15 Supernatural Characters Who Deserved To Return For The Series Finale

After running for 15 exciting seasons, "Supernatural" aired its final episode "Carry On" on November 19, 2020. Already a bittersweet time for many thanks to the pandemic, fans lamented the loss of the long-running series. Stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles have since moved on to leading roles in other projects, including "Walker" and "Big Sky." The series finale received very mixed reviews, with some praising its accessibility for those who had stopped watching years prior, and others criticizing, well, just about everything else.

Regardless of the response, it quickly became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic was to blame for the series finale's lackluster conclusion. Originally, showrunners Andrew Dabb and Robert Singer had other plans for the climax of "Supernatural's" last episode (via Variety). Nevertheless, what we got was Sam and Dean reunited in the end, and that's about all we could hope for with the series. While the show's longest recurring guest and the boy's surrogate father Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) made his way back for the finale episode, others were sorely missed.

While there are plenty of characters who we would've loved to see return for the final season, such as Mark A. Sheppard's Crowley or even Lauren Cohen's Bela Talbot, we're focusing more on those who might've reunited with Sam and Dean on the other side. Yeah, we'll admit it: we wish "Supernatural" had ended differently, so here's our list of the 15 people who for sure should've returned at the very end of "Supernatural."

While the Winchester family (sans Adam) get their big on-screen reunion in the series 300th episode "Lebanon," which aired during the show's 14th season, a better way to bring John and Mary Winchester — played largely on the series by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Samantha Smith — back into the fold would've been by bookending the series with the same core cast it began with: John, Mary, and their two boys. Sadly, we don't see them reunite again in Heaven, but Bobby does mention that they're happy up there.

After Mary dies in the "Pilot," John spends the rest of his life tracking down the demon that killed her. This means raising his sons to be hunters. Although Dean takes the final shot at the Yellow-Eyed Demon, John is there to help — albeit as a ghost, since he dies in his quest. Eventually, Mary is resurrected for a few years and gets to know her now-adult children, but that doesn't last either after she's accidentally killed by the boy's surrogate son Jack. At least she goes back upstairs.

With "The Winchesters" now airing on the CW, telling the story of how the young John and Mary met, there's still hope that the older versions of these characters could reunite with their sons in Heaven. Since it's possible that Dean is currently up there, tracking down all the details of their history, it seems like a no-brainer to reunite them.

The mother of Jo Harvelle and a mean hunter herself, Ellen Harvelle is the owner of Harvelle's Roadhouse in middle-of-nowhere Nebraska. Ellen is willing to give Sam and Dean a shot despite her tragic history with their father, who was there the night her husband died. They get along well enough until the boys help Jo get into the hunting business. Actually, Ellen shows up on the series more than Jo, and even aids Sam, Dean, and Bobby in stopping the Yellow-Eyed Demon's plot to unleash Hell on Earth in the apocalyptic Season 2 finale "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2."

Ellen and Jo return to the series in Season 5 but are soon written out again, this time permanently. After Jo's injured on the journey to kill Lucifer, Ellen stays behind and sacrifices herself alongside her little girl. Ellen returns once more the following season when the timeline is temporarily altered, erasing her death, but Sam and Dean make sure that it's put back to normal. 

Sadly, Ellen is never seen again, and though her own Roadhouse appears in the series finale, she's not behind the bar. After nearly 10 years, a reunion between the Winchesters and the Harvelles should've been a no-brainer, but sadly, 2020 had other plans.

Yes, Charlie Bradbury was a part of "Supernatural" from the time she was introduced in Season 7 basically until the end, but the original Charlie actually died a gruesome death at the hands of the Frankenstein Family during the landmark 10th season. From Season 13 onward, the "New Charlie" is actually a version of the character from another world entirely, and, as Sam and Dean learn, she doesn't love the hunter life like their old friend. In fact, she kind of despises it, at least until she finds special someone to hunt with.

The original Charlie is essentially the Winchesters' unofficial little sister. An expert hacker and a nerd-of-all-trades, the O.G. Charlie goes on some pretty crazy adventures during her tenure on the series, including LARPing with Sam and Dean and traveling to Oz with Dorothy Baum after being killed by the Wicked Witch — yes, that Oz. Sadly, Charlie is later killed for her association with the Winchesters, but don't worry, Dean avenges her death. Like all their closest allies, Sam and Dean give her a proper hunter's funeral.

Though the Apocalypse World version of Charlie becomes a recurring character in the final few seasons, the original Charlie is never heard from again. It's too bad; a heavenly reunion between Dean and the "sister he never wanted" would've been worth saving for the series finale.

Of all the recurring characters on "Supernatural," Kevin Tran draws the short end of the stick. From the moment he becomes a prophet in Season 7, his life is destroyed by the Winchester world. He loses his girlfriend, his future, his mom (sort of), and eventually his life by helping the Winchesters against forces like the Leviathans, Crowley, and the angel Metatron. After his death, his ghost haunts the Men of Letters bunker. In an act of spite, Chuck sends him to Hell for some unknown reason.

When Chuck turns on the Winchesters at the end of Season 14, he releases a bunch of the souls trapped in Hell, which, unbeknownst to them, include Kevin. Sadly, it's revealed that a soul that was once sent to Hell cannot enter Heaven — which doesn't actually make a lick of sense when you consider the others who have experienced Hell before Heaven — which means that Kevin is destined to wander the Earth forever. Kevin's story is pretty tragic, and what's even more tragic is that he doesn't ever return; he's just left wandering.

With so little closure for Kevin Tran, who sacrifices literally every good thing in his life to help Sam and Dean over the years, the least the show could've done is bring him back and usher him into the paradise that he deserved. Given that Sam and Dean somehow made it to Heaven, Kevin should've, too.

One of Sam and Dean's very first allies, Missouri Moseley is a psychic from Lawrence, Kansas who befriended John Winchester after the sudden unexplained death of his wife and occasionally watched Sam and Dean when they were children. She ends up as an essential player in reuniting them with the ghost of their mother in the Season 1 episode "Home." Missouri wasn't seen for a long time after that, though she'd have an expanded role in "Supernatural: The Anime Series," which adapted the first two seasons of the show.

In Season 13, Missouri returns to help Sam, Dean, and her estranged granddaughter Patience Turner, who also happens to be a psychic. Patience was meant to star in an unproduced "Wayward Sisters" spin-off that would've united many of the women of "Supernatural" in their own series, though sadly the series never took off. Nevertheless, Missouri sacrifices herself to save her granddaughter, ending her tenure as one of the Winchesters' oldest living allies.

Admittedly, Missouri is really only important to the "Supernatural" mythology in her first appearance, as her role as a supernatural mentor of sorts is essentially taken over by Bobby Singer and Ellen Harvelle later on. Still, the Winchesters would have been happy to see her again in the great beyond.

Sam's first long-term girlfriend, Jessica Moore, the same one who the Yellow-Eyed Demon killed in the "Pilot," should've absolutely made an appearance in the "Supernatural" series finale. As a matter of fact, Jessica is one of the only characters who absolutely deserves a reunion with Sam Winchester following the show's 15-year run. While Jess does make her way back to the show on a number of occasions, it's always in the form of a vision, a djinn dream, or a trick of the Devil.

Of course, Jess' death is avenged by the Winchesters within the first few seasons: first in the second season finale by Dean, who kills the Yellow-Eyed Demon named Azazel, and again in Season 5 by Sam when he kills the demon Brady, a demon who supposedly pulled the final trigger on Azazel's orders. This taste of vengeance isn't enough to keep Sam from thinking about her. Even as late as Season 15's "Atomic Monsters," which is set over 15 years after the series began, Sam admits to still thinking about Jess all the time.

One thing's for sure: the best closure for Sam would've included a final reunion with his first true love. Though they don't end up together in the end, there's no doubt that somewhere inside, Sam still loves Jessica. It's just too bad we never got that final resolution.

John Winchester's long-lost father, Henry Winchester, opened up the world of "Supernatural" to the concept of the Men of Letters, a paranormal secret society that Sam and Dean take over in the back half of the series. Though their father doesn't really get to know Henry, the Winchester brothers both meet and fight alongside their grandfather when he travels through time to 2013 to escape the Knight of Hell Abaddon. Though Henry dies in battle against the demon, he does so having seen the type of men his grandchildren became, making him proud of his son.

In fact, John Winchester's entire character arc on the prequel series "The Winchesters" revolves around his desire to find out what happened to Henry and why he left their family behind. Though we haven't seen these two characters reunite on screen, the "Supernatural" series finale might've been as good a time as any to bring both John and Henry back together. Of course, this might be better suited for "The Winchesters," but it doesn't make "Supernatural" fans want it any less.

As such a vital character to the greater "Supernatural" mythology, it's too bad that Henry Winchester didn't return for the series finale. As a Man of Letters and the only heroic grandfather of Sam and Dean, there's no denying that this Winchester had it all. Sadly, he lost it all, too. It's a shame we didn't get to see him take it back.