The Winchesters, the new fantasy series prequel to Supernatural, has premiered. Besides young John and Mary Winchester, we got to see someone very familiar to us at the end, Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, who’s narrating the TV series. This raises questions of the timeline that we’re assured will be answered in this first season.
“Where Dean is is a mystery for now,” Robbie Thompson, showrunner of the horror series, told TV Line. “We’ve provided some clues in some of the visuals that I think some fans have already picked up on and have some theories on where he is. But we will definitely resolve where that handsome young man is in relation to the final seasons of Supernatural.”
As Thompson says, there are potential hints, and fans have started speculating about what’s really going on. Supernatural has quite a few gaps where Dean could feasibly be penning the Winchester family tree. Seasons often had months between them, and there’s a stretch or two where Dean is left without his brother Sam, giving him lots off time to percolate on their heritage.
A common explanation is that he’s in the afterlife, post the Supernatural ending, and now reflecting on this story from the heavens. Thompson’s aware of this one, but refuses to give anything away for the drama series.
“These are all wonderful theories I can neither confirm nor deny,” he adds. “But we will be resolving that in our first 13 episodes, 100 percent.” All of which is reassuring, as Supernatural could take some time to bring things full circle, if a question was addressed at all. It sounds like The Winchesters will be a little tighter than its forebear, a good sign for how it’ll add to the canon.
Thompson developed the show, as executive producer alongside Jensen and Danneel Ackles. The first season is scheduled to run 13 episodes, releasing weekly on The CW. For more demon-hunting, check out our lists of the best monster movies, best ghost movies, and best vampire movies.