With fifteen seasons and over three hundred episodes under its belt, Supernatural is one of the longest-running TV series. One aspect that made it so great and adored by fans is the vivid characters that appeared throughout. Fans will know the show kills off cast members like there's no tomorrow, but certain characters manage to make appearances in a good number of episodes before they meet their end or, in rare occurrences, leave peacefully.
Of course, certain actors appear more than their characters, and some appear in flashbacks, visions, and through just their voice, making it hard to keep track. Because of this, fans may be interested to learn which characters appear in the most Supernatural episodes.
Arthur Ketch - 20 Episodes
Arthur Ketch is perhaps the most unexpected character to appear in twenty or more episodes of the show. Still, the former British Men of Letters does manage to sneakily survive for a long time while proving a torturous enemy turned resourceful ally of the Winchesters.
Excluding flashbacks, Ketch's first and last episodes are "Mamma Mia" and "The Rupture," respectively. Ketch beats God himself for the most Supernatural appearances, with Chuck only having 19. Ketch may not be the most adored character ever, but he makes some solid appearances and proved one of the better things to come out of the atrocious BMoL storyline.
Rowena MacLeod - 33 Episodes
Rowena MacLeod has one of the best redemption arcs in Supernatural alongside her son. Initially, she is a cruel, selfish witch out for herself but she later turns into an invaluable member of the Winchester extended family before the show's end.
Rowena makes her first appearance as a villain in season 10's "Soul Survivor," with her final appearance coming after her last of multiple deaths in season 15, when she pops up as the new Queen of Hell in "Our Father, Who Aren't In Heaven." In her thirty-three episodes across six seasons, Rowena made fans laugh and cry, proving to be one of the show's best late debutants.
Jack Kline - 36 Episodes
One of the most unexpected things to happen in Supernatural was the addition of a fourth main character in season 13, as Jack Kline joined Dean, Sam, and Cas to make up the new Team Free Will.
Jack debuted and was born in the season 12 finale "All Along The Watchtower," appearing for the last time in the show's penultimate episode "Inherit The Earth" when he became the new God. Jack is the source of a lot of debate, but many fans love the character. While it would have been good to see the show not get rid of Crowley, Jack has some great episodes and character dynamics.
Mary Winchester - 37 Episodes
Thirty-seven appearances from Mary Winchester is not something many Supernatural fans want, considering the character is pretty lackluster upon her resurrection in season 11, despite how great the character could be before then.
Mary's first appearance, of course, comes in the Supernatural pilot when, on that fateful night of November 2nd, 1983, Azazel killer her, burning her body on the ceiling of the Winchester home. Her last appearance in "Game Night" sees her die again accidentally at the hands of Jack. Mary appears in visions, dreams, time travel episodes, and just as her regular self, but most fans agree the majority of her good appearances come pre-season 11.
Lucifer - 41 Episodes
Lucifer is undoubtedly the most prominent villain in Supernatural in terms of on-screen appearances, and his forty-one episodes are stretched between seasons 5 and 15.
Strictly speaking about when the character appears physically, disregarding his incorporeal appearances, Lucifer first shows himself in season 5's premiere episode "Sympathy For The Devil." After many vessels, including Nick, Sam, Castiel, Vince Vincente, and the President of the United States, Lucifer finally bites the dust - again - in "Inherit the Earth." The show has some fantastic foes for the Winchesters to go up against, and most fans agree that Lucifer is one of Supernatural's best villains.
Bobby Singer - 59 Episodes
Bobby Singer is a Supernatural character fans believe left too soon, having met his end in season 7. However, between his debut in season 1 and his death, as well as a couple of straggler episodes thereafter, Bobby still appeared in a total of fifty-nine episodes of the show.
Bobby has a great first appearance in "Devil's Trap" and firmly established himself as a mainstay until his death in "Death's Door." That was not the character's last appearance, though. After a couple of episodes such as "Taxi Driver" and "Safe House," Bobby got to be one of the few characters in the divisive series finale "Carry On." There is, of course, Apocolypse World Bobby, but they are two different characters, so do not influence each other's appearance total.
Crowley - 69 Episodes
The most prominent character in Supernatural who never quite got welcomed into Team Free Will is Crowley, a fan-favorite character who audiences wish got to stay in the show until the very end.
Crowley debuted in the season 5 episode "Abandon All Hope" as he gives the Winchester's the Colt to kill Lucifer - his first of many times helping the brothers he describes as "big, beautiful, lumbering piles of flannel." Unlike most main Supernatural characters, Crowley dies once and once only, faking his death, but never dying, until the season 12 finale "All Along The Watchtower." That would be his final non-flashback appearance, despite almost loving mentions from the brothers after that point.
Castiel - 139 Episodes
Between the third-and-fourth most prominent Supernatural characters, there is quite a jump in episode count, with Castiel's decade-plus in the show making him one of only three characters to reach triple figures.
Misha Collins makes more appearances than Castiel does; he portrays Jimmy Novak and Lucifer during the show. Castiel, however, first appears in season 4's "Lazarus Rising," in one of Supernatural's best character introductions when he professes himself an Angel and the one who gripped Dean tight and raised him from perdition. Castiel's last episode still annoys fans. As emotional and even as beautiful as his goodbye in "Despair" is, most agree he deserved a spot in the finale. Nonetheless, in one-hundred-and-thirty-nine episodes, Cas gave fans some of the best, funniest, most emotional Supernatural moments.
Dean Winchester - 336 Episodes
It would be easy to assume that Sam and Dean Winchester appear in every episode of the show. However, Dean, the brother many argue to be the main focus of the show, is missing from one episode.
In "Stranger In A Strange World," Dean makes no appearance whatsoever. Of course, Jensen Ackles does as he portrays Michael, but Dean is nowhere to be seen. Apart from that, Dean's first and last appearances are pretty simple. He appears first in "Pilot" and appears finally in "Carry On."
Sam Winchester - 337 Episodes
Supernatural is what it is, thanks to Sam and Dean Winchester, who, for over three hundred episodes, make themselves a fixture in the lives of fans with help from Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, who each appear in every one of the show's episodes.
As Sam and Dean Winchester, though, it is only Sam who appears in every single one of Supernatural's impressive three hundred and thirty-seven episodes. Even when he is possessed by Lucifer and Gadreel, Sam appears, just as he does in episodes not focusing on the Winchester's such as "Bloodlines" and "Wayward Sisters." Like his brother, Sam makes his debut in "Pilot" before saying his final goodbyes to audiences in "Carry On."