Supernatural ending after 15 years is the end of an era, and the start of adulthood for me

After 15 seasons, Supernatural will be coming to an end. And while we still have the entire 15th season to enjoy, it will be bittersweet to say goodbye.

It may seem like an exaggeration to say that Supernatural ending means the start of my adulthood, but considering the series began when I was still technically a teenager, it feels fitting anyway.

Just to emphasize how far back I go with this show, I remember the WB and sometimes still call The CW by that old channel name.

When the show premiered on September 13, 2005, it felt like something new and exciting, but that wasn’t why I tuned in. The reason I started watching was because it featured Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. I grew up watching Days of Our Lives with my grandmother, and Ackles starred in it as Eric Brady. When it comes to Padalecki, I used to watch him on Gilmore Girls with my father. Knowing these two would be on the series together felt like I could continue these family traditions somehow — and I did so as I watched them grow up right before my eyes.

Over the years, I fell in love with more than the stories and characters that made Supernatural special. I also fell in love with the sense of community that grew up around the show. I as well as other fans of the show took to social media to share our thoughts about the different episodes and what was happening in Sam and Dean Winchester’s lives. As we communicated with each other, friendships grew. To this day, I have plenty of friends who are just as invested in the Supernatural world as I was when we first took to the internet to discuss it.

My appreciation for Supernatural goes beyond watching episodes and discussing it with the fandom at large. I also have a personal and deep connection to it as well. When Jared Padalecki began his first mental health campaign for To Write Love on Her Arms, I wrote a piece about it, and during that process, found myself wanting to learn as much as I possibly could. That yearning for information grew as Padalecki joined forces with Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins.

Perhaps the reason their charitable work meant so much to me was because cast members of my favorite show were being so open and honest about mental health. I was also going through a difficult period in my life, and it felt like there were people out there who understood me. Even if they didn’t know what I was going through specifically, they knew what it felt like to feel alone, or unhappy, or depressed.

The positive work they’re doing means so much to me, so much so that I have a shirt from Padalecki’s campaign Always Keep Fighting that I look at every day. It features both his and Ackles’ face, and is a constant reminder that there are other people out there who understand that life can be hard, but we must always keep fighting.

Knowing that the fandom I am a part of is doing everything they can to prove Supernatural is more than just another TV series has made me proud. That’s why I find it so hard to imagine this show not being on television anymore.

When the series finally ends in 2020, it will be more than just the end of an era for a fandom. For m, it will be like letting go of being a young adult. I get that I am in my 30s and have been an adult for a long time, but this feels like finally stepping into adulthood without the training wheels.

I appreciate everything that the Supernatural fandom has given me. From the friendships to the silent support, and of course the show itself, there is something about this family that will stick with me long after the show has finally stopped giving us new episodes.

The TV landscape will never be the same again, and we have Supernatural to thank for that. Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins feel like they are apart of my family. While they may no longer be together on our screens, they will always be connected to me and the rest of the Supernatural fandom. Saying goodbye is hard, but knowing they went out on their own terms certainly helps to ease the sadness a little.

While this is a very hard time for the Supernatural fandom, we know we have each other to lean on. And that’s something we have Ackles, Padalecki, and Collins to thank for, because they gave us this amazing sense of community that is here for each other.

As they said themselves in an emotional statement to Supernatural fans, “This family is not going anywhere.”

I will miss turning on a new episode of Supernatural every week and seeing what danger the Winchesters have to contend with. But hopefully this is not the end of their story, and perhaps the road will continue in other ways.