After 15 seasons, Supernatural is finally wrapping things up, and it had to film its final two episodes under stringent COVID-19 precautions.
In just a couple weeks, Supernatural will start airing its final seven episodes, capping off a journey 15 seasons in the making.
And we were already supposed to have seen it. Like a lot of other series, Supernatural had to shut down thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, with filming on the final two episodes finally resuming in British Columbia with new stringent safety standards in place: cast and crew members wore masks at all times, everyone social distanced, everyone had to be tested three times a week, and more. They even took longer to shoot the final episodes than normal (nine days versus eight) to allow for delays.
Happily, the final shoot went well and no delays were needed. “e went through two episodes, and we didn’t have one positive test,” said co-showrunner Robert Singer, who directed the series finale. That’s definitely a good thing — if there had been a positive test, who knows if we’d be watching the final episodes come October — but the new safety protocols created a different atmosphere on set than normal.
For example, stars Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester) and Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) both made sure to be as careful as possible, lest they compromise the entire production. “, it would have been shutting down production and putting people out of work again, so everybody was more careful than they were required,” Padalecki told Variety. “We all felt the importance. We weren’t going out on weekends.”
Ackles agreed. “Everybody was taking it very seriously,” he said. “I would say being on set was safer that going home to my apartment, because everybody’s getting tested, everybody was healthy and was checked on such a frequent basis you knew that there was nobody carrying the disease,” Ackles continued. “I’m being very cautious, and I would have felt comfortable hugging the crew members, just because I know that everybody was so diligently safe.”
The restrictions could result in some borderline absurd situations, like actor Jim Beaver (Bobby Singer) flying up from LA, completing Canada’s mandatory 14-day quarantine, shooting his scenes in one day, and then going back. That’s “And the next day, he shot what he had to shoot.
The family atmosphere of the set also changed, since they scheduled things so there wouldn’t be too many people on set at once. “Once we were ready to shoot, no one was allowed on the actual shooting set other than the actors and me and the director of photography,” Singer remembered.
There also couldn’t be a wrap party, but Singer did his best to honor the show’s legacy during the last day of shooting, which took place in a forest. “I said, ‘I’m really gonna miss doing this.’ It was amazing how many people there were who had been with us right from the very beginning.”
There’s also the matter of whether Singer and company had to change any scenes as a result of the pandemic. Action scenes and love scenes are particularly difficult to shoot under these circumstances, but Singer said the series finale is “more of an emotional journey with our characters” and a “personal look at the guys,” so they didn’t have that problem.
However, one scene did have to be tweaked because it called for more extras than was allowed. But Singer doesn’t think anyone will notice. “I don’t think there’s anything that you’re going to see you where you would say, ‘Oh, well, they clearly did that because of COVID.’”
We’ll be able to see for ourselves soon enough. It’s still surreal to think that Supernatural soon won’t be around, but Singer wanted to end on a high note. “We wanted to go out while we still felt we had a fastball,” he said. “Going out on your own terms is a good thing. That said, there were some tears. As you passed people and said goodbye, you could see that it was emotional. And I think the guys were emotional.”
Something tells me the fans will be crying right along with them.
The final run of Supernatural episodes starts on October 8. The series finale will air November 19.
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