''The Winchesters'' is an American

dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series developed by Robbie Thompson and is a spinoff from and

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

to ''

Supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

''. The series premiered on October 11, 2022, on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Synopsis

Set in the 1970s,

Dean Winchester Dean Winchester is one of the two protagonists from the American drama television series '' Supernatural'', along with his younger brother Sam. He is portrayed primarily by Jensen Ackles. Other versions of the character having been portrayed b ...

narrates the story of how his parents, John Winchester and Mary Campbell, met, fell in love, and fought monsters together while in search for their missing fathers.

Cast and characters

Main

Meg Donnelly Meg Elizabeth Donnelly (born July 25, 2000) is an American actress. She portrayed Taylor Otto in the ABC sitcom ''American Housewife'', and Addison in the 2018 Disney Channel Original Movie ''Zombies'' and its sequels, '' Zombies 2'' (2020) and ...

as Mary Campbell * Drake Rodger as John Winchester * Nida Khurshid as Latika Desai, a young hunter-in-training * Jojo Fleites as Carlos Cervantez, a confident fighter against demons *

Demetria McKinney Demetria Dyan McKinney (born August 27, 1979) is an American actress and singer. From 2006 to 2012, during its original run, she starred in the TBS sitcom ''Tyler Perry's House of Payne'', a BET revival of the show was announced in 2020. Her othe ...

as Ada Monroe, a bookstore owner who takes interest in the occult *

Bianca Kajlich Bianca Maria Kajlich ( ; born March 26, 1977) is an American actress. Kajlich has had starring and supporting roles in television and film including the role of Jennifer on the CBS comedy ''Rules of Engagement'' (2007–2013). Kajlich was an ac ...

as Millie Winchester, John's mother

Recurring

Jensen Ackles Jensen Ross Ackles (born March 1, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Dean Winchester in The WB/The CW, CW dark fantasy drama series ''Supernatural (American TV series), Supernatural'' (2005–2020) and appearing in ...

(narrator) * Tom Welling as Samuel Campbell *

Bridget Regan Bridget Catherine Regan (born February 3, 1982) is an American actress known for portrayals such as Kahlan Amnell in the television series ''Legend of the Seeker'', Rebecca Lowe / Rachel Turner in '' White Collar'', Rose Solano in ''Jane the ...

as Rockin' Roxy

Production

Development

On June 24, 2021, it was reported that a prequel series of ''

'', titled ''The Winchesters'' that focuses on Sam and Dean's parents, John and Mary, was in development at The CW. The series is executive produced by

, his wife

Danneel Ackles Danneel Ackles ( Elta Danneel Graul; March 18, 1979), credited professionally before 2012 as Danneel Harris, is an American actress and model. She played the role of Shannon McBain on the American daytime soap opera ''One Life to Live'' and R ...

(who portrayed Anael on the series), and ''Supernatural'' writer Robbie Thompson. Ackles also reprise his role as Dean Winchester as the narrator. A pilot order for the series was confirmed by The CW on February 3, 2022; the pilot was directed by

Glen Winter Glen Winter is a Canadian television director, cinematographer, and producer who is well known for his work on The WB/The CW's '' Smallville'' and for his significant contributions to the Arrowverse. Career Winter began his career as a filmlo ...

. On March 21, 2022, it was announced that

and Drake Rodger were cast as Mary and John. On May 12, 2022, it was announced that The CW ordered it to series and premiered on October 11, 2022. In August 2022, it was confirmed that Ackles would reprise his role as Dean in a physical appearance in the first episode.

Filming

Filming for the pilot episode began in April 2022 throughout

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. Principal photography for the rest of the series began in New Orleans on July 25, and concluded on December 15.

Episodes

Reception

Critical response

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, 100% of 8 critic reviews for ''The Winchesters'' are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Ratings

''The Winchesters'' had the most-watched series debut during the 2022–23 season for The CW. It was also the most-viewed premiere for the season.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Winchesters 2022 American television series debuts 2020s American drama television series 2020s American supernatural television series Television series set in 1972 Television series by Wonderland Sound and Vision Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios American prequel television series American television spin-offs Dark fantasy television series Television series by CBS Studios American fantasy drama television series The CW original programming Television shows filmed in New Orleans Television shows set in New Orleans Supernatural (American TV series) Television series about families