‘Supernatural’: Jensen Ackles Once Revealed His Hardest Death Scene to Film as Dean Winchester
It was a sad day in entertainment when Supernatural closed the curtain after 15 seasons. Sam Winchester went on to have a family before dying at an old age, but Dean broke hearts when he died during a vampire hunt. The entire scene was enough to break anyone down as Dean gave Sam parting words. “I need you to tell me that it’s OK,” he said.
As much as that sight crushed fans, it shattered actors Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki too. But some time back, Ackles once shared which of Dean’s many death scenes were the hardest for him to film.
Jensen Ackles said Dean’s season 3 ‘Supernatural’ death was logistically challenging
During a Supernatural convention in 2019, Padalecki and Ackles chopped it up with fans in a Q&A session. Someone asked the actors about their most difficult death scenes, and Ackles chose one from season 3 when hellhounds mauled him.
“That was just so incredibly uncomfortable, and if we were doing that same scene now, it would be a different thing. It would be computer generated,” he said. “But back then, they did everything practical. So, all of those rips were literally little threads that were sewn into the shirt, and then yanked so the shirt would peel back like it was being clawed.”
Ackles added that his clothing was stuffed with blood chutes running up his pantlegs to accommodate the fake blood packs. And then the faux blood dried, making things messy.
Fans may recall that Lilith put the hellhounds on Dean in this season 3 episode, and after he died, he spent months in hell.
A different Dean Winchester death hit Ackles emotionally
Keep in mind that Dean Winchester died more than 100 times during Supernatural’s long run, but several deaths hurt more than others. For Ackles, the one that got him in the gut was when Metatron killed Dean in season 9.
He said it was hard for him to watch Padalecki’s Sam get emotional. “It was less tough for what I had to do. It was the ‘I’m proud of us’ speech. But it was hard watching him go through what he was going through,” said Ackles. He empathized with Sam in that moment.
Jared Padalecki shared his experiences too
By 2019, Sam had a handful of deaths and resurrections, and Padalecki pinpointed a brotherly scene that left him teary-eyed. In season 2, he had to lie still as Ackles hovered over him.
“I was laying on the bed trying to hold my breath, and he’s sitting there, and I can literally feel Ackles acting his heart out,” said Padalecki. He could hear his lines too. “And I’m basically tearing up but trying to be dead.”
Though the cameras didn’t catch it, Ackles saw a small tear run down the side of Padalecki’s eye as they filmed. Both of their tears landed on the sheets. But Padalecki also named the aforementioned Metatron scene as his other tough one. “I had to kind of regroup.”
He added that he always figured the show would end in a way similar to that one with the “I’m proud of us” speech. Fast forward to the series finale, and it came really close.
