A Winchester family reunion is all fans have ever wanted and they finally got it! Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive first look at Supernatural‘s 300th episode, which sees the return of John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) for an emotional family reunion around the dinner table.
Jared Padalecki and his costar Jensen Ackles are preparing for their final two days of filming the 300th episode (Feb. 7) as demon-hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester, respectively. The brothers will come face-to-face with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the man who brought Papa John Winchester to life in the show’s pilot and kick-started the brothers’ road trip.
“It’s the culmination of 300 episodes,” Padalecki says of Morgan’s return.
“Supernatural” premiered on The WB in 2005 and has since become the longest-running show in The CW’s history. The idea was simple: two brothers hunting monsters from urban legends. But the writers soon realized that they would have to broaden the scope of the show if they wanted to surpass 20 episodes.
“We quickly realized that [conceit] would run out in a hurry, so even early on we expanded our horizons of what the show could be,” executive producer/co-showrunner Robert Singer said.
Three hundred episodes later and after a tragic loss of one of the show’s favorite characters back in season 2, fans of “Supernatural” were elated when news broke that Jeffery Dean Morgan would be returning to the long-running The CW series.
In a new interview with EW, producer Andrew Dabb opened up about how John will come back. As fans may recall, John was a major focus of the series’ first two seasons with the show’s opening mystery centering on what happened to Sam (Padalecki) and Dean’s (Ackles) missing father.
After the family was reunited, though, Dean about to die so John made a deal with a demon to save his son’s life. John made one more appearance at the end of that same season, when his spirit helped Sam and Dean bring down the Yellow-Eyed demon.
“Our guys are put in a position where they essentially can have a wish granted,” Dabb said. “They’re actually expecting something else, but [John’s return] comes from a place of want by Dean. The need for closure is really want brings John back into their lives.”
EW also reveals that John’s return also brings back Zachariah (Kurt Fuller).
But more than that, and according to Morgan, each of the brothers will finally have their time with their dad.
“The relationships between these three men were so open, so if I was going to come back, it would be nice to have some closure, especially with Sammy,” Morgan said.
Supernatural’s 300th episode, ‘Lebanon,’ premieres Thursday, Feb. 7 on The CW.
By: Maytinee Kramer