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Both fans and cast may have been looking forward to The Winchesters season 2. But it sadly got the boot after CW canceled the show, and no new network home could be found for the series.
The Winchesters, a Supernatural prequel, tells the story long before there were the Winchester brothers, Dean and Sam, played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. The show introduced the viewers to the untold story of Dean and Sam's parents, John Winchester and their demon-hunter mother Mary Campbell.
The Supernatural spinoff debuted on CW in 2022 and ran for 13 episodes before it was canceled in 2023, which shocked fans. The cancellation also inspired Jensen Ackles, who was an executive producer and the narrator of the show to start the #SaveTheWinchesters campaign on social media in hopes of finding a new network for the series.
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Much to fans and Ackles' disappointment, The Winchesters season 2 is officially dead, though.
Why The Winchesters season 2 was canceled?
It wasn't picked up by CW
One key reason why The Winchesters season 2 never got a green light is because CW opted not to pick up the show, which didn't come as a surprise. It wasn't particularly because of the show but the network's new ownership and overhaul to a new business model in pursuit of profitability.
With the CW focusing on unscripted and lower-cost scripted programming, the second season of The Winchesters season 2 was among the long-shot renewal prospects that later got booted.
Walker: Independence, a prequel to Jared Padalecki-led series Walker, was also canceled after just one season among others like the King Fu reboot.
Also read: Who did Ty Olsson play in Supernatural?
The Winchesters season 2 failed to find a new home
After CW opted out of renewing The Winchesters season 2, fans and its cast have been hopeful that the show would find a new home.
Jensen Ackles, in particular, was hard at trying to mobilize Supernatural fans via a Save the Show campaign that could inspire other networks or streaming platforms to pick up and adopt the series.
Also read: Fringe: Full list of cast in the supernatural drama
Three major streaming platforms with ties to The Winchester or the Supernatural universe at large could make a pickup of season 2 feasible.
Netflix is one, as it has been a longtime streaming home of all 15 seasons of Supernatural. Max is another option as it is owned by Warner Bros. TV, which produced The Winchester. Lastly, Amazon Studios, where Chaos Machine Productions, Jensen and Daneel Ackles' production company is now based, could pick up the series.
Eventually, neither of the three or any other network stepped up to take in The Winchester season 2. Add in the 2023 writers' strike, networks and streaming platforms were refraining from making major pickup decisions.
Question of viewership numbers
While thousands of fans supported the #SaveTheWinchesters campaign and were looking forward to The Winchesters season 2, it could be that the series had fallen into the pit where other Supernatural spinoffs have fallen.
While The Winchesters is the first spinoff to make its way into production, it's hardly the first attempt to build on Supernatural's success and popularity.
A spinoff series based on the OG show's season 9 called Bloodlines was in the works but its pilot episode was never picked up. The same happened to the Wayward Sisters, another potential spinoff based on Supernatural season 13, which the CW eventually scrapped even after it gained a bit of momentum.
Despite the popularity of the OG series, which was only intended for five seasons but ended with 15, viewers could have difficulty buying into a spinoff that doesn't feature the famed Supernatural stars.
Padalecki didn't reprise his role in The Winchesters. And while Ackles was still part of the spinoff, he was only a narrator.
With the failed The Winchesters season 2, it could inspire a reunion of Dean and Sam, especially with Padalecki and Ackles open to the idea of a reboot. Moreover, Supernatural creator Eric Kripke recently said that he's "all in" for a potential reboot of the long-running CW TV show during a press junket in May.
