Supernatural triggered a great deal of controversy by killing off Castiel immediately after the angel declared his love for Dean Winchester, but was the confession romantic in nature, and if so, when did Cass begin feeling those feelings? Supernatural season 15 - the long-running CW show's farewell season - proved controversial for a number of reasons, but the issue drawing most attention over a year down the line is undeniably Castiel's sudden declaration of love for Dean Winchester.
In the appropriately-named "Despair," Billie (the current Death) is embarking on an anti-Winchester crusade, sick to the back teeth of Sam and Dean's rule-breaking. Needing Billie removed from the board, Castiel recalls the deal he made with the Shadow in Supernatural season 14's "Byzantium." The Shadow had promised to come for Cass whenever he next felt true happiness, so by expressing his true feelings to Dean, Castiel's joy summons the black goop, consuming himself along with Billie, and leaving a stunned Jensen Ackles crying in a heap on the floor. Understandably, the scene attracted criticism for perpetuating the "bury your gays" trope - a depressingly common pattern where LGBTQ+ characters are bumped off either early in the narrative or, in Castiel's case, shortly after coming out.
The controversy still swirling around Castiel's death partly derives from the ambiguity Cass' "I love you" carries - something Supernatural's cast has since muddied further. So, was Castiel really harboring romantic feelings for Dean Winchester? Summoning The Shadow demands Castiel experience a moment of "true happiness," but that condition only carries weight if Castiel's confession is a romantic one, rather than a simple, "I love you, man!" between best buds. Misha Collins' delivery of Cass' final moments also emphasizes how the angel is making a big, stunning, about-to-die-heroically revelation which, once again, wouldn't apply if Castiel was speaking purely in platonic terms. More clues later emerged via leaked script pages for the scene in question. Though not confirmed as authentic by an official source, these pages include the direction "Dean can't reciprocate" which, if genuine, would confirm Castiel was in love with Dean Winchester.
On the other hand, a cloud of ambiguity still hangs over precisely how Castiel meant his final, "I love you" to be interpreted. Though viewers had been pointing out subtext for years, Supernatural made no explicit attempt to foreshadow that Cass' feelings for Dean differed to how Dean felt about Cass. And, of course, by killing the character mere seconds after coming out, Supernatural denied its audience any explanation or insight into what those words may or may not have meant. Over the final two episodes, Dean doesn't even reference Castiel's parting speech to brother Sam, and this refusal to follow-up contributed to the backlash.
Supernatural cast attempts to clarify the Dean/Castiel situation have achieved exactly the opposite. Misha Collins described Castiel as making a "homosexual declaration" during a Supernatural convention appearance soon after the episode aired. On the other hand, Jared Padalecki, speaking at a different event in October 2021, contradicted his co-star, arguing, "I say that with my friends. I say it with Ackles, like, “Hey, I love you, man...” I'm sorry, that wasn’t the point of that scene." Jensen Ackles' comments fall somewhere between Collins' and Padalecki's. Sitting firmly on the fence, Ackles argues that Cass, as an angel, "is able to love on a level that human emotion doesn't necessarily understand," gently steering the conversation away from conventional romance.
In spite of the conflicting statements - and even ignoring the script leaks - the delivery of Castiel's Supernatural confession and Misha Collins' own opinions suggest that, yes, Castiel's love for Dean Winchester was the butterflies-in-the-stomach kind. As for when those feelings started, Collins claims he began deliberately channeling some semblance of infatuation through his performances around a year before filming his final scene, which would roughly correspond to the back half of Supernatural season 14 (though the actor concedes a relationship had been unconsciously building prior to that). That ambiguity is perhaps symptomatic of why Supernatural attracted such criticism with its Castiel declaration. Supernatural played into fans' hopes that Castiel and Dean would become more than friends, but wouldn't commit to the build-up or fallout either side of that admission.