It’s been 20 years since the hit fantasy TV show, Supernatural, first premiered, and while there are some harsh realities of watching the series in 2025, it comes as no surprise that so many of us are still dedicated fans. Ushering the genre into the 21st century, Supernatural was a new kind of horror-fantasy show, and we’ll always love the story, even if it’s not without its problems.
The shows that were almost the next Supernatural remind us why there will never be another Supernatural, as the project is just as unique today as it was two decades ago. Starring Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as Sam and Dean Winchester, the protagonists of the series who travel across the country hunting monsters, Supernatural never struggles to win audiences over.
We Know That Sam & Dean’s Relationship Wasn’t Always Equal
Of course, we wouldn’t want the relationship between the Winchester brothers to be without conflict and always easy for the characters. Though they love each other fiercely, Sam and Dean don’t always see eye to eye, and it’s their differences that make Supernatural so interesting to watch. Their opposing approaches to life and hunting keep every storyline exciting, as they push each other to be better.
From the pilot, it’s clear that Dean and Sam have starkly contrasting visions for their lives, as Dean pulls Sam unwillingly back into the life of a hunter. Though Dean is characterized as the more rash, impulsive, and devil-may-care brother, audiences notice that Dean is far more emotionally invested in keeping the family together than Sam is, which can be hard to watch when revisiting Supernatural.
As the series progresses, it can be difficult not to side with Dean in many of the instances when the pair make sacrifices for each other, as Dean is often the one putting his life on the line. This isn’t to say that Sam doesn’t care, but for Dean, it would be impossible to fully move on from Sam’s death, whereas Sam is sometimes looking for an excuse to leave.
Even The Biggest Fans Will Struggle To Watch Some Of The Filler Episodes
One of the reasons we love Supernatural is for its many “filler” episodes, as this is what helped create the texture of the story and made the world-building so effective. Today, fantasy TV shows rarely have more than 12 episodes a season to communicate the important story and character beats of the arc. Supernatural typically had a full order of 22 episodes to play with its characters and narratives.
This worked both for and against the show, as Supernatural crafted some ground-breaking pieces of television thanks to episodes that didn’t further the season-long arc. However, most of the Supernatural episodes to skip are also filler, and they don’t provide insight into the central characters or introduce compelling storylines that the viewer wants to engage with.
Additionally, though this isn’t the fault of the creative team, Supernatural had a limited budget, especially at the start of the series. This means that some of the less complex installments were made even more forgettable because the effects were lacking, or the design of the monsters wasn’t as intriguing as the best makeup, costumes, and VFX of the series.
The Way Dean & Castiel’s Relationship Ended Disappointed Most Of Us
Thanks to its dedicated fan base, Supernatural became just as well known for the prolific fan fiction written about the show as the canonical events. The writers and creators of the series were well aware of this, even touching upon this facet of the community in season 10, episode 5, “Fan Fiction.” However, Supernatural rarely mined the internet discourse for plot developments or leaned too heavily into fan service.
Despite this, Supernatural chose one of the worst possible ways to explore the ship between Dean and Castiel (Misha Collins), having Cas admit his feelings just before he dies, only for Dean not to reciprocate. No matter how fans feel about the romantic match-up between Dean and Cas, the decision to end their relationship, and Castiel’s character arc, with this moment felt like a betrayal.
Much of Supernatural season 15 fell victim to messy moments like this, making many fans of the series wish that the show had wrapped things up differently. In some ways, it would’ve been better to let the weight of the connection between the characters go unspoken, as Dean’s rejection of Cas felt like a rejection of many viewers’ favorite part of the series.
We Can All Agree That Supernatural’s Villains Were Overpowered By The Later Seasons
Supernatural changed a lot throughout its fifteen seasons, first going through a soft reboot at the start of season 6 when the series’ first narrative arc came to an end. Like many magical shows, Supernatural had to grapple with finding a balance between steadily raising the stakes without introducing villains that were so overpowered it was unbelievable within the context of the story.
In the early seasons, Supernatural focused on classic monsters from folktales and legends, but as the show grew in scale and needed to keep its plots fresh, it leaned further into the divine battles between heaven and hell. The seeds of this are laid early on in the show, with the journey to hell playing a major role in Sam and Dean’s character arcs.
However, it started to become a little outlandish when the Winchesters were quite literally battling God, as Chuck (Rob Benedict) was revealed to be the creator of the universe. Supernatural was still able to return to the emotional, character-driven stories that made the series so compelling, but the overarching antagonists got to be too big for the scale of the show.
The Show Was At Its Best When It Shook Up The Crime Procedural Format
It’s very common for fantasy TV shows to root themselves in reality and justify their premises by adhering to a more traditional genre, like the crime procedural. For most of Supernatural, each episode saw the Winchesters arrive in a new city in the U.S. and investigate mysterious events, murders, or disappearances that typically led to a monster or demon they needed to defeat.
This saw the brothers masquerade as FBI agents and other law enforcement professionals, giving them access to witnesses and suspects. Additionally, this allowed the series to structure the stories similarly to a classic mystery show. Fortunately, Supernatural was too high-concept and innovative to be content within these more formulaic boundaries, resulting in the fantastic episodes of television that shake things up.
The Supernatural episodes that break the formula are eternally memorable, from “The French Mistake” to “Mystery Spot.” Many of these iconic installments pay tribute to other genres and are referential to famous movies and TV shows, or lean into metatextual territory, engaging with the series itself and the audiences’ perception of the story and characters. It’s not hard to see why we wish there were more of these episodes.
We Wish There Were More Seasons Of Supernatural
As with all good things, it was inevitable that Supernatural would come to an end, but that doesn’t mean we’re not still holding out hope that the series will come back one day. Rebooting Supernatural with season 16 would be no small feat, but there are legions of audience members who haven’t forgotten Supernatural, and many more who are discovering it for the first time today.
After Supernatural was added to Netflix, it sparked an increase in the project’s popularity, as it’s a long-running and fulfilling TV show to dig into. It’s the mark of how great Supernatural is that even with fifteen seasons and hundreds of episodes, there still feels like there’s more to the story, and additional adventures for the Winchesters to embark on.