The Real Reason Supernatural Fans Are Worried About The Winchesters Prequel
Saving people and hunting things has been the lifeblood of "Supernatural," and the Winchester boys took on that mantle seriously. For over 300 episodes, Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) make it their mission to find the things that go bump in the night, and at great personal cost. Having a normal life was never in the cards, especially taking into account their history. It is a family business, after all, and the two brothers have no choice but to take after their father.
John (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) did not initially intend for his boys to be involved in the world of the supernatural, but after the graphic and untimely death of his wife Mary (Samantha Smith), it was no longer a choice. Through flashbacks and time travel, the early years of John and Mary are well traversed. Viewers got to see their love story and how young Mary (Amy Gumenick) first caught the attention of Azazel. Even after such well-treaded territory, the couple is going to be even further explored in the new prequel series "The Winchesters." For many fans, more "Supernatural" should be a cause for celebration. But there is a firm camp of dissenters that have concerns about the new show.
Fans think the new show is not honoring previous lore
"Supernatural" lives and dies on the strength of its characters for better and for worse. From minute one, the "Supernatural" timeline establishes that John never knew about hunting before Mary's death. However, TV Line reported that in "The Winchesters," John's journey toward monsters will start long before that. Fans on Reddit quickly became concerned about what this would entail.
"I really don't want this version," proclaimed Redditor u/LinwoodKei. "This makes John to be even more negligent and possibly abusive as a father. I already hate him that Sam was so neglected that he summoned a zanna. And Dean's lifelong inferiority complex from John."
In the current canon, John is so driven because of Mary's death. He punishes Sam and chips away at Dean's self-esteem. There is no excuse for John's abuse, and if hunting isn't the cause of it, it makes him seem even worse. Other fans contend that this just goes against the current canon. There have been many episodes exploring the Winchesters' origins and demonstrating that it was Mary whose family were hunters and she wanted to raise her children away from it.
"Unless there is going to be some serious retconning happening to the already established canon I'm not sure what it is we are going to see in the prequel," noted u/streetvoyager. After so many years of following these characters and believing in their experiences, it rubs viewers the wrong way just to see it all thrown away.