It’s been nearly twenty years sinceSupernaturalfirst premiered on The WB (remember that?), and four since the adventures of monster-hunting brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) came to an emotional end in 2020 with a polarizing series finale. While manyfans did not take kindly to the final episode, “Carry On,” nobody can deny that the show’s final hourdelivered what it could in terms of the scares, laughs, and brotherly love that had become synonymous withSupernatural’s iconic brandof sci-fi. Nevertheless, the episode did leave some viewers frustrated and wanting better for the Winchesters after so many years — an issue that fans hope will be resolved in apotential revival season. So, after fifteen years of saving people and hunting things, how didSupernaturalfinally end?
Supernatural
Two brothers follow their father’s footsteps as hunters, fighting evil supernatural beings of many kinds, including monsters, demons, and gods that roam the earth.
Most of ‘Supernatural’ Is Resolved in “Inherit the Earth”
Everything throughoutSupernaturalbuilt to the big battle that transpired in the series' penultimate episode, titled “Inherit the Earth.” After Chuck, aka God (Rob Benedict), went on his tour of destruction, ending every world he created with a snap of his Thanos-like fingers. Jack (Alexander Calvert) ends up absorbing all his Godly power thanks to that scuffle between Michael (Jake Abel) andLucifer (Mark Pellegrino), leaving Chuck completely powerless. WithJack stepping into the role of God, the world went back to normal, and every person Chuck erased came back into being.
WhileSupernaturalSeason 15 did a good job of tying up loose ends, it largely did it by taking key characters off the board. Chuck became the thing he despised most (a mere mortal), beloved witch Rowena (Ruth Connell) sacrificed herself in the rift in hell only to become the Queen down there,Castiel (Misha Collins) professed his tearful love to Dean beforesacrificing himself into The Empty, and Jack vanished majestically into every last piece of existence around them.
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“Never underestimate the King of Hell, darling.”
In the final minutes of the penultimate episode, wewatched Sam and Dean ride off into the sunset inBaby, their iconic ‘67 Impala, which was followed by a montage of the show’s best moments. But some big questions remained: Without Chuck writing their story, where exactly would the brothers go now? Is it possible that after all this time, Sam and Dean could retire and finally settle down? Or, could the Winchesters continue the family business until they go out in a blaze of glory? Let’s break down where the journey has taken us and how things come to an end for our heroes.
What Happened in the ‘Supernatural’ Finale?
Leave it to a pie contest to set the right tone for Sam and Dean’s last ride inSupernatural’s final episode, “Carry On.“After the heaviness of the season,watching the brothers have some lighthearted fun, with Dean getting some pie to the face, was a welcome change. However, after a home invasion featuring a gang of mask-wearing killers left the husband dead, the wife drained with her tongue ripped out, and the two young boys taken, Sam and Dean went right back to doing what they do best — fighting evil.
Turns out,the Winchesters are in for aclassic vampire fight, as the group who pulled off this kidnapping ended up being a nest of vamps looking to take a harvest — perhaps the same beasts their dad hunted back in 1986, which felt like a cool old-school detail to give us. As Sam and Dean track part of the group down, they’re able to interrogate one of them and get to the nitty-gritty of what was going on. These vamps have been kidnapping kids for decades only to hold onto them and raise them in captivity, with the end goal of juicing them. As the dude put it, these vamps “don’t do fast food.”
As with most battles like these, Sam and Dean wind up facing off against this gaggle of masked murderers in a spooky barn. They’re able to rescue the boys before a knife fight commences. There is even acameo fromSeason 1’s Jenny(Christine Chatelain), the girl who became a vampire in the episode “Dead Man’s Blood,” but that doesn’t last long. She is beheaded, along with the rest of the killers, but this Winchesters’ victory comes at an unexpected cost.
How Does Dean Die on ‘Supernatural’?
As Dean grapples with a big burly vampire, he’s thrown up against a wooden beam, which, compared to every other injury the Winchesters endured throughoutSupernatural, really doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. However, earlier in the scene, we briefly saw a piece of protruding rebar on the beam, andjust as Dean himself does, we realize thathe’s been fatally stabbedin the back. While Sam initially tries to be optimistic, telling Dean that he’ll go and get help, Dean pleads with Sam to stay with him.
Time and time again, Dean has been brought back from the dead throughout the show’s tumultuous 15 seasons, but this time, in what is arguablySupernatural’s most heartbreaking moment, it was finally time to say one last goodbye. While killing Dean once and for all was an upsetting choice by the writers, it’s worth acknowledging that Dean, not Chuck, chose this moment. Although being skewered during a vampire fight wasn’t exactly how we thought the elder Winchester would go out after all these years, this is howDean wanted to write his ending, and he dies the way he always said he would— guns blazing.
This ‘Supernatural’ Death Haunted Us (and the Winchesters) the Most
Of the series' many permanent deaths, this was the toughest to watch.
As one might expect, Dean’s final moments are deeply emotional, as the brothers hold hands and lean their foreheads together, with Dean expressing how proud he is of his little brother, and offering a rare, verbal affirmation of his love for Sam. Sam, in turn, tearfully tells Dean that it’s okay for him to go, andDean Winchester dies in his brother’s arms.Sam gives him a hunter’s funeral, and then is, save for Dean’s dog, left totally alone and wondering where to go from here.
What Did Sam Do After Dean Died on ‘Supernatural’?
As Dean said at the very beginning of theSupernaturalfinale, thesacrifices that Jack and Castiel madewould mean nothing if the boys didn’t keep on living. While Dean’s death was a heartbreaking and polarizing choice, it also acted as a catalyst for Sam to move forward with his life. Fifteen years after being whisked away from Stanford and leaving his law school dreams behind,Sam finally gets the domestic life he always wanted.
In typicalSupernaturalfashion, a heartfelt musical montage set to theKansas hit “Carry on Wayward Son"plays as we watch Sam leave the hunting life behind and become a father to a son he names Dean. While we’re not told who his wife is, we see a woman silhouetted in the background as Sam plays catch with Dean 2.0. Manyfans suspect that the woman watching from the porch is Eileen Leahy(Shoshannah Stern),Sam’s latest serious love interestwho was blipped away (and presumably revived) in the previous episode.
Did Dean Go To Heaven in the ‘Supernatural’ Finale?
While Sam lives out his peaceful life on Earth, Dean is granted a similarly blissful afterlife in heaven, which, thanks to the intervention of Jack and Castiel, has been transformed from a bureaucratic war zone to the ideal vacation home. Everyone’s favorite curmudgeonly father figure and badass bearded hunter,Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver)is there to welcome Dean through the pearly gates, and the two share a beer before Dean sees that a heavenly version of his precious Impala has joined him in the great beyond.
The one thing missing from Dean’s full happiness in heaven is his little brother. However, as Bobby explains, time works differently in heaven. We see glimpses of Sam’s long life as he raises his son and eventually (wearing a truly heinous gray wig) dies with Dean Jr. by his side, with the latter letting his dad know, as Sam did for his brother so long ago, that it was okay to move on. Dean settles into Baby’s well-worn seats for a picturesque drive through the celestial landscape, and by the time Dean reaches a bridge and gets out to admire the view, his brother is there to greet him.Sam and Dean share a joyful embrace in the afterlifeand look over the paradise they’ve earned as the curtain closes onSupernatural.
The ‘Supernatural’ Finale Was Changed Due to The Pandemic
Now, not everybody was satisfied withSupernatural’s final episode, and it’s worth noting that thelacklusterSupernaturalfinalewe were given was not the one that the writers originally intended to make. As were many things,Supernatural’s final episode was greatly derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which broke out during filming of the fifteenth season. While the showrunners had plans to bring back many of the show’s supporting cast members for aheavenly reunion in the finale, this couldn’t come to pass, leaving many feelings that fans of the show — and honestly, Dean himself — deserved better. However, theSupernaturallegacy proved to be enduring, with ashort-lived prequel spin-off,The Winchesters, airing from 2022-2023, which some claimgave Dean a better resolutionthan the original series ever did.
Is ‘Supernatural’ Coming Back?
While it was definitely a challenge to say goodbye to theSupernaturalfamily, recent rumblings have suggested that Sam and Dean might, in fact, grace the small screen once again. Though nothing is yet confirmed, bothJared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles have alluded to a potentialrevival season ofSupernatural.
What wouldSupernaturalSeason 16 look like, you might ask? We really have no idea. Given that both of the show’s lead protagonists are, once and for all, dead, it’sunclear what a revival would have in store, but we can probably rest assured that it would be full of the humor, meta-references, and heart that drew us all to the Winchesters' story in the first place.
Even iffurtherSupernaturalstories never come to pass, we have to admit that the show’s series finale did what it could in terms of providing closure for its audience. Despite the disgruntled disappointment of some of the show’s fans, you may never please everyone, especially when you’re trying to wrap up fifteen seasons of complex and beloved storylines. Given that the final season was about free will and the battle for the boys to break away from God’s control to write their own story,the simplistic nature in which the series came to a close feels pretty much perfect. Maybe in the next few years, the brothers will come back down from heaven to assist in another battle against a world-ending threat. But until then, we’re pretty satisfied with where theSupernaturaljourney has carried us, and of course, our favorite wayward sons.
