I started watching Supernatural on the day it premiered in a dark room. I was ready for a horror show, but I had no idea what the series would mean to me — that I would spend 15 years of my life watching and loving the characters on the show. But, of course, I still love the show and rewatch it. But now we have a new show for the universe, The Winchesters. The story of how Mary and John Winchester meet and fall in love. Granted, it is changing the story a bit, but showrunner Robbie Thompson promises all will be explained in episode 13.
I got the opportunity to be in the press room at New York Comic-Con. So, I got to speak to our newest Supernatural family and hear what the show means to them. Drake Rodger, who plays John, is a fan of Supernatural. He found the show on Netflix, like so many others. So he’s excited and understands fans’ fear of the prequel messing with the original. But he told me they’d hired an entire team to ensure anything established in the original isn’t messed with. Even the person that runs the Supernatural Wiki is helping. She tells them what they can and cannot say when they’re on set filming. So, it sounds like we’re in good hands. Plus, Drake promises lots of Easter eggs for fans.
Something I wasn’t expecting was Meg Donnelly saying she took inspiration from Mr. and Mrs. Smith for the fight scenes. But when you watch the pilot, you can see that shine through. She’s a badass in the first episode, John not so much. Despite being in the Marines, he has some learning to do. Which Jojo Fleites, who plays Carlos, jumps right to.
Lastly, I asked them what the best piece of advice Jensen Ackles gave to them for taking on these characters was. Meg joked, “never sink on your heel because I look shorter (laughing) in comparison to Drake because he had to go through that in Supernatural.”
Jensen’s advice to Drake was really sweet: “There’s no pressure to be Jeffery. We didn’t cast you to be Jeffery. We cast you because you’re Drake, and you bring that to the role, and the rest will fall in place.”
Watch the entire interview:
