The guy behind Supernatural and The Boys is “a huge Good Omens fan”

Neil Gaiman reveals that The Boys creator Eric Kripke borrowed elements from Gaiman’s book Good Omens for his show Supernatural.

Eric Kripke is one of the most successful producers working in Hollywood today. His show Supernatural, about monster-hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester, ran for 15 seasons, a number that most scripted TV shows don’t even approach. And now, his show The Boys is proved a big hit even (and maybe especially) among people who are tired of all the superhero movies we’ve gotten over the past decade and change.

Neil Gaiman is having a great time of it too; his book American Gods was adapted by Starz, Netflix is adapting his sprawling comic The Sandman, and Amazon just wrapped on the second season of Good Omens, based on the 1990 book Gaiman wrote with the late author Terry Pratchett.

And as it ends up, there’s some crossover between the work of these two artists. In Supernatural, the king of hell is named Crowley, the same name Gaiman gave to the friendly demon played by David Tennant in the Amazon show. And in both series, there’s an angel named Metatron. One fan wondered if this was coincidence, and Gaiman replied on his blog.

"No, it’s not a coincidence: Eric Kripke was a huge Good Omens fan, and always happy to talk about it. (And a Sandman fan and an American Gods fan.) You’ll find bits of each of them in Supernatural."

So there you go: Eric Kripke takes inspiration from Gaiman, as most writers with sense would. Although we should point out that they both probably got the inspiration for the angel Metatron from the Talmud, an ancient text that’s been around for thousands of years. That guy goes way back.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels