Supernatural has officially come to an end.
After 15 seasons on air, fans were given one last look at Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) during a pretty emotional series finale on Thursday, Nov. 19. If you've yet to catch up, be warned: spoilers run amuck.
The full, extensive recap is here. But, for the gist, know that Dean was stabbed to death while hunting down evil mimes who were stealing children. After delivering one last, very sad speech to his brother, he went to heaven and reunited with Jack (Alexander Calvert), Bobby (Jim Beaver) and Baby (1967 Chevy Impala). Eventually, Sam dies of old age and is reunited with his brother for the rest of time.
Ahead of the premiere, co-showrunner Andrew Dabb told Entertainment Weekly that he was pretty pleased with the show's ending. "[The finale] is a little bit more of an old-school episode," he said. "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."
But how, exactly, did we get here, and were there other ideas tossed around?
Supernatural creator Eric Kripke told EW that his initial ideas for the series ending were used in 2010 during the season five episode titled "Swan Song"—his last—way before he imagined just how long the show would last.
"Outside of a few little scenes and a few more moments, that was the meat of where I thought this show should end, which is Sam versus Dean and then ultimately good versus evil but brotherhood wins and sacrifices are made," he said, adding that he became more "open-minded" to ideas for the finale as the years went by.
Kripke said that he had a "long talk" with Ackles, Dabb and co-showrunner Bob Singer and they reached what he called "the best possible ending for the show."
"It was interesting, they pitched it to me and I went off to think about it for a couple days, and admittedly, me being me, I spent some time thinking, 'Okay, is there any other ending I would pitch back that I think is better?'" he said. "And I spent a couple days trying to chase down a couple avenues and couldn't come up with anything better. So I went back and I was like, 'Guys I think it's the right one.' There's some substance to it but there's something emotional, I think there's a positive energy around it."
Though the series is now over, Kripke added that there is one idea he never got to see play out. Perhaps he'll save it for a reunion 10 years from now? For fans not totally in love with the finale, just know Kripke's would have been much different.
"But I can assure the fans that my ending was so much darker than the ending they're going with, so anyone who's like, 'Kripke should've ended it,' I'm like, 'You would've hated my ending!,'" he said. "Because it was a horror movie and it was going to have a horror movie ending, so I can promise you the ending [they went with] you'll love much more than if you had let me end the show."
If, like us, you already miss Supernatural, why not revisit this salute to Padalecki's hair?