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'The Winchesters': 'Supernatural' prequel series lands its first pair of demon hunters
They’re not playing John and Mary Winchester… but they are playing good guys.
Sam and Dean may be gone, but things are just getting started for Supernatural’s post-series afterlife at The CW. Thanks to a pair of just-announced casting moves, we’re starting to learn a little more about The Winchesters, the prequel series that heads back to the past to follow the demon-dispatching exploits of Sam and Dean’s parents.
Deadline reports that The Winchesters has cast Nida Khurshid (Station 19) and TV newcomer Jojo Fleites — not as John and Mary Winchester, but as a pair of new demon hunters whose ties to the couple are still unknown. Their character descriptions, though, offer a first peek at how the previous generation wrestled with evil.
Khurshid is reportedly set to play an aspiring hunter named Latika Desai, “a young hunter-in-training whose research and problem-solving skills help her face her fears in battling dark forces. Latika is “fiercely intelligent and braver than she believes,” making her a seemingly apt complement to the role created for Fleites, her newly-cast costar.
Fleites’ character is a hunter named Carlos Cervantez. “Easygoing and confident, Carlos is a natural when it comes to fighting demons and a boost of positivity for the team as it takes on more serious threats,” the reported description reads.
Before there could be a Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles), there had to be a mom and dad, and that honor goes to John and Mary, the elder Winchesters whose early adventures got the Supernatural ball rolling in the first place. Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Samantha Smith played Sam and Dean’s older parents in Supernatural, though The WInchesters' prequel setting means it’s a safe bet that other actors will be cast as the new series’ couple. Ackles will serve as the show's narrator, returning as Dean to frame the story of his family’s past.
However deep the demonic (and angelic) rabbit hole got for the guys over the course of 15 seasons, their parents’ adventures might just give all of it a run for the money. An origin story not only for John and Mary, but for how stalking scary stuff runs in the family, The CW describes The Winchesters (via Deadline’s report) as the “epic, untold love story of how John met Mary and how they put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world.”
No premiere date has been set, but at least there’s plenty of genre and Supernatural DNA behind the series. Jensen Ackles and Danneel Ackles, his wife, are executive producing The Winchesters alongside Supernatural writing veteran Robbie Thompson, back again as the new series' writer. Glen Winter (Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) reportedly will direct and executive produce the show’s pilot episode.
