'Supernatural' Prequel 'The Winchesters' Gets First Trailer

Before there could be Dean or Sam Winchester, Mary Campbell and John Winchester had to meet and fall in love. And although the WB-turned-CW demon-hunting drama Supernatural offered glimpses into that relationship, its prequel spin-off, The Winchesters, will delve even deeper into it, and you can get a sneak peek of how in a first trailer, below.

The Winchesters stars Meg Donnelly and Drake Rodger as Mary and John, but their story isn't a completely objective one in this 1970s-set tale, as it is narrated by their adult son, Dean (Jensen Ackles, who also executive produces and appears in the premiere episode, as you can see from the trailer). 

"The Winchester story, it's always been a mystery," he narrates as he writes in his own journal while leaning on Baby. "I need to uncover the truth about my parents. Was it the hunt for evil that drew them together? Or was it something more? To get to the truth — the real story — means going way back, to 1972."

Dean has always been a character that longed for his family to be back together — so much so that in the flagship series' landmark 300th episode, when Dean found an object that would make his deepest desire come true, his father magically returned from the dead for a little while. Therefore, The Winchesters is said to be "the epic, untold love story" of the couple, capturing how they put everything on the line to save their relationship, as well as the entire world.

Supernatural started with Mary and John (played by Samantha Smith and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, respectively) already married and the parents of a very young Dean and Sam. It was Mary's death on the ceiling of Sam's nursery that sent John down the revenge-riddled path of hunting the demon that killed her. However, Amy Gumenick and Matt Cohen played younger versions of Mary and John in that original series, including in the pivotal fourth-season time travel episode "In the Beginning" that revealed the reason Mary died the way she did. 

Those who know the original series know that it is Mary's family that has hunting in their blood, while John was supposed to be on the Men of Letters path. And The Winchesters picks up those threads: When this show meets Mary and John, Mary is 19 and has recently considered quitting the family business after losing someone close to her. But her father disappears, which forces her to lead a new team to find out what happened. John, who has recently returned from Vietnam, finds his own new mission at home when pieces of his own father's past lead him to the secret organization. This new show will feature their first meeting.

The team around Mary and John in The Winchesters includes Nida Khurshid as Latika Desai, who is described as "a young up-and-coming hunter with a penchant for problem-solving and doing research"; Jojo Fleites as Carlos Cervantez, who is considered both "a natural" at fighting demons and "boost of positivity" when the team encounters such serious threats; and Demetria McKinney as Ada Monroe, "a studious and sharp bookstore owner who also takes interest in the mysteries of the occult."

Jensen and Danneel Ackles executive produce the show through Chaos Machine Productions, while Robbie Thompson serves as writer and executive producer. The show hails from Chaos Machine, in association with Warner Bros. TV and CBS Studios.

Over the course of its 15-season run, Supernatural earned a 60 Metascore from critics. The Winchesters is set to debut during the 2022-23 television season and therefore does not yet have a Metascore. It will air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW starting fall 2022.