Delving Into The Past to Illuminate the Present, The Young Stars of THE WINCHESTERS Are Ready for All Monstrous Challenges

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede   The proper pants are required to fight supernatural creatures, which can be a bit of a challenge with a TV show that’s set in the 1970s. “Bell-bottom jeans seem ridiculous to me,” admitted Drake Rodger, one of the young stars of THE WINCHESTERS, the ’70s-set prequel to the long-running SUPERNATURAL, which debuts Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 8 p.m. ET on CTV Sci-Fi Channel, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. Co-star Meg Donnelly added, “I love them, but … ” “When they had me in them, I thought that they looked ridiculous,” Rodger continued. “I was running around, being all manly, fighting demons and ghosts, but in bell-bottom jeans.” Even with Rodger angling for fewer bell-bottoms in his wardrobe, THE WINCHESTERS delves enthusiastically into the past to illuminate the present. Rodger and Donnelly play John Winchester and Mary Campbell, who go on to become the parents of Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) and Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki), the monster-fighting brothers and lead characters in SUPERNATURAL. With Dean providing narration (Ackles is also an executive producer), THE WINCHESTERS is the origin story of John and Mary, who put everything on the line to save not only their love, but everyone. When John returns home from fighting in Vietnam, a mysterious message sparks a new mission to trace his father’s past. He quickly crosses paths with Mary, who also happens to be seeking answers about the disappearance of her own dad. It turns out that Mary is already an experienced demon hunter. It’s a world that John had previously known nothing about. But were their two dads into it up to their chins? “I grew up watching SUPERNATURAL, and imitating Jensen and Jared, who were very big inspirations for me moving into acting,” Rodger said. “It’s cool to start a project knowing where you end, but getting to create how you get there. We’re giving context to the John character, who is polarizing to the existing fan base (older versions of John and Mary appeared in SUPERNATURAL from time to time). You either really love him, or you really don’t. But context gives you the ability to empathize.” Whereas Rodger has basically been training for this role his entire life, Donnelly – who has a lot of sitcoms and musicals on her resume – admitted that playing Mary is quite a leap. “I’m a scaredy cat,” Donnelly said. “I don’t like horror – well, I do like it, but I can’t handle it. Mary is so unlike me as a person, very serious, very dark. She never really smiles. She’s kind of a bad-ass. Honestly, I wish I was more like Mary. She’s very independent, very confident, and so sure in everything she’s doing. I definitely live vicariously through that. If there’s a door creaking, Mary would say, ‘let’s check that out.’ I would not. I wouldn’t even be there in the first place. If I ever saw smoke coming out of a person, like a demon, I would switch countries.” The goal of THE WINCHESTERS is obviously to feel both familiar and fresh to fans, but Ackles was asked if there’s anything he specifically wants to avoid. “Rewriting history,” he answered quickly and definitively. “It’s obviously something that has been a topic of discussion with fans and critics, of how we’re going to navigate what has already been established. We’re trying to preserve everything we possibly can on the mothership, in a way that also services this show. Robbie (Thompson, executive producer) and I use the Back to The Future reference quite a bit. We don’t want the picture of Dean and Sam to start being erased.”   billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv