BEVERLY HILLS – As “Supernatural” enters its 15th and final season, the stars and producers still seem, like many fans, to be adjusting to the idea that the long-running CW hit is really, truly ending.
“It’s a long journey that I don’t think is every going to be over. I think we’re just going to go away for a while,” Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester, told the Television Critics Association at the series’ press tour sendoff Sunday ahead of a final season due Oct. 10.
“And then, 15 more seasons,” chimes in Jared Padalecki.
Ackles says he, Padalecki and the show’s producers decided to end at a time when the fan favorite is still going strong to avoid the prospect of limping to a conclusion.
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“This world has lasted much longer than maybe we originally intended it to. I’m very thankful for that. It’s a story we’ve all been very excited and passionate about. It has hasn’t grown old; that’s not why we’re entering into the final season,” he says. “But I certainly don’t want it to grow old, which might be why we all want it to go before it gets to that point.”
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The panel had both a celebratory and solemn feel, as the actors, producers and even CW president Mark Pedowitz paid tribute to a series that began in 2005 on the former WB network. (A slightly chagrined Ackles, who was 27 when the series premiered, says new CW stars now come up to him and say, “I’ve grown up watching you.”)
“Thank you for 15 seasons, but of course if you reconsider, I’m looking forward to the development pitch on Castiel,” the angel played by Misha Collins, Pedowitz says half-jokingly. “You have made my time at CW a blessing. Fifteen years is a remarkable achievement, and one that can never be taken away from you or from the CW.”
As for returning, Padalecki and Ackles say they would entertain the possibility at some point down the line. “I’m not ever ready to close doors or burn bridges. I think that’s foolish,” Ackles says. “Am I saying something’s in the works? No. Am I open to having a conversation in the future? What’s the harm with that?”
As for the upcoming season, executive producer Andrew Dabb says it would pick up with the Season 14 finale cliffhanger, with the heroes “surrounded by zombies.”
Expect return visits from favorite characters. Ackles and Padalecki say they’d like their real-life wives, Danneel (Harris) Ackles and Genevieve (Cortese) Padalecki, to make guest appearances, although executive producer Eugenie Ross-Leming says it’s unlikely that Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played the brothers’ father, will be back.
“He had a fairly wonderful exit from the universe” last February, in the show’s 300th episode, she says. “It would be hard to top that.”
The actors’ playful sense of humor and strong friendship, which has helped make them huge favorites with “Supernatural” fans, was apparent in their banter, including details of which souvenirs they might take from the set.
Padalecki cops to the cap on a Chevy Impala steering wheel that went missing the day of a crash scene, though “I can’t confirm or deny where it went.”
“One thing I will literally walk away with,” Ackles counters, are “the boots that Dean wears and has been wearing for many years, because, A., nobody wants them and, B., I would literally like to hang them up.”
