Supernatural ended its historic 15-season run on The CW last year, but many might be surprised to know that the popular series didn’t always plan to feature the Winchester brothers. The series, created by Eric Kripke, debuted in 2005 and followed Sam and Dean Winchester, both of whom grew up hunting monsters, trained by their father, John. While fans quickly became attached to the Winchesters and their journeys over the years, Kripke’s original plan didn’t have the brothers in it at all.
The premise of the early seasons of Supernatural — before the series introduced angels, heavenly plots, and purgatory — was pretty basic. Years after their mother was killed by a demon, Sam and Dean road-tripped to various towns throughout the U.S. to defeat shapeshifters, vampires, and other supernatural creatures. However, before pitching his idea to WB, Kripke hadn’t factored the Winchesters into the story. The creator spent a decade wanting to make a horror show about urban myths and legends, much of which was actually incorporated into Supernatural. The brothers came into the story much later on into the development of the show and much of it was by accident.
Kripke's plan for the story was to have a journalist tracking these monsters across the country, investigating various myths for a story. In fact, one pitch was for Supernatural to possibly be an anthology series. The folks at WB, however, weren’t exactly keen about either of these ideas. Speaking with TV Insider, Kripke recalls how WB exec Susan Rovner turned down his original pitch; she didn’t like the concept of a reporter being the main character, though she was interested in keeping the urban legend aspects of the story in there. As Kripke tells it: “I said, ‘I have another version about two guys cruising the country, diving in and out of these legends.’ Then, on the spot, I made up ‘…and they’re brothers.’ I told her all my notes were at home and spent a week writing what became the pitch for Supernatural.”
After all this time, it's hard to imagine Supernatural being about anyone besides Sam and Dean. Their relationship, history, and emotional drama is what drove the storytelling for 15 seasons. While other pertinent characters, like the angel Castiel, became a staple of the series as well, the Winchester brothers were the ones at the heart of the narrative, with the reasons they hunted various creatures deeply connected with their family history. With Sam and Dean at the center of the series, the monsters became secondary, with their arcs typically working because of the connection the Winchesters were able to establish with them or the characters affected by their existence. Sam and Dean’s addition ultimately grounded the series and provided the opportunity to tell a very human story about the bonds of family, by blood or otherwise, with the supernatural and mythological elements elevating the show’s primary relationships. It also helped that Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki had a tremendous amount of chemistry and were very believable as loving, bickering brothers.
It’s pretty amazing how Kripke’s quick pitch rewrite could forever change a story for the better. While fans will never know what the potential reporter/anthology angle would have been like had it been given the greenlight by WB, Supernatural did such a great job establishing the Winchester brothers as the heart of the show that Kripke’s original pitch is now more of a fun anecdote than a missed storytelling opportunity. It’s a good thing the original plan for Supernatural changed because without the brothers Winchester, the series wouldn’t be what it is today.
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