The CW’s “Supernatural” has many fans and even non-fans wondering, “what could the last episode possibly hold for the future of these beloved characters?” in the final season of this big show. Well, to start off, Supernatural is a horror/paranormal, sci-fi fiction show about two brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) who hunt supernatural monsters such as ghosts, demons, and vampires. The first season’s main plot is about the two brothers trying to find their father, John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who seemed to have disappeared while hunting the creature that killed their mother when the two boys were younger.

The story only goes further as the show progresses to the point of discovering angels, heaven and hell, new enemies, and even God himself (let’s not get into that right now though). As the story progresses, new characters are introduced to the show and family that many fans seem to adore. One of the fan’s most hyped-up characters was introduced in the fourth season in 2009 known as Castiel (Misha Collins), an angel of the lord that was sent to rescue Dean Winchester from hell after the events of the second and third season. It’s safe to say that the angelic character has become a fan favorite throughout the years and has been demanded by fans that he make a come back to the show on more than one occasion. The newest edition to the family, Jack Kline (Alexander Calvert), the son of Lucifer (a long story) was introduced in season twelve in 2016 and grew on many fans over the years as well, as most of the new characters do. 

The show first aired on September 13, 2005, and ended on November 19, 2020. The show’s characters, story, and fanbase are very widely known around the world for being one of the longest ongoing sci-fi “fandoms” since 2005. For the past fifteen years, The CW’s Supernatural has been changing and influencing the lives of many of the show’s fans as well as the cast/crew. With conventions, fundraisers, and more, the family has been brought closer and closer throughout the years. Fans becoming friends on social media through their common love for the show, seeing parts of themselves in these characters, seeing the show as their form of comfort; cast members becoming family throughout the years that they’ve been filming is what makes the show so special to so many people.

Many fans have been on the edge of their seats since the second to last episode of the series finale. In the episode, we see the two brothers and Jack Kline defeat God (Rob Benedict) and save the world while doing so. Jack takes on the role of God at the end of the episode and leaves to take care of business in heaven, leaving the Winchesters to live happily on Earth. While the ending seemed to have pleased the cast, the majority of fans seem to be upset at the lack of other recurring characters and so-called bad/rushed writing in the second to last episode but still kept their high hopes for the finale.

Needless to say, the finale wasn’t that big of a hit as fans thought it would be. Many reviews and posts on social media seem to disagree with the ending for the show’s characters for many reasons that fans declare were because of bad writing and the carelessness the writers have for the beloved characters. In the last episode, we see the two brothers, Sam and Dean, on what seems to be a normal vampire hunt in order to save two young boys that went missing. Both brothers fight against the monsters to keep the two boys safe after finding them in a barn but the fight ends with Dean Winchester dying due to an accidental run-in with a nail and bleeds out after a (very emotional) goodbye to his brother. Towards the end of the episode, we see that Dean Winchester had happily arrived in his own personal heaven where he is able to visit his loved ones due to new improvements from their new and improved God, Jack Kline. Back on Earth, Sam Winchester is shown to be living the so-called apple-pie life with a son of his own that he names after his older brother. There is a quick montage of Sam’s life where we see him slowly aging along with his son while they enjoy life together as a family. In the end, Sam dies of old age with his son by his side. In heaven, we see the two brothers reunite with one another in the same spot from the very first episode and the credits begin to roll.

Many fans can admit that while both brother’s deaths were emotional, their endings seemed to be anticlimactic and disappointing ending for quite a few reasons. One of the main reasons being that, as fans have been saying, the brothers deserved better. While their endings were wrapped up quickly, they were said to have ruined their character development throughout the series. After all the losses, hunting, battles, and sacrifices they’ve made, fans say that their deaths were almost pointless if they were only meant to die at the end of the story.

The majority of the fanbase is still bothered that we were never able to hear Dean’s side of the confession from episode eighteen “Despair” where the character Castiel was said to have confessed his love for Dean in order to save him from Death, sacrificing himself in the process. This was the last episode Castiel appeared in, much to fans’ disappointment, the character’s name has only mentioned a handful of times during the last two episodes that only confirmed his whereabouts in heaven and not the Empty (hell for angels and demons), with the help of Jack.

For many years, Supernatural has had their fair share of LGBTQ+ characters, however, many fans argue that the writers of the show don’t seem to keep the characters in for long until they are eventually killed off in ways that feel very, as many fans describe it, homophobic. A fan favorite Charlie Bradbury (Felicia Day), a confirmed lesbian on the show, had only lasted about two to three seasons after she was killed off by a Nazi and died for no other reason other than to further the storyline for the Winchesters. Other characters such as Rowena MacLeod (Ruth Connell) had scenes deleted that confirmed her bisexuality and there was never a further mention of it in the show or behind scenes. She later dies in the third episode of the fifteenth season but was brought back as the queen of hell. Many fans refer to this as the “bury your gay’s trope” where writers get rid of LGBTQ+ characters mainly for the shock factor; this past season was the last straw for many fans.

After the character Castiel’s confirmed love confession, we see that he is taken by an entity called The Empty, where he is to be “asleep” but is forced to dream of his biggest regrets. While we never actually see him in the empty or in heaven where he is confirmed to be alive, fans are still upset over the mistreatment and neglect of this beloved character. Many fans say that the last two episodes seemed to avoid the confession from the previous episodes and that it felt as if this big, important scene was brushed off. While Dean’s feelings were never confirmed, they were never denied either and many cast members say that his side of the confession is “up for interpretation,” fans aren’t too happy with that response but they’ll take what they can get for the time being.

Dean Winchester’s death has been said to be incredibly disappointing by the majority of the fanbase. In the episode we see Dean fighting against the vampires on a hunt that was an uncompleted job of his fathers. While fighting, he is pushed against a pillar in a barn and is impaled by a rusted nail. In the scene, he refuses that his brother calls an ambulance and only asks that his brother stays with him as he passes. There is a tearful, emotional goodbye between the two brothers where they talk about all they’ve been through with one another and even reminisce on old memories from the earlier seasons that all fans remember well. Dean asks for his brother’s okay before he passes and after the approval from Sam, Dean dies. The ending was very hard to digest for many fans due to the fact that it just didn’t seem real and it felt very out of place in some parts. Jensen Ackles who plays Dean has even said on more than one occasion that he had to be talked into liking the ending to the point where he had to make a call to the creator of the show, Eric Kripke, since he said it didn’t sit well with him the first time he read it.

Fans called Dean’s death disappointing due to the fact that the cause of his death was a hunting accident rather than the blaze of glory ending that many had expected from his character. The fact that the job he died on was his father’s only seemed to upset the fans more. It has been said in the show that Dean, as well as others, sees himself as an “obedient soldier” to his father due to the fact that he always did what his father asked without any questions and stayed behind while his younger brother went to college much to their father’s disapproval. It’s pretty obvious as the show progresses that their father, John Winchester, was not the best parent, many fans agree that John showed signs of neglect towards the two brothers ever since their mother had died and he had begun hunting for the creature that killed her. Fans feel that Dean Winchester’s death because of a job that his neglective father didn’t complete was basically a slap in the face not only to his character and his development but to the fans as well.

As for the younger of the two brothers, fans aren’t as overjoyed about Sam’s new life as writers predicted. Within the few minutes that we saw Sam living his life with his son, we see a blurred out person in the background of a backyard that Sam looks back and smiles at as he is playing catch with his son. There is no further mention of the person for the rest of the episode. In a Q&A panel after the finale, Jared Padalecki who plays Sam, says that the person is also up to the fan’s interpretation. Fans aren’t too happy about this response either due to the fact there was no further mention of Sam’s love interest, Eileen Leahy (Shoshannah Stern), that was brought back to life at the beginning of the season but vanished during God’s plan to rid people from Earth. After saving the world and bringing everyone back, there is no further mention of her whereabouts or her relationship with Sam.  Fans have also shared that they feel as if their views aren’t cared for enough by the writers to the point where they still have to interpret parts of the story that could easily be confirmed in the episode (this also goes for the love confession.)

The audience also argues that for the past few seasons Sam’s character and the storyline have been neglected in order to shine a light on his older brother’s for quite a while. They argue that the beginning of the show had started off centered mainly around Sam but began to change focus on Dean as the show progressed. Fans have shared their dislike for the younger Winchester’s ending since it felt very rushed and left many things unsaid and unaddressed. For the longest time, since the very first episode, it was made very clear that all Sam had wanted was to live a happy life away from the supernatural (pun intended) but has slowly begun to accept the hunting life as the show progressed, fans feel that there should have been more for his ending after wanting it for so long.

For the most part, the ending wasn’t anywhere near perfect in the eyes of many fans but there are new news and panels every other week that can still answer many of the fan’s questions. The show as a whole wasn’t perfect but there is no doubt that it has changed and influenced the lives of many fans as well as the cast/crew. While fans were told to make their own ending if they didn’t agree with what they got, many are still trying to find ways to get the proper ending that they deserved. There have been trending posts on social media, fundraisers that were made in the name of these beloved characters that provide support for LGBTQ+ youth, suicide prevention, mental health help, college students, and much more. The Supernatural family will not be forgotten, not for a long while, as long as the fanbase is keeping the show alive with their love for the show’s characters.