The immensely popular paranormal-horror television show Supernatural first premiered on the WB, 10 years ago today, on 13th September 2005.
Created by Eric Kripke, the show follows brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) as they hunt demons, ghosts, monsters, supernatural beings and urban legends throughout America. Supernatural had a larger focus on urban legends and monsters-of-the-week in the first three seasons, with the seasons following focusing heavily on the angels & demons mythology of the show instead.
Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki have now played the Winchester brothers for 10 years.
Supernatural’s use of ‘monster-of-the-week’ and mythology comes directly from a show that ended three years before its debut; The X-Files. Kripke had been developing the television series for nearly ten years prior to its release. When the series was eventually picked up, the studio hired co-executive producer John Shiban due to his prior work on The X-Files, and also to help design the mythology.
Both Supernatural and The X-Files were filmed in Vancouver, Canada and subsequently both carry the same tone and imagery. A number of the production team and actors/actresses from The X-Files have also worked on Supernatural, and the show is heavily referenced throughout the series.
Supernatural was also heavily influenced by horror films of the 70’s and 80’s, most notably taking the ‘horror happening in a family’ situation from Poltergeist (1982), and the comedic timings of Evil Dead II (1987) and An American Werewolf In London (1981).
Kripke’s original plan was to have the series run for three seasons, but later let the main storyline run until the end of season five. Kripke subsequently left the show as showrunner after the fifth season. The show has since carried on for several more seasons with Sera Gamble and Jeremy Carver as showrunners, with an eleventh season set to premiere in October.
Since its conception, Supernatural has garnered an ever-expanding and dedicated cult fanbase. It’s extreme popularity at conventions such as San Diego Comic Con, eventually lead to the show having it’s own official yearly convention held by Creation Entertainment.
Watch a trailer for the first season of Supernatural below.
