Building on “beloved international treasures” like The CW’s “Supernatural,” which ran for 15 years and garnered an enviable number of devotees, it’s not an easy feat, but challenging for “The Winchesters” showrunner and executive producer Robbie Thompson. The job sounds as exciting as it is challenging. Thompson, who was involved as a producer on “Mothership” for five seasons, was intentional in creating a world that paid homage to standing apart from the “supernatural”, Chaos Machine Productions (Jensen Eckels and Daniels) is credited to the creative team behind it. Ackles, who first pitched the show) takes a pre-existing universe for its 1970s take.
“How do we live within the ‘supernatural’ universe, yet prepare our little corner for it?” Thompson explained the storytelling process in an interview with TheWrap. “And one way it was central to this love story between John and Mary, which we know but don’t know all the details.”
“The Winchesters”, which debuted Tuesday night, tells the in-depth – as the title suggests – origin story of the Winchester family, amid the backdrop of monster-hunting Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly) and John Winchester (Drake). Roger). Read on for TheWrap’s Q&A with Thompson, as he breaks down some of the show’s easter eggs, similarities, and the show’s upcoming narrative.
How did the idea for the prequel come about?
Jensen Ackles and Daniel Ackles have a production company called Chaos Machine, and they have a deal with Warner Bros. and in the process of talking about future projects, they came up with an idea about a ‘Supernatural’ prequel in which John And there will be Mary Winchester. The studio was very interested because “Supernatural” is a beloved international treasure, and they reached out to me when it came time to find a writer to help develop it. I worked on ‘Supernatural’ for five seasons. I was there from season 7 to 11. And I really enjoyed my time on the show and when they gave me this idea, it seemed very exciting and very challenging. And I’ll be honest with you, all of 1972 was so fascinating to me. From a practical standpoint, it’s always good to get rid of cell phones, but music, the era, and the parallels between 2022 and 1972 – a lot has changed, and not much has changed. It was very exciting to pass.
Speaking of those similarities, like John and Mary’s search for their father, did you have to dive deeper into Season 1’s theory? How challenging is it to craft a story where you already know the ending, that Mary and John are going to end up together?
That was the biggest challenge, and one of the things we talked about a long time ago – me, Jensen, Danielle and Renee Reef, their executives at Chaos Machines – was, ‘How do we take that challenge? while not going up or undoing what the ‘supernatural’ did?’ I think we found a fun and creative way to do this. Especially going back and watching the early seasons of “Supernatural,” from Seasons 1 to 4, was really fun to dig a little deeper into the DNA of the show. One thing we said earlier is that you can’t really recreate the ‘supernatural’. I mean, it’s Eric Kripke, Kim Manners of It All, Jared [Padalecki] And that’s all Jensen – there’s a lot of power in a bottle. But what we wanted to do is try to find, ‘What were the things that really resonated, that we felt like we could draw parallels to the story of John and Mary?’ Finding Dad was a major component of the early season and it felt like an interesting fit for us as well.
‘The Winchesters’ is too much of an ensemble cast. Can you talk about crafting those characters?
How do we live within the ‘supernatural’ universe, yet prepare our little corner for it? And in a way that was central to this love story between John and Mary, which we all know about but don’t know all the details about. And then the other part of it was to bring in this ensemble aspect, which we felt gave us an opportunity to be more inclusive and reflective of the broader base of storytelling. Sam and Dean had people they could trust but a lot of times it was just two brothers against the world. But it was something we thought about from the start, from a design standpoint, and a way to differentiate ourselves from the leap from motherhood.
The era clearly colors a lot of the story: John is dealing with shellshock, which is what we now know as PTSD after Vietnam. How does that background factor into monster-hunting and dad-finding storylines?
It was one of the things that was most exciting to me about both John and Mary looking back on where they were, how they were both born. John, from his point of view, was essentially abandoned by his father at the age of 4, and then moved to Vietnam at a very young age. Mary was the one who didn’t really sign up for any of this – she was just born into a family of hunters who had been hunting since crossing on the Mayflower, so this was someone who really had a lot to offer. There weren’t many options in terms of her life and childhood trauma. Trying to remove the overlap and generational trauma there was really, really fascinating to me.
And then the uniqueness of John being a Vietnam vet — when we see John in motherhood after Mary dies, obviously something breaks inside him, but we really wanted to pop the hood on him and this wanted to find out where he came from and where that trauma was actually manifesting in his path. We arrived in the writers room, David H. Goodman, who is also an executive producer on this, and I had some early conversations about how we can really reflect on John’s past and the ’70s on a story Huh. The young man and his journey into a deeper part of himself. We’ll tackle that pretty head in early episodes as John’s post-traumatic stress disorder begins to surface and affects his ability to hunt.
The pilot makes reference to some elements of ‘supernatural’ lore, such as the Men of Letters. What can fans of the flagship show expect from this new look at the universe?
I’m a big fan of trying to find ways to connect us to motherhood, and sometimes it takes the form of an Easter egg. And then sometimes it takes the form of a big piece of statue. John, in motherhood, never really knew that his father hadn’t just disappeared or moved out of the family; He was really part of something that connected to the world John would eventually be pulled into. Looking at Men of Letters and History a little more was certainly captivating to us, but it also presented an opportunity: We really wished it was designed for returning fans and new fans. For us creatively speaking like a North Star was, ‘How do we get to the place that shows like ‘Better Call Saul’ have occupied for so long?’ They’re able to stand on their own and yet if you’ve seen ‘Breaking Bad’, there’s a lot of touch and foreshadowing for things that clearly we know have already happened. And yet, I found it downright exciting, even if we know the consequences. Because we are ‘supernatural’, we can play with things in a way that a straight play cannot. How do we make this something that returning fans can consume and enjoy and feel like they’re back in the ‘Supernatural’ universe, while at the same time not alienating new audiences. And so it was just an opportunity to, I guess, have a little bit of our cake and eat it too.
The pilot is booked with Dean’s statement. How did that vantage point for the series come about?
It was one of the parts of his opening pitch and I have to be honest with you, it was a huge selling point for me. I had nothing but Jared and Jensen to write for, and the notion of being able to write for Dean Winchester was very appealing. It’s also my favorite part of the process, I’ll think about the voiceover and I’ll think, ‘Oh, what would Dean Winchester say?’ And then I text Dean Winchester and ask if I can talk to him. He’s been amazing, nobody knows that character better than Jensen. It’s a light touch with voiceover; We’re trying not to go wall-to-wall with this. Working with him, and seeing how he puts his spin on it, that’s when it all got real to me: We were on set, and we were shooting the first scene — it was about Meg and Nida. had a scene with [Khurshid] In a van — and it was just this surreal moment, ‘Oh my god, we’re finally making this pilot,’ and then Jensen wrote me some temporary voiceover, and so I put on my headphones and he was making a sudden sound. Hearing it again was definitely an out-of-body experience.
“The Winchesters” airs Tuesdays on The CW.
