the best CW shows, and the fact that it produced 327 episodes is incredibly impressive, especially with how the series was able to maintain quite a bit of its viewership during that time.

Jensen Ackles' Dean and Jared Padalecki's Sam are some of the best characters in television history, and their journey over the course of Supernatural's 15 seasons was often moving, especially when it came to the end of the series in 2020. Despite becoming the longest-running CW show by far, Supernatural was originally planned to be much smaller, as creator Eric Kripke (The Boys) only envisioned the series to be five seasons, which would have ended Supernatural in spectacular fashion.

Supernatural's Original Ending Was Great, But There's One Detail I Still Don't Buy

Season 5's Ending Was Nearly Perfect

Not many fantasy TV shows get better than Supernatural during its first five seasons, which, coincidentally, was where it was originally supposed to end, and season 5's finale is largely considered the show's best episode, even being the highest-rated episode of the entire series on IMDb. It really is spectacular, too, as every plot point the show had been building came to a head, and a biblical fight to stave off the Apocalypse provided some of the most exciting and poignant moments in the entirety of Supernatural.

Eric Kripke left after the end of Supernatural season 5, and the series went through several more showrunners before it ended.

Despite being a nearly perfect way to end the series originally, there is one aspect of it that never quite made sense. At the end of the season, Sam sacrifices himself to protect Dean and the rest of the world from Lucifer and the Apocalypse. In doing so, Sam found himself stuck in Hell for what could have very well been eternity while Dean retired from hunting to live a life with Lisa. The problem is, it wouldn't make sense for Dean to just accept the sacrifice Sam made and never attempt to bring him back from it.

Dean's Season 5 Ending Is Exactly Why Supernatural Had To Continue

More Seasons Allowed Dean, Sam, And Castiel's Story To Evolve Even More

Over the course of Supernatural's first five seasons, viewers saw Dean Winchester do nearly everything he could to protect his brother. Dean has firsthand experience of being in Hell after the end of season 3, and it seems like he would do anything to save Sam from that same fate. Alas, the series ended up being so popular that it only made sense for it to continue, which gave Supernatural the opportunity to rewrite the small wrong that the original finale had.

Dean has firsthand experience of being in Hell after the end of season 3, and it seems like he would do anything to save Sam from that same fate.

Of course, Dean wasn't actually the one to rescue Sam from Hell in season 6. It was Castiel (Misha Collins) who made a deal with the demon Crowley (Mark Sheppard) to help bring Sam back, though it left him without a soul upon his return. Not only did continuing Supernatural past season 5 allow the writers to develop both Sam and Dean even further, but it also allowed Castiel to be explored in even more depth, as he had quickly become a fan favorite when he initially appeared at the beginning of season 4.

Despite Its Dean Problem, The Show's Original Ending Still Worked Better Than Its Real Finale

Season 5 Was The Pinnacle Of Supernatural

Even with Dean's actions being a bit questionable at the end of season 5, that original ending still worked better than the eventual series finale in season 15. The Supernatural finale ended up being quite divisive among fans, as it acted more as an anticlimactic epilogue than a full-blown series finale. Still, it was nice to see a more subdued and personal ending than what is typically seen in shows like this, and Dean's death hits incredibly hard, especially when he reunites with Sam in heaven decades later.

More of the Winchester brothers is always great, but in a lot of ways, it still feels like Supernatural season 5 could have been the best way for the series to end, feeling like a complete story that made sense from beginning to end. Supernatural ended up having a pretty definitive conclusion, but in a lot of ways, the slight open-endedness of the original five-season run could have been something really special, even if it does feel a bit out of character for Dean choosing not to fight to bring Sam back.