Supernatural was a beloved series, but it mostly revolved around white men. The original show focused on Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) in the first few seasons. Then Castiel (Misha Collins) was introduced in season 4. The demon everyone loves, Crowley (Mark Sheppard), was introduced in season 5, and the son of God, Jack (Alexander Calvert), was introduced in the season 12 finale. There were some women in the early seasons, Jo (Alona Tal) and Ellen (Samantha Ferris), but they were killed off in season 5. In later seasons, more female characters were introduced, but none had a central role.
While the original show revolved around primarily white men and had white female side characters, The Winchesters aims to fix that problem. It introduced a more diverse cast right from the pilot. Supernatural tried to bring in more female characters but kept killing them off. It wasn't until The CW was looking to do a spin-off with the Supernatural women that it finally stopped killing them. It's a show about hunting monsters. So, sure, people will die, but they didn't have to keep killing off the diverse characters.
Supernatural Had A Diversity Problem
In later seasons Supernatural brought back Billie (Lisa Berry) in a different body. She was a reaper and later became Death. Michael (Christian Keyes) from the Apocalypse World was also brought in briefly. They were two African American characters, but neither was around that much. Bringing Felicia Day in to play Charlie Bradbury helped its diversity problem because she was a queer woman. She quickly became a fan favorite. The writers brought her in a lot but then brutally killed her off. Charlie deserved better than the end she got. The writers brought many fan favorites back with the Apocalypse World because they were able to have a different version of those characters. But that wasn't enough to make up for killing Charlie.
Many fans also believed that Castiel was gay. Throughout the show, it was never explicitly said until the end. The ambiguity could be because he was an angel. Maybe they didn't lean one way or the other. In episode 18 of the final season, Castiel confesses his love for Dean when he is about to sacrifice himself to save Dean. It was too little too late for that storyline, and it was also just thrown in there without any build-up. Dean never saw it coming. It threw a bone at fans instead of working it into the story. The Supernatural LGBTQ+ fans deserved better than that.
The Winchesters Is Fixing Supernatural's Representation
The Winchesters introduces multiple people of color in the group: Latika Dar (Nida Khurshid) is a Pakistani-American. Carlos Cervantez (Jojo Fleites) is a non-binary Latino. And Ada Monroe (Demetria McKinney) is an African-American woman. This is a great improvement over the original series. But it's not perfect, as the focus is still around Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly) and John Winchester (Drake Rodger), the two white leads. For the first few episodes, Carlos briefly talks about past relationships and crushes. It isn't until episode 6 that the writers give them a romantic subplot where they are so nervous they can't even talk to the guy. It seems so uncharacteristic for the Carlos the fans have seen so far, but it's clear that this is a person they like.
The Winchesters is hitting more boxes with a non-binary character and three female characters, two of which are persons of color. It's also nice to see a Latino and an Indian in the mix. Those ethnicities don't always get included, so it's nice to see them represented here. This was an intentional move from Jensen Ackles and Danneel Ackles. They wanted the show to have more diverse characters.
How The Winchesters Can Still Improve Supernatural's Diversity
While The Winchesters is off to a great start in improving the diversity problem Supernatural had, it can still do more. For example, it can lean into Carlos as a non-binary character. It's the 70s, so they should encounter a lot of discrimination. Lata and Ada should come across it too. In 2022, strides have been taken, but it's still hard to be non-binary and a person of color, so it had to be more difficult back then. Carlos was a soldier, so they would have encountered issues while in service hiding their true identity, too. There's so much the writers can pull from.
For the most part, The Winchesters has focused on Mary and John, which makes sense since it's about how Supernatural's Sam and Dean's parents met, but that leaves Carlos, Lata and Ada feeling like side characters at times. The writers should delve deeper into each of these characters' backgrounds. If that means not having as much focus on Mary and John in an episode here and there, that's fine. To make this a true ensemble cast, the writers need to utilize their diverse characters.