The Winchesters: Jensen Ackles Teases Return of Fan-Favorite Characters in Supernatural Prequel

This fall, The CW returns to the world of Supernatural with The Winchesters, a prequel series that will recount the epic, untold love story of how John met Mary and how they put it all on the line to not only save their love but the entire world. The series will see Jensen Ackles return as Dean Winchester, serving as the series' narrator, but it turns out that he won't be the only familiar face and character the show brings to fans.

Speaking with TV Line, Ackles said that with The Winchesters, the door is open for fan favorite Supernatural characters to also appear and in a variety of different ways.

"The great thing about this world is that nothing is off the table," Ackles said. "We have ways of bringing back fan-favorite characters and the actors that played them. We also have ways of bringing back younger versions of those characters."

The Winchesters will star The In Between's Drake Rodger as John, and American Housewife's Meg Donnelly as Mary. The cast will also include Legacies alum Bianca Kajlich as John's mom, Mary.

"To be honest, I was like, 'I don't know if we can do this,'" Ackles revealed, "and then it took [writer] Robbie [Thompson] and me sitting down going like, 'Well, we know we have to do this, and we know we have to do that, but if we just connect those dots with a straight line, that's not entertaining. That's boring. That's a simple story. If we connect those dots in a much crazier, wild Supernatural way, then we've got a show.' So that's what we've been doing."

Ackles also explained that the series will take on the previously established canon for John and Mary will be explored in a unique way in the series.

"That's kind of the exciting thing, in my opinion, is that the waypoints or the tentpoles that were established on the mothership, as we lovingly call it, those will get touched on," Ackles added. "But we'll get to those waypoints in a way that we probably didn't expect. And that's what we're really having fun with is, like, the story is coming together. It's not the washed version. It's not the sugar-coated version of how mom and dad met. This is like what really happened."

"But we do play into the moments that were discussed and that were talked about," Ackles continues, "just maybe in a slightly varied way that seems like, 'Whoa, wait, we knew that happened, but I didn't know that's why it happened or that's how it happened.'"

The Winchesters will air Tuesdays at 8/7c this fall on The CW.