Why Was The Winchesters Cancelled and Could It Be Revived?

The Winchesters finally delivered a succesful Supernatural spin-off, but new ownership at The CW was unwilling to support the show.

What Is It?

This series acts as a prequel to Supernatural going back to the days when John Winchester and Mary Campbell met, fell in love, and became monster hunters. Dean Winchester narrates the story of how his parents, John Winchester and Mary Campbell, met while searching for their missing fathers and started the family business of fighting and destroying supernatural beings.

Aired: CW, 2022-23, 1 Season Totaling 13 Episodes

Starring: Meg Donnelly, Drake Rodger, Nida Khurshid, Jojo Fleites, Jensen Ackles

Developed By: Robbie Thompson

Why Was It Cancelled?

The Winchesters got off to a good start when it premiered on The CW, pulling good viewership for the network and ending Fall 2024 as the third highest-rated series on The CW (ahead of Walker which was renewed) and the top genre entry. The show’s numbers dropped after the Winter break, but that was partially due to poor scheduling on the part of the network, and it certainly seemed like CW execs were trying to justify a cancellation.  It ended up getting the ax largely because the network was going through a change of ownership and new management wanted to focus on inexpensive acquisitions for its scripted programming line-up.

The show was shopped around, but allegedly no venue had an interest in picking it up.  Deadline commented that “all possible avenues have been exhausted, and the search for a new home has come to an end”. But that is basically just corporate-speak for giving up as it seems like there was no reason it could not have made the jump to Max which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the same company that owns the show.  Of course, Max was going through its own cost-cutting at that time, but The Winchesters would have been a relatively inexpensive addition to the streamer’s line-up of originals and would have brought a built-in and very loyal audience.  The CW had tried to create a Supernatural spin-off twice before and finally got a win with this prequel series, but corporate shenanigans cut it short after one season.  Seeing as the parent series stuck around for a record-breaking fifteen seasons, The Winchesters surely should have been given more of a chance.  But ultimately it acted as one more bit of proof that television executives look at their shows as completely dispensable and that they are not willing to put in too much effort to support them despite the millions they sink into the productions.

Can It Be Revived?

Immediately after the cancellation announcement fans went into high gear by getting the show trending on the social networks. Jensen Ackles even leant his support, pushing the #SaveTheWinchesters hashtag. The campaign definitely drew some attention, but not enough to convince The CW to bring it back or to interest another venue in taking a flyer on the series.  Jensen Ackles eventually referred to the cancellation as a case of bad timing, and efforts to save the show have since subsided. But it has only been about a year since it aired its last episode, so it is not impossible to get some momentum behind a renewed effort to save the series. It is available for streaming on Max and also on The CW’s website and app. If fans were to get this one trending on social media again and also stage watch parties on those streaming services, that would certainly bring some attention to the show. Supernatural has a large and very vocal fanbase that spans the globe. If they were to put their weight into one more attempt to save the prequel series, and if Ackles were to jump onboard again, perhaps the story of The Winchesters could continue. But the more time that passes, the more the chances of a revival diminish.

Where Can You Watch It?

As mentioned above, the show is streaming on Max and it is available to watch free (with ads) on The CW’s website and app.  The complete series has also been released on DVD and you can purchase it VOD from services like Amazon.com

Did you watch The Winchesters and would you support fan efforts to bring it back? Chime in below in the comments.

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