It’s hard to believe, but twenty years have passed since Supernatural first hit TV screens. The beloved paranormal drama debuted on September 13, 2005, on The WB, running its first season until May 4, 2006, before finding a long-term home on The CW. After fifteen seasons filled with demons, angels, and plenty of heartbreak, the series wrapped up on November 19, 2020.
But according to showrunner Andrew Dabb, the ending fans saw wasn’t the only vision the team had for Sam and Dean Winchester’s journey.
The Scrapped Plan for Sam and Dean
One idea considered during the later seasons would have taken the brothers in a direction no fan ever expected.
“One storyline we always talked about, which we never did, was basically Sam and Dean go public,” Dabb revealed. “They’re like, ‘Look, we’re putting out a PSA. Monsters are real. If you see something, something shows up in your town, it’s a monster. We can’t be everywhere. We’re just going to get the word out there.’”
While the concept sounded bold, it ultimately never made it past the planning stage. Dabb admitted that as intriguing as it seemed, it risked altering the DNA of the series in a way that wouldn’t have worked.
“Suddenly, Sam and Dean are known worldwide, which, again, I think sounds interesting in theory, but I actually think would’ve destroyed the show. It would not have been any good, which is one of the reasons we didn’t do it,” he explained.
Other Storylines That Never Happened
That wasn’t the only idea left on the cutting-room floor. Dabb also shared that there had been discussions about bringing back the Antichrist, Jesse Turner, played by Gattlin Griffith.
“There were talks about bringing him back in a different way,” the showrunner noted.
Introduced in Season 5, Jesse was a half-human, half-demon child whom Castiel warned could play a pivotal role in Lucifer’s war against Heaven. Once Sam and Dean revealed his true nature, Jesse fled, disappearing completely from the narrative. By the time Supernatural ended, his fate remained one of the show’s lingering mysteries.