“Family don’t end with blood.”
That is one of many iconic lines to come from Supernatural, the plucky little CW show about two brothers who hunt monsters. Perhaps more than any other though, this line encapsulates everything that the show is about. By extension, it encapsulates the spirit of those who worked tirelessly for fifteen years to make the show, as well as the devoted family of fans who have embraced it like a mantra.
From humble beginnings in September, 2005, Supernatural grew and evolved, not just on-screen, but beyond it. Over the course of fifteen seasons, and continuing right up until this day, Supernatural has fostered a fan community unlike any other, the self-proclaimed SPNFamily. And like any good family, they love and support each other and those around them, embodying the positive power of fandom.
It’s not just the fans though, the cast and crew have also embraced the family dynamic, with the series leads, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins, serving as a triumvirate of papa bears. So, in honour of two decades of saving people and hunting things, let’s explore just what exactly makes the SPNFamily such a shining light in the world of fandom.
Right off the bat, it’s worth noting that despite being off the air for five years now, the Supernatural fandom is still going strong, with regular cast convention appearances around the world. The US has especially developed a strong Supernatural ‘con scene’, thanks to regular events held around the country.
While Padalecki and Ackles have both moved on to other successful projects, they’ve both continued to be involved with the show’s fandom, along with their partner in crime, Collins. Meanwhile fan-favourite cast members Richard Speight Jr. and Rob Benedict have spent the last few years hosting the Supernatural Then & Now podcast, which features cast and crew happily chatting about every aspect of the show’s history and production.
All this to say that the fandom is still incredibly active for a show that’s no longer on the air, and cast, crew and fans alike are all still as passionate about the program as they were five, or even twenty years ago.
The most uplifting part of the Supernatural legacy though, is the sheer amount of humanitarian and charity work that has spun out from it. For some inexplicable reason, this cast and this fandom have been primed for this kind of thing, far beyond any other. In 2015, Padalecki launched the Always Keep Fighting (AKF) campaign through Represent.com, raising money for To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA), a charity that supports people struggling with depression, addiction and more. Money was raised through the sale of t-shirts and was inspired by Padalecki’s own battle with depression, which he has spoken openly about.
That same year, in response to the overwhelming success of the AKF campaign, Padalecki and Ackles announced the foundation of The Pack Fund, which worked with Collins’ Random Acts (more on that later) to distribute funds to other deserving causes. AKF has had a lasting impact on the SPNFamily, with Padalecki launching several follow-up campaigns, including a 10th anniversary campaign in 2025. More than that though, it’s become a bit of a mantra and a rally cry among the SPNFamily, urging those who need to hear it most to Always Keep Fighting.
It should be no surprise though, that the unofficial humanitarian king of the SPNFamily is the original trench coat-clad Angel of the Lord, Misha Collins. Beloved by fans from the moment he first appeared on the scene in all his shadow-winged glory, few could have anticipated how the man behind Castiel would prove to be just as much an angel in real life.
In response to the 2010 Haitian earthquake, Collins used his platform to raise USD30,000 for UNISEF’s relief program. As if that wasn’t enough though, he kept the good will going by co-founding Random Acts, a non-profit charity whose first mission was to build an orphanage in Haiti, which they completed in 2013.
Random Acts is still operating to this day, with Collins still serving as Board Director, with fellow Supernatural cast mates, Rachel Miner and Danneel Ackles also holding positions. Thanks to the generous support of the SPNFamily, Random Acts has built a free school in Nicaragua. They also regularly hold events focused on inspiring people to commit random acts of kindness, big and small, such as AMOK – Annual Melee of Kindness.
In 2011, Collins, already a proponent of the ‘saving people’ part of the credo, fully embraced the ‘hunting things’ aspect when he launched the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (GISHWHES; later shortened to just GISH). This was an annual week-long scavenger hunt open to anyone around the world over the age of 14. Participants simply had to pay an entry fee that went to Random Acts, then would be placed into groups comprising competitors from around the world.
At the beginning of the week, they were given a list of more than 150 activities, and earned points by photographing or videoing themselves carrying out as many of those activities as possible. The hunt had a focus on artistic expression, creative chaos and humanitarian efforts, so many tasks could be quite bizarre like, “Catch your grandparents or great-grandparents in a mud-wrestling match” (Item 1 from 2014), or “Your blind date tonight at a 4-star restaurant is a humanoid robot” (Item 13 from 2019). However, many encouraged acts of kindness and charity, like, “Ask an overwhelmed parent or elderly neighbour for a list of five chores they could use some help with” (Item 171 from 2016).
GISH became a beloved part of the SPNFamily community, developing a culture all of its own, and even earning coverage by mainstream media. Sadly, in November 2022, Collins announced that he was putting GISH on an indefinite hiatus, with the last one (at the time of writing), being held in August that year. Over the course of its eleven year run, GISH raised millions of dollars for charity and broke eight Guinness World Records, including Largest Media Scavenger Hunt; Longest Human Chain to Pass Through a Hula Hoop; and Largest Online Photo Album of Hugs. What’s more, friendships were formed, art was made and memories were forged that will last a lifetime.
We could go on talking about the charitable causes of the SPNFamily for another twenty years, but for the sake of brevity, let’s finish with just one final one. In 2016, Collins was at it again, this time partnering with Ackles to launch The SPNFamily Crisis Support Network. This was inspired by the countless stories the actors had heard at conventions of fans’ struggles with mental illness, addiction, and other challenges. Taking inspiration from Padalecki’s Always Keep Fighting campaigns, Ackles and Collins wanted to provide practical support for Supernatural fans in crisis. This came in the form of a crisis support hotline manned by volunteers from the SPNFamily, operated by Random Acts in partnership with two other organisations: To Write Love on Her Arms and IMALive.
To get things started, they launched a t-shirt campaign called You Are Not Alone, with the funds raised, along with a contribution from Random Acts, being used to vet and train volunteers to man the hotline. Out of all of the humanitarian efforts of the Supernatural cast and fandom, this might just be the most awe-inspiring and certainly the greatest embodiment of what makes the fandom a family. It’s a true demonstration of how strangers scattered around the world but bound by love for a work of fiction, can come together to be there for one another. That is the legacy of Supernatural in its purest form.
So while Supernatural itself is certainly worth celebrating, it’s the real-world community born of the show that is the true legacy of the Winchester boys. Something about those two brothers cruising the backroads of America in their beloved Impala, saving people and hunting things, has inspired the most incredible passion, kindness and generosity. Five years after Sam and Dean reached the end of the road, cast and fans alike still gather to celebrate their love for Supernatural, whether at conventions or online.
People have been saved by this show and lives have changed. If you don’t believe that, there are books, plural, that document those experiences, such as Family Don’t End with Blood and There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done, both edited by fan and psychologist, Lynn S. Zubernis.
There’s a beautiful and sincere kind of love that binds the SPNFamily, and for twenty years it has inspired them to save the world one random act at a time. So, while we may never see Sam, Dean and Cas battling monsters and demons on our TV screens again, we can continue to honour their legacy by keeping the fight going in our own world.
We’ve got work to do.
