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Supernaturalowes its genesis to a simple lie told by creator Eric Kripke while he was pitching the show to Warner Bros. Television. The mystery drama series centered around the Winchester brothers, a pair of ghost/demon hunters who are on the lookout for their father after he goes missing while hunting for the demon who killed their mother.
While the series has become a staple in pop culture and the Winchesters have some quote-worthy moments, the original version of the show was reportedly starkly different. In fact, showrunner Eric Kripke would have blown the deal if he had not thought quickly and changed up one key detail regarding the storyline of what would beSupernatural.
Eric Kripke gotSupernaturalgreenlit by tweaking his original pitch to Warner Bros
Eric Kripkeis currently busy with the Amazon Prime Video seriesThe Boys, which will see its end with the upcoming fifth season. However, he shot to fame withSupernatural, the mystery drama that he developed and handled until season 5. Kripke stepped down by season 5 as he reportedly had mapped out the storyline for only that many seasons.
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Kripke’s obsession with urban legends since his elementary school days reportedly sparked the idea forSupernatural. He was reportedly working on Warner Bros Television’s adaptation ofTarzanand wasstuck on till the end of that doomed series’ eight-episode run. Hence, he got the chance to pitch an original show to the network.
While he hoped to get his childhood dream of a series about urban legends greenlit, his initial pitch looked nothing like theSupernaturalfans love today. It reportedly followed a journalist who investigated urban legends, who was met with skepticism.
When WB rejected this pitch, Kripke reportedly did some quick thinking and changed the conceit (viaSPN Freshblood),
The reporter idea was all I had. I’d been working on it for weeks and it was very fleshed out and had its own mythology. I immediately started lying through my teeth and saying, ‘I do have another version of this idea where it’s Route 66… and it’s these two guys on a road trip… and they’re brothers! They investigate these urban legends as they drive from town to town in a muscle car.’
Warner Bros. TV reportedly liked the idea immediately and decided to develop a pilot. And, the rest was pop culture history.
Eric Kripke made a major change in the pilot to avoid giving Jared Padalecki a romance
The pilot episode ofSupernaturalis one of the greats. It neatly sets up the relationship between Sam and Dean Winchester as well as their dynamic with their father. The main agenda for the duo is to go on a cross-country trip to find their father and the pilot wastes no time in getting its protagonists ready to get on the road.
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While Eric Kripke initially wanted Sam and Dean to not be raised by their father but by their aunt and uncle, it reportedly posed a huge exposition problem. Hence, with the suggestion of the producers, Kripke changed it to the current iteration. However, he also changed one more aspect of that killed Sam a.k.a Jared Padalecki’s chance at a normal life.
The studio and network were giving me all these notes about Sam’s girlfriend, [Jessica, played by Adrianne Palicki], who survived originally. Can she make phone calls with the boys? How’s their relationship going to develop? Are they meant for each other?
I was horrified by the idea of telling a relationship b-story while you’re trying to avert Armageddon in the A-story, so I went back to them and said, ‘Good news! I’ve figured out exactly how we’re going to develop the girlfriend’s story.’ They said, ‘How?’ I said, ‘I’m going to burst her into flames on the ceiling.’
The death of Sam’s college girlfriend, Jessica, gives him another emotional reason to find their father, John Winchester, with whom he has a complex relationship.
Supernaturalis available to stream on Netflix.
Nishanth A
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2415
Nishanth A is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows with over 2,000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years and a scriptwriter at various corporations before that, working on educational content. With a Communications, English Literature, and Psychology triple major, Nishanth usually covers news and analyses on Star Trek, particularly Strange New Worlds and The Next Generation; Doctor Who, the DCU, and more.A Nolan fan, Nishanth spends his time exploring the filmographies of various directors with an auteurial style or can be found making short movies of his own. He has also contributed as a feature writer for Film Companion, focusing on the South division.
