Posted in: CW, TV | Tagged: Jensen Ackles, Supernatural

Supernatural: Jensen Ackles on How SPN Family Connects with Series

Jensen Ackles on the personal bonds between Supernatural and the SPN Family and how getting to meet fans gave him a better understanding.

While making the press rounds in support of his new Prime Video series, Countdown, Jensen Ackles has also had the opportunity to look at what's still to come with the final season of The Boys and the upcoming spinoff prequel, The Boys: Vought Rising. He's also been given opportunities to reflect on his and Jared Padalecki's 15-season run as Dean and Sam Winchester, respectively, on Supernatural – a series whose popularity is as strong now as ever before. This week, Ackles discussed the personal and family bonds that the show has helped create over the years, both during its original run and the show's continued success in the streaming era.

"I think the show, because of the subject matter that it dealt with — but also because of these two brothers who would never say die — gave not only an escape for people who are dealing with whatever they were dealing with, but it also gave them maybe a little inspiration," Ackles shared with Collider about the personal connections fans have made with the show, during its run and up through today. "There's an old saying on set if things get a little too emotional or a little too intense, or whatever it might be, people used to say — I haven't heard it anymore, but they used to say, 'Hey, we're making TV. We're not curing cancer.' I remember when it hit me, somebody said, 'We may not be curing cancer, but we might be giving somebody a little inspiration to fight it.'"

The bond that Supernatural fans were establishing was something that Ackles and Padalecki developed a much greater appreciation for once they were able to start getting out, working the convention circuit, and getting to speak with the show's faithful. "They would tell us their stories about how the show may have impacted them and how much they love it or how much they bonded over it…" he shared. "I've met generations of, 'This is my grandmother and this is my mother, and we all sit down and watch it, and it brought us together.' That was really when it dawned on me that we were doing something special."

A main reason why it took some time for the duo to get a better understanding of how invested the fans were in the show had to do with Ackles and Padalecki pretty much being in lockdown mode during production. "We were doing the show. Our heads were down. We weren't going to premieres and red carpets and parties and doing all that kind of thing. We were working. And when you're sitting on a set and you're working around 80 crew members, they're your only audience. They're the only people that you're getting a reaction from because the camera's not giving you anything," Ackles shared, explaining how they were able to establish an early understanding that the show's storylines were hitting with folks on an emotional level.

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