Supernatural showrunner teases series finale will feel like an ‘old-school episode’

Remember the early days of Supernatural (or are you even that old?) Back in the day, it was just two guys in a cool car, road-tripping around the country to chase down the latest urban legend or rural folk tale that some poor someone, somewhere, had found out was more than a myth.

After 15 seasons, Supernatural is heading toward its final pair of episodes this month, at last handing the evil-fighting Winchester brothers some much-deserved rest. But back in the beginning, before all the angels, demons, and season-spanning storylines about the ultimate fight between good and evil — themes that would come to define the series’ later seasons —  it was just Sam and Dean (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles), a couple of guys who followed their noses from one town to the next, helping hapless victims of all those Things that Should Not Be.

With the series’ penultimate installment set to air Thursday at The CW, followed next week by the finale episode, co-showrunner Andrew Dabb tells Entertainment Weekly that longtime fans will find something nostalgically familiar about the way things wind down. Without spoiling anything, Dabb said the final episode will set the series’ more recent grand mythology aside in favor of a more low-key, old-school vibe.

“Everything is pretty mythology-focused up until the finale,” he explained. “[The finale] is a little bit more of an old-school episode…We wanted it to, in some ways, hearken back to where the show began, which was two guys on the road saving people, hunting things…We believe it feels like a fitting end to the show. We're happy with it and the hope is that the fans will be too.”

Setting up the finale (which Dabb already has teased will feature some cool cameos and a "true ending") will be “Inherit the Earth,” the second-to-last episode not only of Supernatural’s 15th season, but its entire series run. Sticking the landing for the finale — a task that’s vexed most long-running series, whether sitcoms, dramas, or sci-fi thrillers — was a task that seemed too much to ask of just one episode, said Dabb. That’s why both of the series’ final two chapters, he explained, comprise as a sort of unofficial two-part sendoff.

“It seemed like a lot to land all of our myth and a satisfying farewell. Doing it all in 42 minutes would have been really difficult,” he said. “So, better for us to treat it almost like a two-parter, where a lot of the myth stuff, not all of it, but a lot it gets dealt with in episode 19, and then 20 can focus more on the characters and their journeys.”

With The CW’s longest-running series nearing the finish line after a COVID-19 related delay, we’re admittedly torn between impatiently hurrying to see how it all plays out…and wishing we could drag out the wait for the long-anticipated finale just a little bit longer. It all begins on Thursday, Nov. 12, when “Inherit the Earth” airs at 8 p.m. ET; followed by series finale “Carry On” in the same time slot on Nov. 19.