‘Supernatural’ Star Jensen Ackles Reveals The One Role He Won’t Be Reprising

Supernatural has been on the air for well over a decade now with the Eric Kripke created series heading into Season 12 and still not running out of steam to the delight of fans everywhere. Through all of its ups and downs, Supernatural has outlived many shows, and part of that has to be attributed to series stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. For Jensen’s part, he reveals he’ll be doing something a little different, as shooting begins on the new season of Supernatural.

Supernatural Star Jensen Ackles Opens Up About Returning To The Series

Normally, Jensen Ackles fills two roles on Supernatural. First of all, fans of Supernatural know Ackles as the gruff but loyal older Winchester brother and that’s where Jensen says his first love will always remain, but the actor is also a director on the show, according to the Christian Times. He reveals that it’s almost become a tradition for him to direct the first episode of the season, but, for Season 12 of Supernatural, Jensen reveals he’s taking a step back from that role.

“I just decided to take the first part of the season easy,” says the Supernatural star. “Twenty-three episodes [per season] is a long, long shoot, and I usually would direct the first episode that we would film.”

Throughout the past five seasons of Supernatural, Mr. Ackles has directed the first episode, but now he feels he needs to take a break from that and reinvest his time as Dean Winchester. The Supernatural actor cites no alarming reason for the change, other than he feels he needs to focus more attention on his acting. Jensen adds that Season 12 contains some very difficult episodes, suggesting that they may be emotionally and physically challenging.

For Season 12 of Supernatural, Jensen also revealed a couple of things he would like to see happen. First, he hopes to send Dean back down to Purgatory for another visit, and although he wouldn’t hint at a scenario for Dean’s return to that part of the Underworld, he seemed eager to explore the idea. Ackles also hopes to bring Supernatural back to the monster-of-the-week format, at least partially.

Jensen’s on-screen brother also has some ideas for the new installment of Supernatural. Jared Padalecki feels one relationship, in particular, has been left under-explored.

“I love Misha [Collins]. I get a lot of Sam/Dean scenes, and I love Jensen, but I love exploring the Sam/Castiel relationship,” says Supernatural’s Padalecki.

There’s No End In Sight, Says Eric Kripke

One would think Supernatural would run out of steam after 11 seasons, but even Jared and Jensen are overflowing with ideas to keep things rolling along. That may be a good thing, because Movie Fone brings news that Supernatural creator Eric Kripke can see no end in sight. In fact, the Supernatural creator is planning on many more seasons. This is quite a change from the early days of working on Supernatural, when the close of each season left everyone wondering if the show would be renewed or sent to television purgatory, existing only in the occasional syndicated run.

“I was hoping and praying in the early years, fighting every season, ‘Please pick us up for one more year,'” Kripke said. “And I was like, ‘Maybe, if I’m lucky, it’ll go four.’ So this is mind-blowing and humbling, and I just can’t believe it.”

When asked how much longer he thought Supernatural would endure, Kripke couldn’t hazard a guess, but he does seem to share the same sentiments expressed by the CW network’s big bosses. Earlier this year, the CW network issued a statement that said they would keep Supernatural running for as long as Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles were interested in remaining with the show. The Supernatural creator recently said something very similar.

“As long as Jared and Jensen — who are the heart of the show — are up for it, then anything’s possible,” Kripke said. “There’s as many episodes as there are ghost stories, and there’s thousands of ghost stories. So as long as everyone’s having fun, Jared and Jensen want to do it, they’ll keep doing it.”

The Season 12 premiere of Supernatural will air on Thursday, October 13 on the CW network.

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