Where Else Can You Find ‘Supernatural’ Stars? ‘The Boys,’ ‘Tracker’ & More
When it comes to the cast of Supernatural, they’re staying booked and busy with gigs across a variety of programming and streaming platforms.
Whether it’s The Boys, Gen V, Tracker, or Fire Country, there’s no shortage of shows for fans to sink their teeth into. Below, we round up a few of the Supernatural cast’s biggest roles on TV outside of the spooky series. Scroll down for a closer look, and stay tuned for more about Supernatural.
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 and for order online at Supernatural.TVGM2025.com.
The Boys (Prime Video)
Season 5 of Prime Video‘s hit series about the titular vigilante group tasked with keeping “Supes” in line “just got a bit more supernatural,” the show teased earlier this year. Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins will reunite when the drama, created by Supernatural‘s Eric Kripke, returns in 2026. “Jared, Jensen and Misha are all in the same frame together and in the same storyline and interacting with each other,” Kripke confirms.
The show is littered with SPN alums, from Rob Benedict‘s self-replicating Splinter to Jim Beaver‘s (below, with Claudia Doumit) ousted president Robert Singer and Jeffrey Dean Morgan‘s CIA case officer Joe Kessler. Ackles joined in Season 3 as Soldier Boy, who it turns out is the father of lab-bred series antagonist Homelander (Antony Starr). Of the upcoming season, Kripke says, “Having us back together on set filming was just so fun.” —Meaghan Darwish
Fire Country (Paramount+)
“Saving people, fighting fires, the family business.” A twist can be put on the Winchesters’ motto — no monsters to hunt here — for Padalecki’s character on this fiery drama. In a Season 3 arc, he played firefighter Capt. Camden Casey, who, like Supernatural‘s Sam, lost his brother on the job. As Bode Leone’s (Max Thieriot) new boss, he sees the former inmate’s talent as he trains to become part of Cal Fire. “The part was written for Jared,” executive producer Tia Napolitano shares. “He was a delight of a human and he really brought something special to the show.” Thieriot, also a cocreator, raves about acting with his friend. “Jared and I were excited to get to hang out and work together for the first time,” he says. “It was a lot of fun. Everybody enjoyed having him be part of the family.” —Meredith Jacobs
Gen V (Prime Video)
Alexander Calvert traded his godly gig as Jack Kline for a new Supe role in The Boys‘ college-set 2023 spinoff, portraying Rufus, a student at Godolkin University. The school trains students with superpower abilities, his being telepathy, which includes hypnosis and astral projection. To use his powers, Rufus needs to be close to the individual he’s either reading or controlling. His name is a nod to the date-rape drug Rohypnol, aka Roofies—and to his malicious intent.
Rufus abuses his powers to take advantage of women at Godolkin, among them protagonist Marie (Jaz Sinclair). Unbeknownst to Rufus, though, Marie’s power to manipulate blood has painful repercussions for his actions, which never get far enough to do her any physical harm. It’s safe to say, you’ll see Calvert in a whole new light with this boundary-pushing part. —Meaghan Darwish
Tracker (Paramount+)
Ackles is at the center of another complex fraternal relationship in this CBS drama following Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley), who searches for missing people. Ackles plays Colter’s brother, Russell, and the two are estranged until the end of Season 1 because Colter thinks Russell had something to do with their father’s death. (Russell convinces him otherwise and subsequently adds clues to the mystery surrounding that family tragedy.) Ackles comes in with preexisting relationships with both showrunner Elwood Reid (Big Sky) and Hartley (from their CW days on Supernatural and Smallville, respectively), though this is the first time they’re working together. “Jensen texted me when he was watching football: ‘I’m trying to watch the game. Will you please get your mug off my screen?’ And I texted him back, ‘Do you want to come play my brother?’ And he said, ‘When and where?’” Hartley reveals. “He crushed it.” —Meredith Jacobs
Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix)
Ruth Connell traded in Rowena’s spellbooks on Supernatural for the Afterlife’s Lost and Found Department in Netflix‘s short-lived (no pun intended) series Dead Boy Detectives. The 2024 supernatural drama, set in the Sandman universe, focused on two deceased boys who refuse to move on in the afterlife so they can investigate supernatural mysteries.
As an assistant to Death herself, Connell’s Night Nurse made sure the ghosts of dead children found their proper resting places. (The Scottish actress also played a version of the character in a 2021 episode of HBO’s Doom Patrol.) The uptight, rule-abiding eternal chased after young detectives Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri) for decades. And no matter where she trekked to find the undead, the Night Nurse’s red lipstick was always perfect. –Avery Thompson
The Walking Dead: Dead City (AMC+)
John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) wasn’t a nice guy—but he was certainly no Negan. The Walking Dead‘s foul-mouthed villain, who beat his enemies to a pulp with his barbed-wire-wrapped bat, was a grim awakening for the drama’s heroes in the zombie apocalypse series when he first stepped up to the plate during 2016’s sixth season. Since, Negan has evolved into a bit of an antihero and now stars on spinoff Dead City opposite Lauren Cohan (who played thief Bela in a Season 3 SPN arc!) as survivor Maggie. You can almost call Negan one of the good guys now. But to Morgan, all roads lead back to John. “John was really my introduction to [the horror] world,” Morgan told TV Guide Magazine in 2020. “That’s saying something from me, who has made a living out of this, not just as an actor, but as a bit of a genre actor as well.” —Emily Aslanian
Gotham Knights (HBO Max)
The woefully underappreciated Batman-themed drama imagined a world where the late Bruce Wayne’s adopted son (Oscar Morgan) sets out to find his killers with the help of (among others) the Joker’s presumed daughter (Olivia Rose Keegan), a couple future Batman sidekicks (Navia Robinson, Anna Lore) and Misha Collins’ Harvey Dent. And like Supernatural‘s Castiel, Gotham City’s district attorney was a good guy capable of bad behavior, mostly due to his split personality. Unfortunately, the 2023 show’s cancellation after a single season prevented us from getting to see Collins go full villain as the iconic Two Face, as well as the possible fulfillment of a former costar’s aspirations. “We almost worked it out that Jensen Ackles would play Batman in our show in a flashback,” Collins said at the time, taking a good-natured shot at Ackles’ long-running desire to play a superhero. “Obviously, he’s trying to compensate for some shortcomings he has in real life.” —Damian Holbrook
American Rust (Prime Video)
Remembered for his role as Lucifer on Supernatural, Mark Pellegrino has appeared in shows ranging from Lost to YA fare like 13 Reasons Why, and recently the actor stepped into the shoes of Virgil Poe in this crime drama set in Pennsylvania’s Rust Belt. The 2021–24 series aired on Showtime before moving to Prime Video for its second and final season and featured Pellegrino’s Virgil as the father of Alex Neustaedter‘s Billy Poe, a young man who finds himself accused of a murder he didn’t commit. Ladies’ man Virgil has a flirty relationship with his ex, Grace (Maura Tierney), Billy’s mom. His unwillingness to quit Grace puts him at odds with her beau, Police Chief Del Harris (Jeff Daniels). “The good part about playing Virgil is you just have to tap that inner 6-year-old and let him come out and play,” Pellegrino told That Hashtag Show. “[He’s] not taking pretty much anything too seriously.” —Meaghan Darwish
Big Sky (Hulu)
Ackles arrived in the Season 2 finale of ABC’s Montana-set crime drama as Sheriff Beau Arlen, then stuck around as a series regular for the third and final season in 2023. “They gave me a character I thought filled a bit of a void,” Ackles said. “I tried to hit those notes and bring a little levity to what’s essentially a pretty grim basis for a show, which is murder mystery constantly.” His character fit right in alongside ex-cop Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) and private detective Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury), and the sparks between Beau and Jenny spiced things up considerably. “Well, they did cast Jensen,” Winnick joked. Even better, the show gave a nod to Supernatural when Beau gives Cassie salt for her new house so she’s “always protected.” She responds, “Oh, from demons.” “I can’t remember if that was in the script. I think it was an ad-lib,” Ackles shared. “It’s good to layer in some lighter moments.” —Meredith Jacobs
Countdown (Prime Video)
As LAPD detective Mark Meachum, Ackles’ current role sees him joining a top-secret task force racing to save L.A. from a nuclear nightmare. But amid all the action and nail-biting bursts of suspense are moments of quick-witted humor that are a familiar fit for the Ackles we loved during his run as Dean Winchester. He admits the level of levity on set was similar to that of Supernatural. “We got to riff,” he says. “Not just when the cameras [were off], but when they were rolling. There was a lot of ad-libs and playful banter between us.” Ever the prankster, Ackles confesses that he called on his and Padalecki’s past to mess with his new castmates. “I felt it my duty to really challenge a lot of the other actors to keep a straight face…and I had 15 years of practice with my brother!” —Damian Holbrook
Walker (HBO Max)
Three months after Supernatural‘s 2020 finale, Padalecki got back on the horse for The CW’s reboot of the classic Chuck Norris action drama. As an executive producer with creator Anna Fricke, he was drawn to the role of grieving widower and Texas Ranger Cordell Walker. “I really wanted to be a part of [it],” he told TV Guide Magazine. The casting of his wife, Genevieve, as Cordell’s late wife and the show filming in his Lone Star home state sweetened the deal. “Now I get to be here with my wife and kids. I get to work with Gen. I don’t think I dared to dream this big.” Walker ran from 2021 to 2024 and even staged a mini-SPN reunion when Ackles directed Season 2’s “No Such Thing as Fair Play,” which saw Cordell enduring a series of mishaps at the Texas Rangers’ annual carnival. “I wanted to make the whole [episode] a Tough Mudder for him,” Ackles joked about tormenting his buddy. “I would’ve spent all day watching him go through a variety of obstacles that I had deviously created.” —Damian Holbrook
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Using the phrase "alternate realities" implies that all the shows are related and have inner connections with lore and story. So maybe read up on what "alternate realities" actually means. Just because there are similar actors in these shows does not mean they have that alternate reality connection, because they really and truly do NOT.
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You forgot Jensen as Soldier Boy. He is pictured but no write up?
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