3. THE WRITERS’ STRIKE
The infamous 2007-08 Strike of the Writers Guild of America affected plenty of shows in a major way. The strike took place after a failed negotiation between the Writers Guild of America and the AMPTP. The AMPTP represented the interests of the film and TV producers. This resulted in more than 12,000 writers went on a strike which affected the writing for the shows. This is the reason why Season 3 of the show was limited to only 16 episodes instead of the 22-episode season. The writers also affected the storylines of the show in a drastic way. Samantha Ferris was supposed to reprise her role of Ellen Harvelle in the middle of Season 13.
However, the strike and failure in negotiations resulted in the plan being scrapped. However, Kripke felt like that strike eventually resulted in far good than bad. The writers got the much needed break and Season 3 was much concise, and the focus on Dean’s hell storyline paid off. The original plan for Season 3 was that Dean would have been saved by Sam, but it would have cost them a lot. According to a user on Reddit, Dean would have hunted the ‘corrupted Sam’ in Season 3 finale. They were going to expand on the powers of Sam, turning him towards the dark side, embracing his powers to challenge on Lilith (and maybe leading a demonic army). However, there wasn’t enough time so the Sam’s demon powers arc was shifted to Season 4. As Sam didn’t had any powers, Dean ended up going to hell. This also forced Eric Kripke and team to come up with more storylines for Season 4. As a result, they came up with angels and took the Biblical route which gave the show its dark gritty edge.
2. REFEENCES IN OTHER SHOWS
In its long 15 years, Supernatural has referenced numerous shows such as GOT, Buffy, Lucifer, and lot more. But did you know there are numerous shows that have made references to Supernatural.
- When the angel Remiel appears on Earth, Amenadiel asks about her visit to Earth, he asks her if she has gotten tired of the singing of ‘Cassiel’. While thinking of names for his nephilim baby, Amenadiel suggests names such as Ezekiel (Zeke), Jack, Michael, and ultimately chooses Charlie. Since both the shows share numerous biblical elements such as Adam, Eve, Lilith, the archangels, and lot more.
- In Boys 2×8, while browsing through the internet memes, there’s one which features the 1967 Impala, a subtle nod to Supernatural and Jensen who will portray Soldier Boy in Season 3 of the show.
- The video game ‘The Last of Us 2’ has a reference to the Supernatural’s main characters Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles. There’s a mention of Comic Cons which hints the actors were present when the apocalypse happened.
- The TV show named ‘The Resident’ has a doctor named Edmund Carver and there’s also a patient with the name Bobby Singer.