'Supernatural' may be ending, but we're taking fans back to the beginning!
Supernatural may be ending, but we're taking fans back to the beginning!
Before the15th and final season of the beloved series kicks off Thursday, Oct 10 on The CW, we're looking back at Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles' very first ET interview together -- and it's guaranteed to make your Winchester-loving heart skip a beat.
Back in May 2005 (four months before Supernatural even premiered!) ET sat down with the on-screen brothers at the Television Critics Association summer press tour to get the inside scoop on this "insane" new show, how the fellas were training for demon-hunting life and their early love for baby.
"Oh, we're on the road," Ackles dished to our cameras with a sly smile. "Driving our '67 Impala with the weapons loaded in the trunk and we're huntin'."
At the time of our interview, Padalecki and Ackles had only filmed the pilot episode together, but it was clear by their passion and brotherly connection that Supernatural was destined for long-term greatness. In fact, we even called it!
When asked if they thought Supernatural had the "possibility" of running for "10 years," the actors were adorably optimistic with their answers.
"Sure, look at The X-Files," Padalecki responded. "Yeah, I think it does. Especially with [creator and executive producer] Eric Kripke and sort of his vast array of knowledge of folklore and mythology and everything."
"We'd like to think so," Ackles added with a smile.
Keep reading for exclusive answers...
ET: So you're joining The WB, a network that's already got a little bit of a track record within the realm of supernatural shows. Is that a good thing for you guys? Or how do you feel about that?
Jared Padalecki: You know what, actually, that kind of worried me at first. Not that Charmed, and Roswell, and Buffy, and Angel weren't all great shows in their right, but I wasn't interested in doing a show of that genre -- and though this is also technically a supernatural show, it's nothing like those. It's nothing like those four and it's just something that's super special and super unique to the network and to both of us. I was really excited once I read the script and once I met the writer, Kripke, and some of the producers and the director, and heard their vision. I was like, "Wow! This is gonna be insane."
Our viewers are going to watch this interview before they've ever seen the show, so give them kind of a sketch about the darkness. What's going on with your family?
Jensen Ackles: Well, as young boys, we lost our mother to something unexplainable -- something paranormal. And our father, it didn't sit real well with him, so he made it his, kind of, life mission to track down this evil force or this inexplicable thing and deal with it. And in doing so, in making it his life's mission, he trained his two boys to be equally as knowledgeable and skilled in that craft of demon hunting and ghost hunting. So these two boys grew up with weapons training and fighting and learning about folklore and mythology and urban legends and everything that goes bump in the night. Dad set out and Dean, my character, followed in his footsteps and made it his quest as well. Sam decided to stray from the family biz, so to speak, and by the end of the first episode, gets yanked back into it. The two brothers hit the road in some sort of search for their father and along the way, they run into legends and folklore and they deal with them the way they know how.
Sounds like you'll be traveling a lot on the show. Are you faking it or are you actually getting out on the road?
JA: Oh, we're on the road. We're actually shooting up in Vancouver, Canada, and all over. We're shooting anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour and a half outside. But we've got the car on set and we're cruising on that dusty highway for sure.
Who gets to drive?
JA: Both of us.
JP: Both of us. It's his car but I take the helm
JA: I inherited the car from Dad, but it's very much a partnership between the two bros.
So are there car stunts? Do you guys get to do 360s?
JP: I hope so.
JA: Not quite yet, but we're only the first episode in, so I'm going to assume that will be a large portion of the show for sure.
What about weapons training? Martial arts training?
JP: We've been boxing and weightlifting and running and doing cardiovascular training, and circuit training and stuff. Getting our bodies into shape so we can both deal with the days and look like people who actually know what we're doing -- and weapons training also comes with that. We kinda do episode to episode. Say we're using a double-barrel shotgun for episode three, so we'll go to the prop masters and we'll search that and we'll find a day to go to the range and kind of tinker around with it.
JA: Get familiar with all the things that we'll be dealing with for sure.
Are there going to be a lot of special effects on the show?
JP: Yeah, I mean, it's episode to episode. You know, sometimes we're going to be dealing with something. Most of the demons or creatures or spirits are going to be tangible, so a lot of it can be done with an actual camera, but there are going to be visual effects and definitely special effects in every episode.
How do you guys personally feel about the paranormal?
JP: I think we're not alone. I think there's gotta be something else out there. It's a big world and we've all got a certain feeling like something's out there watching us. There's a feeling that doesn't feel like something in this world and I think that's presumptuous to say, "Oh, nah, we're the only things that can think and breathe and tinker and explore here in this universe."
JA: There are a lot of unexplainable things in this world. People's sightings or mediums between people or ghost hauntings -- there's documented things of this and they're unexplainable to science and I think it's cool to think that something like that could be out there.
It's interesting that the topics that you'll be tackling on Supernatural are based on real stories and myths...
JP: Yeah, real folklore.
JA: Yeah, this isn't made up. This is Eric Kripke's, you know, genius. He's been thinking about this for, you know, a decade now and [he] knows it like the back of his hand. There's a whole subculture about this folklore stuff and everything we do -- you know, laying the salt in a circle and putting cat's eye shells down and stuff -- this is all very, you know, relevant stuff to this kind of folklore, so it's kind of neat to be a part of it because, in a sense, we're also learning about this stuff as well.
The 15th and final season of Supernatural premieres Thursday, Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. EST/PST on The CW.
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