While The Boys pushed Eric Kripke’s career to new heights, it wasn’t his first rodeo in the realm of metahuman, as he was coming off the success of CW’s acclaimed Supernatural. Although the show ran for a record 15 seasons, making it the longest-running show in CW and WB history, the acclaimed showrunner called it quits after season 5.
As for why? Kripke clarified that he didn’t think that the show would make it this long, adding that he got a little cold feet after his initial plans for the series made it to the silver screen.
Eric Kripke Wasn’t Sure if Supernatural Would Make It This Far
From the very beginning, Eric Kripke approached Supernatural with a 5 season plan. However, The Boys showrunner wasn’t initially convinced if his vision would ever come to fruition. Fortunately, with each season garnering immaculate reception from fans and critics, CW kept greenlighting additional seasons.
But after season 5, for which Kripke didn’t pull punches with its apocalypse storyline, the showrunner stressed he had “low self-esteem”, as he never dreamt “the show would go five years”.
Because I have low self-esteem, I never dreamt the show would go five years. And so I had a five year plan, and now I’m here in the fifth season and it’s doing well and I’m like the girl with glasses in the teen comedy. Everyone wants to go into a sixth season and I was a little bewildered by it. I think that’s why earlier I was so adamant about saying, ‘It’s five seasons!’, was because I never thought we’d go this distance.
While Kripke ensured to tie all loose ends with season 5, he didn’t shut the door for latter additions, which were helmed by Sera Gamble, Jeremy Carver, Robert Singer, and Andrew Dabb.
Supernatural Was Eric Kripke’s Backup Plan Post His Exit
Although Eric Kripke moved on from Supernatural after season 5, often regarded as the best in the series, the CW show’s long run after his departure ensured a safety net for the showrunner. He added that if things ever hit the fan in his career, he always had Supernatural to fall back to.
It was strange, because no matter what happened in my career, I always had the safety net of like, ‘Well, if I really sh*t the bed, I’ve still got Supernatural residuals, and I’m still getting the royalties because they’re [still] making it’
Even though it was no longer an option, as the show concluded in 2020, by the time the series ended, Kripke had already hit another peak with Amazon’s The Boys, and similar to Supernatural, he’s set to conclude it with season 5.
Supernatural is available to stream on Max.
