Supernatural season 9's "Bloodlines" was intended as the backdoor pilot for a spinoff of the same name, but when the episode took a critical hammering, those plans were swiftly nixed. Supernatural season 13 tried again with "Wayward Sisters," hoping to launch a spinoff starring Jody Mills and her hunting sorority. Though warmly received by fans, The CW wasn't so keen.
Supernatural finally fulfilled its spinoff ambitions after the main series ended in 2020. Less than a year after Sam and Dean hung up their machetes, Jensen Ackles confirmed he would be producing a Supernatural prequel based around the Winchester brothers' parents, John and Mary. Officially titled The Winchesters, The CW has boldly pushed ahead with a full-season order, despite audience concerns over how the concept will avoid a canon crisis, since John shouldn't discover his wife's hunting exploits until much later.
Regardless, The Winchesters is already avoiding a fatal error Wayward Sisters both made. Supernatural's failed spinoff attempts deliberately tried to differentiate from their parent series. Bloodlines was envisioned as a grittier urban vampire show, while the Wayward Sisters pilot felt like a tonal departure in of the drama and dynamic between lead characters. The Winchesters' trailer, however, makes absolutely clear that this is a Supernatural series from head to toe. There's Dean and the Impala, the city of Lawrence, classic rock references, plenty of on-the-road hunting, and the same lighthearted blend of horror, drama and comedy Supernatural fans are comfortable with. One trailer even recycles "Carry On My Wayward Son." The Winchesters isn't moving away from Supernatural's DNA, but embracing it with the enthusiasm of Dean Winchester at an anime convention.
Can John & Mary Winchester Fill The Sam & Dean Void?
One of the most frequently-cited reasons for Supernatural's past spinoff failures was the lack of Sam and Dean - that without Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki playing the Winchester brothers, Supernatural simply didn't work. Even The CW's Mark Pedowitz pondered whether this might be true shortly after Wayward Sisters was binned in 2018. While Jensen Ackles does appear in The Winchesters - physically, and as a disembodied voice - his role is minimal, with Meg Donnelly's Mary and Drake Rodger's John taking center stage instead. One of the biggest questions being asked of Supernatural's spinoff is whether Sam and Dean's parents are capable of replacing Sam and Dean themselves as central heroes.
While the answer remains to be seen, The Winchesters has given itself one major advantage over Bloodlines and Wayward Sisters: the family connection. Mary and John may not be Sam and Dean, but they're still Winchesters. It's as close as The CW could possibly get without actually having Sam and Dean, since everything the young lovers do in The Winchesters could impact their future children. The dynamic between John and Mary will, of course, be very different compared to Sam and Dean's (unless you're reading that fan-fiction again...) but the sight of two Winchesters killing monsters in rural towns and bonding as they go might just be enough to fill the void created by the absence of Ackles and Padalecki in lead roles.