The CW's upcoming Supernatural prequel show The Winchesters sees Jensen Ackles return as Dean to narrate, but conspicuous by his absence is Jared Padalecki's Sam. It's been nearly two years since Supernatural signed off for the last time, after 15 seasons of monster-slaying, angel smiting, and even god killing. The series finale ended up more low-key than perhaps most wanted due to COVID-19 concerns, but the Winchester brothers still got to go out together, and after a life well-lived.

Like Sam and Dean themselves though, Supernatural is having a hard time staying dead, with The CW prepping a prequel spinoff called The Winchesters. From what's been revealed so far, the prequel seems to retcon previous information, with this John and Mary Winchester working alongside each other as hunters from a relatively young age. Dean's return as narrator is being presented as an attempt to find out more about his parents' pasts before he and younger brother Sam were born.

Related: Why Jeffrey Dean Morgan's John Winchester Left Supernatural

At least based on what's known about The Winchesters so far though, Sam won't be a part of the show, and neither it seems will Jared Padalecki. Famously, Padalecki wasn't part of getting the prequel made, and didn't learn of the project's existence until it hit news reports. While Padalecki has since given his blessing to The Winchesters, that doesn't seem to have changed his status of not being involved. Padalecki is currently busy with fellow CW show Walker, which heads into its third season this fall. This may further help explain his absence from The Winchesters.

Sam Winchester in the Impala in Supernatural

Although Jared Padalecki's Sam isn't returning as of yet for The Winchesters, this doesn't mean he never will. In fact, if the prequel manages to do something no prior Supernatural spinoff attempt has done and survive to see a second season, a Padalecki cameo grows much more likely. Working him in shouldn't be an issue either, as judging by the trailer for The Winchesters, Dean is doing his narration back when he was still among the living. Since Dean died and went to Heaven before Sam, that means Sam should still be around to eventually pop in and perhaps do his own bit of narration.

While it's unclear at which point during the Supernatural timeline Dean's narration of John and Mary's story takes place, he and Sam rarely operated separately for long. If Dean ends up finding out previously unknown things about his parents on The Winchesters, it seems only logical that he would eventually chose to share at least some of this knowledge with his brother. Conversely, Sam could find out even though Dean didn't want him to, as so many surprising revelations on Supernatural happened. After all, Sam and Dean really aren't the best at keeping secrets.

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