Yahoo News Supernatural's Jensen "would love" even shorter seasons
Supernatural's upcoming 14th season will be its shortest in over a decade, and while it's a small reduction – 20 episodes, rather than the standard 22 or 23 – the news had fans worried that The CW was losing faith in the series.
But in fact, the shorter run is happening at the request of series leads Jensen Ackles (Dean) and Jared Padalecki (Sam), who were both keen to spend more time with their families.
"When they announced that it was 20 episodes, I was hearing some concern that it was The CW writing us off... it's certainly not," Padalecki told Digital Spy.
"And we're just giving this a shot. 23's a bit difficult, with three young kids in a foreign country – I know it's Canada [where Supernatural shoots, while Padalecki lives in Texas], but it's still time zones, and travel, and my kids are in school..."
"Leads of series, you can just run 'em ragged," said writer / executive producer Brad Buckner. "You can forget that you're actually dealing with human beings and they start ending up in every scene which means they're working every day.
"These are long, long hours, so I think by guaranteeing them [Jensen and Jared] a little bit more time off, it's only going to benefit the show."
As for how a shorter run of episodes might affect Supernatural's storytelling, the writing team have hinted at "more concise" plotting and a new approach to how the show approaches its larger story arc.
"From what I can gather, some of the fan complaints are that occasionally some of the episodes [in previous seasons] felt disjointed," Buckner said. "They don't feel like they're part of the whole tapestry, and I think there'll be less of that this year."
"We have to be a little less complex in our mythology," added Supernatural showrunner Andrew Dabb. "Which isn't always a bad thing.
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"We'll end up dropping out a couple of what would be more classic standalone episodes to accommodate that. But our hope is that the rhythm of this season, which has largely [in the past] been half myth / half standalone, stays about the same."
Executive producer Robert Singer indicated that the show might actually benefit from having less episodes, since "spreading [the story] out" across 23 episodes "was always a bit of a struggle".
"We're not concerned that we can't tell the story in 20 episodes," Singer said. "Previously, when you got up to about episode 18 or 19, you go, 'Alright, we should be getting to it...' then you realise you've got five episodes left [before the finale].
"So I think everybody's happy with 20 this year. Well, maybe the network's not, but we are!"
Echoing Singer's comments, Jensen Ackles described a 23-episode shoot as "a long haul".
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"It's a marathon and everybody's gotta pace themselves, including the writers," Ackles explained. "They have to make sure that they're spreading their story out, and dishing it out in certain portions to sustain the whole length of the season.
"So now that it's a bit more of a concentrated season, I think the episodes and the storylines are gonna be a little more intense, and I'm hoping for the best on that."
"[20 episodes] will be concise – we can cut the fat," agreed Padalecki.
Of course, another fan concern was that this could be the start of a slippery slope. But while Ackles admitted that he "would love" an even shorter 13-episode run, similar to a cable show, he doesn't think that would end up being practical.
"That'd be just like heaven – we'd go for 30 more seasons if we did that!" he grinned. "We did talk about it. That was a big discussion with the network and the studio... but mainly the network, because they're the ones who need the content, in order to sell it...
"So there was that conversation of, 'How short can we go and still make the story sustainable, but also monetarily have it make sense for the studio?' and 20 seemed to be the magic number. That still gives them enough content to cover their bases."
"For me, it'd be whatever's the best length of time," said Padalecki. "It's however long the season needs to be to tell this year's storyline.
"We'll see what happens this year. Maybe we'll say, 'Man, I don't think we really got enough time to explore', and we consider going back to 22 or 23, but maybe breaking it up somehow?
"Sure, I'd do a shorter season. But I don't know how long the writers need. The arc of a season doesn't fall into my purview. I just know I want to see my family more.
"If it gets to the point where the network says they need at least 15, or 18, or we can't do less than 20, then that's a question we'll figure out at the end of this year."
Supernatural season 14 returns on Thursday, October 11 at 8/7c on The CW. The series airs on E4 in the UK.
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