Supernatural Fandom

SPNFamily

The CW’s television show Supernatural has had a dedicated fan base since the beginning of the show. Supernatural is about a pair of brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who travel across the country tracking and hunting monsters and demons. They are often helped by an angel, Castiel, as well as many other characters along the way. The show, which began in 2005, has recently ended on its fifteenth season.

There are many ways that the Supernatural fandom, or as they call themselves the SPNFamily, remain active in their support of the show. The most common of these being writing fanfictions, which are fictitious stories written by fans about the characters and events of a show. One of the main themes throughout fanfictions for Supernatural is to “ship”, a term meaning to imagine or create a romantic relationship between two characters, Dean and Castiel. Because of this common theme, the writers of the show did end up making this happen, but not until the show was almost over. As much as fans wanted this to happen, the manner in which it was done was seen as unsatisfactory, so the fanfictions continued with ways that it could have been executed better.

Along with fanfictions being written about romantic interests within Supernatural, fans also write about better lives for the characters. These fanfictions are often called AUs, or alternate universes, in which things happen differently from how they did in the show. There are countless fanfictions written about the Winchester brothers living normal, happy lives, stories where dead characters are brought back to life, and many more positive outcomes. However, there are also some fanfictions written that make lives worse for certain characters, or even stories where characters are killed. There is an extensive history within the Supernatural fandom with writing fanfictions and below is a list of over 95K stories.

Supernatural Fanfictions


Another common thing within the SPNFamily is attending Comic Con, and its own Supernatural Convention. The cast members frequently make appearances at conventions and are open for Q&A sessions, where the fans ask about their own theories and the cast members personal theories or feelings towards what has happened in the show. Fans wait in lines for hours to be able to ask the cast of Supernatural their questions and to be able to potentially meet the cast as well. Fans will often have poses in mind for months before their chance to get pictures with the cast members.

A look at Supernatural's panel for Comic Con 2015

Supernatural fans cosplaying as Dean, Castiel,
Castiel, and Crowley
Less common within the SPNFamily, but still popular nonetheless is cosplaying as the characters. Cosplaying means to dress up as a specific character. Fans of Supernatural often cosplay as Sam, Dean and Castiel, but some fans will even cosplay as more minor characters from the show. Cosplaying is mostly done for pictures to be posted online for other fandom members to enjoy, but it is also done when attending events such as Comic Con. 

Although the show has ended, the Supernatural fandom continues to show their admiration for the show as if it were still running. Fanfictions are being written to this day, and likely will continue to be written for years to come. Supernatural conventions are set to continue at least until 2022, and the fans to this day enjoy cosplaying as the characters. The SPNFamily is appropriately named, as the fandom acts as if they are a family, and will continue to do so regardless of the show ending. 


Works Cited

Green, Marykate. “Opinion: Destiel Is Canon Yet Fans Are Still Upset.” The Daily Illini, 13 Dec. 2020, dailyillini.com/opinions-stories/2020/12/13/opinion-destiel-is-canon-yet-fans-are-still-upset/#:~:text=It seems that fans might,Death, and prepares to die.

P, R. “#Dragoncon Supernatural Cosplay - Dean, Castiel, Castiel, Crowley. Saturday in Hyatt. #XTrack #Supernatural Pic.twitter.com/nQ0AXiFCFy.” Twitter, Twitter, 1 Sept. 2013, twitter.com/xndresque/status/374262697593810944.

“The Salute to Supernatural Burbank Convention: A Fangirl's Dream Come True.” Sweatpants & Coffee, 5 Dec. 2013, sweatpantsandcoffee.com/the-salute-to-supernatural-burbank-convention-a-fangirls-dream-come-true/.

“Supernatural.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 13 Sept. 2005, www.imdb.com/title/tt0460681/.

“Supernatural Wiki.” Fandom, supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Supernatural_Wiki.

flicksandthecity. “SUPERNATURAL Comic Con Panel 2015.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 July 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BYjUTyoEP4.

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