Supernatural Stars Open to Return in the Future

It’s a bittersweet time as many fans prepare for the end of Supernatural, which will wrap up with its 15th season premiering this fall on The CW. And while it is the end of an era, that doesn’t mean that the Supernatural franchise is going away forever.

While speaking at the Television Critics Association’s event this week, star Jensen Ackles made it clear that he’ll always be open to returning to the role of Dean Winchester, but reiterated that the story would have to compel him to come back to the franchise that put him on the map.

“I’m not ever ready to close doors or burn bridges,” said Ackles. “Am I saying there’s something in the works? No. Am I saying I’m open to having a conversation about it in the future? What’s the harm in that?”

Shortly after, The CW President Mark Pedowitz came onto the stage and said they’d always have a home at the network, where Supernatural first began airing when it was branded as The WB more than a decade ago.

“If you wish to reconsider, I know a network that’d be willing to take you back,” Pedowitz said. “Fifteen years is a remarkable achievement. You will always have a home here and you will always have a fan in me.”

Some fans might be upset over Supernatural‘s ending, but Ackles and co-star Jared Padalecki made it clear that the series is going out on top, on the storyteller’s terms.

“This was a community decision. The network and the studio did not say, ‘hey, guys, get out of here, you’re done,’” Padalecki said at a convention earlier this year.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” added Ackles. “It was months and months, if not years, of discussion between he and I, between the rest of the cast, between the crew, between our writers, between our producers, between the studio, between the network. Nobody wanted to see this show fizzle out. I think that it was everyone wanting to do the biggest service to the show that we could by going out strong. It just seemed like the writing was kind of on the wall as to when that was happening. Everybody kind of felt that it was coming soon, and so it was just taking that leap of faith of going like, ‘Well guys, let’s get out the paint and paint that finish line because what we’ve accomplished is unlike any other.’”

The final season of Supernatural premieres on October 10th on The CW.