Sam and Dean Winchester have been the sole main characters of Supernatural for 14 seasons now. While others have been upgraded to the main cast, only Sam and Dean appear in every episode in each season. This means they can’t be killed off for real from the show; however, you’ll be surprised to know Sam and Dean have the most deaths of any character we’ve seen on Supernatural.

This list ignores deaths that took place in alternate timelines or were merely mentioned and sticks to those that took place in the main continuity. Here is a Complete List Of All The Ways Sam And Dean Have Died.

Dean: Almost Reaped By Tessa

At the end of Season 1, Azazel causes a car crash to the Impala, leading to Sam, Dean and John ending up in a hospital. The premiere features Dean in ghost form as he tries to get back into his body.

It is revealed by Tessa the Reaper that Dean has died and she is there to take his soul to heaven. It was only due to Azazel interrupting proceedings that Dean didn’t move on, otherwise it was game over for the elder Winchester sibling.

Sam: Stabbed by Jake

In the penultimate episode of Season 2, all of Azazel’s “special children” are put together in a Hunger Games styled deathmatch where they have to take each other out. The final two participants are Sam and Jake, with Sam ending up beating Jake.

While Sam’s back was turned, Jake would stab him in the spine, causing an instant demise for Sam. Following this, Dean would trade his soul to resurrect Sam once more and he was given a year to live.

Dean: All of Mystery Spot

With Season 3 featuring Dean’s time coming up, Gabriel would attempt to make Sam see sense and make him endure Dean’s demise over and over again for months, or even years. Throughout the episode, Dean would see his death in colourful ways everyday – at one point being mauled by a god, slipping in the bathroom, having something dropped on him, being shot, and a whole lot more.

Apparently, Dean saw his end over a hundred times during the episode before Sam saved him.

Dean: Mauled by Hellhound

Unfortunately, Sam was wrong and he couldn’t find a way to save Dean’s soul. The finale saw them try and avoid being subjected to a hellhound, but the end of the episode saw Dean being mauled by Lilith’s personal hellhound.

As it turned out, this started everything that led to the apocalypse, as Dean’s demise was the key to getting the first seal to Lucifer’s cage broken. He would be resurrected four months later and be reunited with Sam.

Sam: Struck by lightning

In an episode of Season 4, the boys encountered a town where everyone’s wishes came true in incredibly sinister ways. This was possible due to a cursed fountain that brought people’s wishes true in dark manners.

One such wisher had her wish be for Sam to meet his end due to that woman being under a spell herself that made her insanely fall in love with a man Sam was up against. Sam was fried by a lightning strike, but this was later reversed.

Sam and Dean: Shot by Hunters

After bringing the apocalypse into fruition, Sam and Dean became wanted men for hunters and two such hunters tracked them down in their hotel rooms. Despite the two attempting to talk their way out of the situation, the men would gun Sam and Dean down in cold blood.

The two would then arrive in heaven where they located Joshua and were then resurrected on Earth so they could stop Lucifer’s plans. What’s more is that those hunters later returned in a future season.

Sam: Impaled by Anna

Anna Milton returned in Season 5 with one task: take out Sam Winchester for good. She put her plans in motion by traveling back in time and looking to dispose of John and Mary before Sam was born.

While Sam and Dean traveled time to stop her, Anna succeeded in finishing Sam by impaling him with a pipe when he tried to fight her. Sam met his end at that time but was revived when Michael resurrected him and sent him to the future.

Sam: Going to the cage

The finale of Season 5 saw Sam fall into Lucifer’s Cage. This was seen as the only option to get Lucifer out of bringing the apocalypse to the world and the plan was of Sam’s choosing. Ultimately, it worked out that way as Sam would fall into the cage, taking Lucifer with him.

He would see his demise this way, only for Lucifer to torture him for over 120 years for his act before Castiel and Death saved his body and soul, respectively.

Dean: To talk to Death

When Sam was running wild all out of his mind without his soul, Dean had enough and went to ask Death himself to get Sam’s soul out of Lucifer’s Cage. In order to do so, Dean commissioned a trusted person to cause his demise for a few certain minutes so he could talk to Tessa the Reaper, who brought Death to talk to Dean. This was successful as Death did bring Sam’s soul back.

Dean: Stabbed by Metatron

While the Mark of Cain and the First Blade made Dean more powerful than angels and demons, he was nothing compared to Metatron who had the power of God through the angel tablet.

Their fight wasn’t so much a fight as it was a massacre in Metatron’s favour. The fight ended with Metatron driving an angel blade through Dean, causing his demise and resurrecting him as a demon who was just bad news.

Dean: Overdosing on pills

In the episode ‘Red Meat’, Dean would display his never-ending love for Sam once again when he overdosed on pills so he could bargain with Billie the Reaper. Sam had seemingly been smothered by a thankless person he had rescued, but was revealed to have only been unconscious.

Meanwhile, Dean did pass away for a few minutes before he was successfully revived by the doctor at the hospital he had been at – it was another example showing Dean cared for Sam more than anything else.

Sam and Dean: To escape prison

While it appears Billie never liked making deals with Sam and Dean, she did acquiesce to this deal in Season 12 that saw the brothers seemingly killed in the high-security prison they were incarcerated at.

They had no options but to cut this deal as they were in a place Dean described as “worse than Hell”. The deal had a clause that one Winchester would go to the Empty with Billie at the end, but Castiel stabbed Billie before this happened.

Dean: To speak to Billie

After taking out a ghost they were hunting, Dean decides to take his own life briefly so that he could talk to the ghost’s victims to know where their bodies were in order to sever their ties from Earth so they could go to heaven.

Similar to ‘Red Meat’, Dean injected himself with a drug that caused his demise temporarily. The idea was for him to stay deceased for only three minutes but this was interrupted by Billie, who was now the new Death.

Sam: Mauled by Vampires

When the brothers finally got to the Apocalypse World at the end of Season 13, Sam was an immediate casualty as he was taken by crazed vampires from that world and torn apart. Sam met his end here but was resurrected by the last person you would think: Lucifer.

Lucifer only did it so he could make a deal with Sam, taking him to the group so Lucifer could meet Jack.

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