supernatural.TVGM2025.com.
Jared Padalecki
Jensen Ackles
Misha Collins
Alexander Calvert
Mark Sheppard
Jim Beaver
Genevieve Padalecki
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Samantha Smith
Mark Pellegrino
Ruth Connell
Rob Benedict
Kim Rhodes
Osric Chau
David Haydn-Jones
Curtis Armstrong
Lisa Berry
Emily Swallow
Richard Speight
Cindy Sampson
Felicia Day
Ty Olsson
Rachel Miner
Samantha Ferris
Mitch Pileggi
Kurt Fuller
Alaina Huffman
Alona Tal
Liane Balaban
Briana Buckmaster
Shoshannah Stern
Lauren Cohan
DJ Qualls
Steven Williams
Kathryn Newton
James Patrick Stuart
Colin Ford
Julie McNiven
Tahmoh Penikett
Nicholas Elia
Sebastian Roche
Chad Lindberg
Thunderbird Dinwiddie
Julian Richings
Katherine Ramdeen
Jeffrey Vincent Parise
Yadira Guevara-Prip
Christian Keyes
Charles Malik Whitfield
Fredric Lehne
Lindsey McKeon
Dylan Everett
Matt Cohen
Christopher Heyerdahl
Lauren Tom
Yasmeene Ball
Raquel Riskin
Adam J. Harrington
Matt Frewer
Anna Grace Barlow
Katherine Boecher
Mark Rolston
Tiara Sorensen
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Conversation23 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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P
Andrew Dabb is a hack and ruined the last three seasons of the show. He had zero control over his writers, who wrote with total disregard for the canon of the show. If there ever is a reboot, please keep him far, FAR away.
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R
I agree, they need to go back to the old writers from seasons 1-3 if possible, at least as consultants. Everything after season 5 was a total waste of time. Get rid of the religious components like angels, demons Chuck and God (Jack).
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S
In my opinion he had full control of them. He's simply //that// bad. His clear dislike for Dean and Jensen alone is enough to make sure he never works for this show again.
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G
I would absolutely watch a revival of Supernatural if it was more of a "requil" - let's bring back the storytelling and feel of Seasons 1-5!
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All i know is if Andrew Dabb gets involved I am not going nowhere near it. Luckily the boys seem to be aiming for Kripke instead
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I don't know why TVLine decided to bring the worst and only showrunner to hate one of the leads to the table instead of the creator of the show, but make sure you aim for better writers next time. As for the question, as long as Dabb isn't in it, I could see a revival. Not anything remotely resembling his suggestion, though.
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O
Dabb gave us the worst ending possible, and it's only thanks to Jensen, Danneel and Robbie Thompson giving us The Winchesters where we now know Dean is having his own adventures, not just driving around Heaven for eternity until his brother turns up, that I have moved on a little more satisfied. Supernatural should have ended in s11, before Dabb took over, it all got worse from s12 onwards in my opinion and please god no let's NOT bring back the biggest Cousin Oliver character since....well Cousin Oliver, aka Jack. Jack was obviously a Dabb insert, of course he'd mention him as a possible revival idea. Why on earth did anyone think it was a good idea to even ask him about this?? He drove Supernatural into the ground. I'm pretty sure the actors called it a day before the show got any worse under Dabb. Remember clown ghosts chasing people down a street in daylight? That was in s15! If there's a revival, and that's a big if, then it should be Robbie Thompson in charge...or bring back Ben Edlund. The writers who actually understood the show and the characters.
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I think it would be a mistake to narrow the world of Supernatural back down to just Sam and Dean. I like the idea of saving "someone" each week, and having new monsters to face - but there needs to be more than that, too. And excluding other major characters (like Bobby or Castiel) would be a huge disservice to a continuation or revival.
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C
i've watched supernatural at least 10 times. i would love to see sam and dean in anything new.
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O
It has to be the right story for Sam and Dean. I enjoyed other characters but if a short 6 episode series just the 2 of them please!
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2-word pitch:
Chuck Won
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O
I don't really want to bring back Supernatural. It had 15 years, it's okay to not have more. While there were some good episodes, the last season was not a high note, especially, in my opinion the series finale. The second to last episode was a better place to end the series.
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O
I’ll be honest, the last few seasons were not that good. The writers really screwed up Sam’s character by making him weak and changing his appearance. The storyline was meh. The earlier seasons were so much darker & grittier. If they do a short reboot, the guys need to shave their beards so that they look younger. It’s been a few years & they look older now. (In heaven you don’t age.) Different writers need to write it. Andrew Dabb shouldn’t be involved & lose the religious component.(no angels or God)
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I agree! The earlier seasons were darker and I really loved that.
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Have Jesse Turner come back and challange jack for his throne..they are both nephlim technically...i think thats what it is.
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PLEASE Bring Back A Version Of Supernatural❣️ I Totally Think It Should Go Back To The Big Bad Of The Week (Like Season 1 Through 5) Maybe Breaks Into Heaven And The Whole Gang Comes Together To Defeat It. I Think Something Like That Could Be The Mini Series That The Boys (Jared And Jensen) Would Sign On For🩷🩷🩷 I Personally Love Jensen And Jared As Actors And Whatever They Do I'll Watch🩷🩷🩷
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C
So wild that he said this, "I think probably the best person to revive it is somebody who, during the finale, was on Tumblr live blogging their reaction. I think you need someone to come into it with a little bit of a different point of view, a little bit of a fresh take on it, a way that kind of explores it, both as a fan but also can kind of take it forward in a way, in a new and interesting direction." I wrote a full SPN revival with mythology, resurrection, and a totally restructured endgame. And now Jensen’s driving the car I gave my OC. Same year, same color. The veil is thin.
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Not just Jensen. He screwed up Jared/Sam’s storylines. He made Sam weak, which he wasn’t! They messed up Sam’s appearance and made it all about Dean. If they wanted that, they should never have involved Dean’s brother at all. Just give him his best friend and call it a day?
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My brother (sister?) in Christ he made Dean apologize and beg for forgiveness because he was angry his mother had been murdered. The dislike for Dean is off the charts. If you want to add Sam I won’t complain but Dean is 100% one of his targets.
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R
Honestly, I think it would be great to have it happen in 10 years, and to bring John, Mary, Sam and Dean into it. Not sure that we need to revisit the full religious bits (angels, demons, God or Chuck). Just do a family hunt for MoTW for like say, 4-90 minute episodes. Pull the family from heaven, make no mention of it, and just the good old days of folklore monsters!
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I would love a revival of Supernatural as long as it included the boys, the mom and dad along with Cas, Bobby and the rest of the gang. Maybe play it from a "heavenly" view where evil breaks into heaven and the gang has to eliminate it. Just a spur of the moment thought with the way the original series ended.
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While Dabb definitely didn't do the show any favors, he's right with the Tumblr people. In the later seasons it felt like the writers didn't actually know, what made the show good.
What people like the most is not the big plot, but the single fun episodes with the other characters included. It's a show about found family.
I think Cas should be made into a human as well, as for example a price for his living and he should join the brothers in the single episode hunting, with characters like Bobby, Jody, Garth, Charlie, Eileen and Jack, etc., apearing as well. The hunts should be actually scary and dark and gritty, people love that look! Then maybe let them finaly settle down in the end and have the ending they desserved. Toes in the sand, that's what Dean wanted.
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And this is exactly why some tumbler fan should not be the one to handle any sort of comeback…
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