Jenson Ackles caused a stir among fans when he announced that Supernatural would be getting a new prequel series focusing on the history of the Winchester family, with him returning as Dean Winchester to narrate part of the show. However, it soon became apparent that his long-time Supernatural co-star Jared Padalecki was not involved in the project or even aware it was happening. After a few shared messages on social media, the pair finally resolved the small issue and everyone seemed happy. Now in a new interview, Ackles has explained his reasons for not including Padalecki in discussions about the show or letting him know that it was in development at The CW.
Speaking on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast, Ackles explained his only reason for not letting Padalecki in on the secret project was that he did not want to put a jinx on the series with it being in early stages. He admitted that he would have preferred the short fallout between the pair to not have played out in public, but in the end, it all turned out fine and they made up. Ackles said:
"[I'm] extremely superstitious when it comes to a few things. And one of those is — and this is probably something that a lot of actors share — we don't talk about auditions until we got the role. [It's] an unwritten rule that you just don't talk about sh—t until it's a done deal [...] And [The Winchesters] was my first venture into producing and creating content, and I didn't wanna jinx it at any cost, so I shut up about it. Only the people that had to know knew...I definitely had people that I was excited to tell. Jared being number one on that list... [After the news broke] I had a long text from Jared, and he was really bummed, and I just remember my heart just sank. In hindsight, that could have been a step that was avoided. But he did it, and it happened, and we dealt with it. And he and I, we're great. I wish he had just called me and said, 'Yo, dude, why didn't you tell me you're doing this?' And I would have been like, 'Oh, okay, yes, I've been working and this has been happening and it's way early in the process. It's not even a done deal, we don't even have an outline. I just didn't wanna talk about it or tell people and jinx it. And he totally got it. He understood, and he was like 'Ah, I probably shouldn't have done that.'"
The Supernatural Prequel Series Could Be Delayed With The CW’s Future Being Uncertain.
While there is a lot of love out there for Supernatural and a prequel would tap into a strong fan base, the possible sale of The CW could cause the series to remain up in the air for a little while yet. It is also worth remembering that two Supernatural spin-offs were planned while the flagship show was still in production but neither ever made it to screens, so Ackles trepidation about the prequel is understandable.
When it comes to the sale of The CW, it could be possible that if the channel is sold off its new owners will not want to move ahead with the prequel, or they could see it as an opportunity to have a well-known franchise return to the network, as there are clearly still a lot of fans of the show, which has been proven recently by the announcement of the Supernatural rewatch podcast. While we wait for news on all of this, Ackles will be soon seen in the role of Soldier Boy in the third season of The Boys on Prime Video, and recently announced that he is also working on a secret DC project with Warner Bros.