SDCC 2019: Supernatural at Hall H – The End of an Era

The Supernatural Hall H panel on Sunday, July 21st was one that had everyone talking. After going to SDCC for the past few years, this was to be the last panel for Supernatural, with the announcement of the show ending earlier this year.

The panel started with clips of the pilot all the way to the dramatic fourteen season finale, and fans laughed, cried, and cheered in the audience when fan favorite moments appeared on the screen, such as the introduction of Castiel, Death, and more. They played rock classics throughout (include Don’t Fear the Reaper and Bad Moon on the Rise), but the real treat was when, in Supernatural tradition, they played Carry on My Wayward Son over clips from season 9-14. Hall H almost seemed to rock as fans sang along to the song that had been with the show since its dramatic first season finale.

Rob Benedict (Chuck/God) and Richard Speight Jr. (Gabriel/Trickster) showed up to moderate the panel. After a few fun quips of their costume choices (with both of them showing up in leather jackets to pay homage to their favorite character), they introduced Director and Producer Robert (Bob) Singer, writer and co-showrunner Andrew Dab, and writers Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner. But the biggest cheers were for the cast, with Alexander Calvert (Jack), Misha Collins (Castiel), and of course, one of the most epic brother duos in television, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, playing Dean and Sam Winchester respectively.

Crying was the theme of the panel. First question out of the gate was about this being their last panel as the Supernatural cast and the tears only got harder to hold in after that. Supernatural had been a large part of the life for both the cast and crew for the past fourteen ears that they had worked on the show. Jared and Jensen started this show in their 20s, and throughout the seasons, they’ve gotten married, started families, and have grown together as friends. Jensen mentioned that they thought that the show would get two or three seasons and then life would “unpause.” But instead, it never did, and they were able to have “lifelong friends and experiences of a lifetime.”

Before Misha Collins had been cast onto the show, he had a “goal card” for the new year, and that he wanted to be a regular on a show that was creatively fulfilling and that he became lifelong friends with his cast mates. With Supernatural, he was able to have all of that.

Alexander Calvert recently joined the show in Season 12 as Jack, the son of Lucifer. Even in the few short years he’d been on the show, he’d gained the love of the fans. Alexander added this about his character, when asked where it would go in the future, “Jack’s journey and my small part on this show have been truly incredible. I’m excited for all these people to see this journey come to an end.”

Bob Singer, who had been around for the entirely of the show, minus the pilot episode chimed in that for years, he hadn’t gone to the Hall H panels with the cast and crew and that he realized that he had missed so much just from the fandom. A type of a show like this was rare, “lighting in a bottle,” Singer said, to have the original cast and much of the crew around for so long. He also praised Eric Kripke, and the strength of the characters that he’d created, which gave the shows such a strong foundation. Singer added, “You never imagine 15 years but it seemed to have gone by very quick and I enjoyed every minute “

But with fourteen seasons under their belt, and with big bads that only seemed to get bigger and bigger, where could they go? Writer Brad Buckler said that the season fourteen finale was “one of the game changing moments we’ve ever had on the show.” The entirety of the show since God had come into play, the fans and the characters had assumed that God was hands off and not around very much. But there now is a God who was staying in the shadows, very much around. “It messes with your belief system,” Buckler adds, because every move that Sam and Dean have made throughout these seasons, they thought was due to their own free will. But how much of it had really been predetermined and arranged by God himself? Eugenie Ross-Leming added “You’re living your life basically in quicksand. Is every step you’re taking a step you’re initiating, or is everything an illusion or pre planned by this kind of diabolical deity? ”

And then came the fan questions. There were a few fun ones, such as was there anything they wanted to do on the show they hadn’t, to which Jared replied commented wanting to go to Maui or have the boys doing laundry in their underwear. But then it got serious, with a fan asking what would they be proud of for the legacy that they started.That’s when the tears really started to flow, with Misha Collins pulling out tissues for both Jared and Jensen, which got the room laughing again.

But then Jared spoke: “I keep going and having out of body experiences wondering why there are so many people looking towards all of us on stage and going, ‘Oh wow. This is a cool thing. We’re not going to be here next year’.” To which he started to fake cry. But then he sobered up, to add “I’m really lucky because my friendships won’t go away. And Sam Winchester, for me, won’t go away. He’ll be a part of me forever.”

Jensen added just how labor intensive working on a show is, and how much goes into it, saying “I’m really proud of that product. After this long on a show, to still truly love what we do and be proud to hang my hat on that at the end of the day is what I’m going to take with this. That’s one of the legacies that I’m proud of is knowing that I put it in, I put in the effort. We all did. Everybody puts it in and nobody phones it in here. I’m thankful that you guys can appreciate that.”

Just as the tears were starting to dry from the fans, they then gave away an exact replica of the car from the show, a 1967 Chevy Impala to one of the lucky fans who had come up to ask a question, which got the entire hall screaming. But then, everyone on the panel thanked cast, crew, and fans for their many years of dedication, leading to the entire hall giving the panelist a standing ovation. It was truly the end of an era, and what a beautiful way to go.

Supernatural returns Thursday, October 10 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW

About Pop Culturalist.com contributor, Brieana:

Brieana is a writer who lives and works in New York City. She loves video games, books, movies, and knows an unhealthy amount about celebrity gossip. Her favorites include: Kingdom Hearts, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Leverage, and Inception.