Jared Padalecki Walks Back His Supernatural Prequel Reaction

This summer’s Sam and Dean Winchester (aka Jared Padalecki’s and Jensen Ackles’) apparent falling out was a hard hit for fans of the CW juggernaut Supernatural. When we heard of a prequel, we all breathed a sigh of relief that the story would go on past its 15 years, continuing to bring us the epic saga of the Winchester family and friends keeping us safe from what goes bump in the night (Grab the salt!), and the brotherly bond that could not be broken by the devil or God. Moments after Jensen Ackles announced the new project, Padalecki made it clear that it was the first time he’d heard of the project, and was hurt that he heard it via social media.

Jared Padelecki took some time to sit down with the NYT to clarify his initial reaction and the online back and forth that followed. “It was just one of those things that because it was online, and people were assuming I was part of it, I really wanted to just say: ‘Hey, I’m not keeping a secret from you guys. I just don’t know about this,'” he said.

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“I should be old enough to know better than to put something out there and expect that people will understand,” he admitted. “It’s hard to tweet a specific tone. If you write it online, it’s like, ‘Oh, he doesn’t know! They’re going to kill each other! The world is ending!’ And I’m like, “No, no, no.” (Laughs.) I try to avoid social media as much as possible because of that.”

Jared Padalecki later tweeted explaining that our beloved brothers had made up saying, “@JensenAckles and I had a great talk, as we do often, and things are good. The show is early in the process with miles to go. We’ve travelled a lot of roads together, and sometimes those damn roads have bumps. Bumps don’t stop us. Once brothers, always brothers.#spnfamily

He said that Ackles had explained, “”Man, it’s not picked up yet. It’s not even written yet.’

“He knows and I know how much Supernatural means to both of us, and it wasn’t a secret he was trying to keep, necessarily. It was just something that he didn’t feel really even existed yet. But he has been like: ‘Hey, I’ll let you know what’s going on.’ Padalecki said.

On June 24, Ackles shared a link to a story announcing The Winchesters had been given a script commitment, with Ackles and wife, former Supernatural actress and producing partner Daneel Ackles slated to develop the series.The show will follow John and Mary, the parents of the Supernatural demon-hunting duo Sam and Dean, played by Padalecki and Ackles, respectively.

Supernatural creator and former showrunner Erick Kripke also chimed in on the news over Twitter in a since-deleted tweet. “When @JensenAckles first told me this story, I loved it. He & @DanneelHarris & @rthompson1138 are the perfect people to make it. (The other perfect person is too busy Texas Rangering.) Thanks for carrying the torch, guys, go kick it in the ass. Proud of you,” Kripke wrote.

Padalecki tweeted later that day, saying, “Dude. Happy for you. Wish I heard about this some way other than Twitter. I’m excited to watch, but bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever.” After thousands of fans declared their disbelief Padalecki continued, “No. It’s not. This is the first I’ve heard about it. I’m gutted.”

He also had some choice words to say in a since-deleted tweet to Supernatural co-executive producer and prequel spinoff writer Robbie Thompson of his being left out of the prequel. “Et tu brute? Wow. What a truly awful thing you’ve done,” it read. “#Bravo you coward.”

At the end of the interview, Padalecki wants to confirm for all, “I love Jensen deeply. He’s my brother – he has been for many years, and he always will be, no matter what,” Padalecki said. “He’s spent more time with me on camera than anybody probably ever will, so he knows my strengths and weaknesses more than I do, and vice versa.”

I know we’re all semi-soothed to know some attempt has been made to repair the off-screen relationship. For the fans of Supernatural, Jensen Ackles’ move to create a Supernatural spin-off where Jared Padalecki wasn’t even aware of it, did not sit well. In fact, it was antithetical to the entire message of the show. We all know it’s just a TV show, but there was a reason it stayed on air for 15 seasons. We loved our brothers that would literally go to hell back for each other.

Topics: Supernatural