Reopening Hollywood North
Are Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles headed back to Vancouver soon ahead of a potential August shoot?
Supernatural is now looking to shoot its final two episodes this August, with the main cast “expected to head [to Vancouver] to self-isolate”, according to Deadline:Hollywood.
Main Cast: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Alexander Calvert.
Jensen Ackles shared a photo today — in honour of Jared Padalecki’s birthday — of the last time the main cast were together on set in Vancouver in early March, shooting episode eighteen of the final season.
Related: Supernatural’s Sam & Dean & Cas & Jack & Baby on Set in Vancouver for 15×18 Directed by Richard Speight Jr.
Jensen Ackles sounds cautiously optimistic about a restart.
We’ll be back in that beautiful car to celebrate soon enough. (Hopefully). — Jensen Ackles.
What are the hurdles to restarting production?
Surging coronavirus cases in the U.S. mean the Canada-U.S. border remains closed and the Canadian government will not waive its strict 14-day self-quarantine for those who are allowed entry.
Jared Padalecki and his family live in Austin, Texas, but currently are on a camping trip through New Mexico to Utah to points north. Jensen Ackles and his family live in Austin, Texas, too. Misha Collins makes his home across the border in Washington state with his family. Of the main cast, only Alex Calvert is a Vancouverite.
American producer Jim Michaels, American directors John F. Showalter and Robert Singer and whichever American guest actors are in the final episodes — like Rob Benedict who plays Chuck aka God — would have to self quarantine for two weeks, too.
And while British Columbia has given the green light to film and TV production as long as it adheres to BC Work-Safe requirements, the Covid-19 safety protocols for large American studios are much more complicated. After months of talks, the Hollywood studios and the unions/guilds have yet to reach an industry-wide agreement, which is “further delaying the start of production even in locations where the pandemic is largely under control, like British Columbia, New Zealand, Hawaii, as well as New York, which [has] allowed film and TV production to resume”, according to Deadline: Hollywood.
What’s the rush?
Supernatural is on The CW’s Fall schedule, with seven unaired episodes on Thursday nights.
Five were filmed before the industry shutdown in mid-March out of coronavirus fears.
The final two (including the series finale) have yet to be shot.
We already have five episodes in the can of Supernatural. Jared and Jensen will go back as soon as they are able to to finish up the last two episodes and then Jared will go off to [new series] Walker. The two studios are in constant communication to make sure that this is a seamless handoff. — The CW’s Mark Pedowitz said in mid-May.
What have the cast been doing?
Jared Padalecki, with his wife Genevieve, has grown a fearsome pandemic beard. The Padaleckis are on a long camping trip in the U.S.
Jensen Ackles and his wife Danneel Harris Ackles have promoted masking up to fight the spread of the virus..
Misha Collins has been staying active online with GISH and his political interests — recently turning over his Instagram to Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden.
The Biden campaign is launching a new initiative today that will draft Hollywood celebrities for Instagram Live chats.
Among those on the list: Bradley Whitford, Debra Messing and Andrew Yang. https://t.co/C3nMw4p6K8
— Axios (@axios) July 6, 2020
Where did we leave Supernatural?
The last Supernatural episode to air was the thirteenth episode on March 23rd, with the Winchester brothers looking for an edge against Chuck aka God.
Destiny’s Child featured Jared and Jensen’s real-life wives Genevieve Padalecki and Danneel Harris Ackles reprising their characters demon Ruby and can’t-be-trusted Sister Jo.
And ended with Jack getting his soul back and apologizing to Sam & Dean for their mother Mary’s death — “It was all my fault”. Is a restored Jack strong enough to defeat Chuck?
Who else can we expect to see in the final seven episodes?
Chuck aka God (Rob Benedict), God’s sister Amara/the Darkness (Emily Swallow), Sam & Dean’s half-brother Adam/Michael’s vessel (Jake Abel), angel Uriel (Robert Wisdom) and Charlie (Felicia Day) will make appearances.
