John Winchester (Supernatural)

Plot

The father of series protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester, John Winchester first appears in the pilot episode of the series, but plot devices such as flashbacks and time travel detail his background in later seasons. Apparently abandoned by his father at a young age—his father actually died while serving a secret order known as the Men of Letters—John Winchester grew up hating the man. John left high school to join the Marine Corps, eventually attaining the rank of corporal and receiving many medals for his service in Vietnam. After leaving the service, he found a job as a mechanic, and fell in love with Mary Campbell.

In the fourth season episode "In the Beginning," Dean is sent back through time by the angel Castiel. Dean meets his parents' former selves, and ends up convincing John to buy the 67 Chevy Impala that he eventually inherits. Dean later watches John being killed by Azazel, though the demon then resurrects him in exchange for Mary's permission to enter her house in ten years. When the angel Anna Milton travels back in time in the fifth season episode "The Song Remains the Same" to prevent the births of Sam and Dean, John agrees to serve as a temporary vessel for the archangel Michael to stop her. Michael subsequently kills Anna and erases John and Mary's memories of the incident.

Azazel later uses his pact with Mary to enter their home in the pilot episode, and ultimately kills her. The second season episode "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" reveals that she had witnessed the demon secretly feeding his blood to Sam. John investigated the incident and learned of the existence of the supernatural. His desire to find and kill Azazel led him to become a hunter of supernatural creatures. He took his sons with him during his travels, but often left them alone in motels for long periods of time during his hunts, leaving Dean with instructions to "shoot first and ask questions later" while watching over Sam.

As revealed in the fourth season episode "Jump the Shark," John slept with a woman he met while away on a hunt. Learning over a decade later that he had fathered her son Adam, John made occasional visits over the years to partake in father-son activities with him. He hid the truth from Adam to protect him, and never revealed to him the existence of Sam and Dean, nor vice versa. Meanwhile, John trained Sam and Dean to become hunters. However, Sam later left this life to start anew in college, leading to a fallout between John and his son.

Twenty-two years after Mary's death, John disappears while on a hunt, forcing Sam and Dean to reunite in an unsuccessful attempt to find him. Sam returns to the life of a hunter after Azazel kills his girlfriend. John reluctantly chooses to avoid his sons throughout most of the season while he investigates something, eventually reuniting with them in the episode "Shadow." However, the demonic Meg Masters attacks them and reveals that Azazel is after John. After escaping from Meg, the brothers split up from their father to keep him from the demons. When vampires murder his old mentor and steal the Colt—a mystical gun capable of killing anything—John teams up with Sam and Dean in "Dead Man's Blood" to retrieve it. Because demons cannot be killed by conventional means, they hope that the Colt will be effective against Azazel. In response, Meg begins killing the Winchesters' friends in "Salvation," and threatens to kill more unless they deliver the Colt. John is captured after trying to give her a fake gun, and reveals himself to be possessed by Azazel when the brothers come to his rescue in the first season finale "Devil's Trap." However, he manages to resist the demon's control. Despite John's pleas for Sam to shoot him with the Colt, Sam cannot bring himself to do so and allows Azazel to escape. As the Winchesters flee in Dean's Impala, a demonically-possessed trucker crashes into them.

In the second season premiere, "In My Time of Dying," Sam and John awake in the hospital with only minor injuries, but a dying Dean is comatose. John secretly summons Azazel, and seems to know what the demon's plans are. He then makes a deal to save Dean, giving up his life, soul, and the Colt. Before dying, John instructs Dean to kill Sam should he become evil. The fourth season episode "On the Head of a Pin" reveals that the demon Alastair tortured John in Hell for over a century, with John refusing the demon's offer to stop if he himself would torture someone else. His soul escapes from Hell in the second season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2" when a gateway to Hell is opened. He saves Dean from Azazel, and distracts the demon long enough for Dean to kill him with the Colt. John then gives Sam and Dean a loving smile before becoming engulfed in a white light. However, the fifth season episode "Dark Side of the Moon" suggests that he might not be in Heaven.

Characterization

Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan deemed John a "tormented soul," motivated by an "equal combination of revenge and protecting his sons." Following the death of their mother, Sam and Dean became secondary to John's quest of killing the demon responsible, although Morgan believed that this aspect changed once John began spending more time with them again. Though he thought that John was not the world's best dad and "definitely made a lot of mistakes," the actor noted that "he did things, even when they were wrong, for the good of his sons." John Kubicek of BuddyTV felt that this reasoning extended to John's decision to hide the truth from Adam to protect him. Kubicek also suggested that John became involved in Adam's life to achieve "some level of normalcy" as a father, an opportunity he had previously lost following the death of Sam and Dean's mother. Overall, Morgan felt that John "loved those kids more than he loved his own life," with the character's demonic pact with Azazel serving as "his way of finding redemption."

Regarding his portrayal of the character, Morgan commented, "I played him with extra angst. I think what was on the page, what I foresaw—not knowing where it was going, because no one would ever tell me anything—there was always a lot more going on in his head than he was going to show anybody, including his sons. Because, indeed, there was a lot more going on." Kripke later confirmed this, stating, "It's our view that John knew everything the producers of the show know. John knew stuff we're not even ready to reveal, that won't come out for a couple of seasons. He was an awesome hunter, and by the time he showed up in 'Dead Man's Blood', he knew it all."

Development

In writing the pilot episode, series creator Eric Kripke made several dramatic revisions to John's storyline. The first draft of the script had Sam and Dean being raised by their aunt and uncle, though this was changed when Kripke realized that the backstory became much less complicated by having John raise them on the road. Another revision had John dying at the end of the episode instead of Sam's girlfriend Jessica. Though he survives in the final version of the pilot, the writers decided halfway through production of the first season that John did have to die, as they believed his separation from his sons "split the show" by having him away "doing more interesting things than the boys are doing." Kripke also felt that John kept Sam and Dean away from the "front lines", his death being required to allow the brothers to "explore, investigate and confront the yellow-eyed demon directly." The writers initially intended for John to die in the car accident in "Devil's Trap," but they ultimately postponed his death to prevent the finale from becoming too dark. Following the character's eventual escape from Hell, executive producer Ben Edlund stated that even the writers are unsure of where John's soul ended up.

Evil Dead-actor Bruce Campbell was Kripke's first choice to portray the character. However, Campbell was unavailable, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan eventually received the role. Due to the fact that Morgan's scene in the pilot episode takes place 22 years before the series, Morgan expected to be replaced by an older actor for subsequent episodes. Being only 12 years older than Jensen Ackles, who portrays the eldest son Dean, Morgan was surprised when he was asked to reprise the role. Ackles and Jared Padalecki often teased him about the age difference during filming. Throughout the season, Morgan became frustrated at times due to his character's avoidance of his sons, stating, "It pissed off everybody, it pissed off us as actors, it pissed off the audience watching, because none of us really knew where we were gonna go." However, he reasoned that John's motivation for his actions was due to having knowledge that nobody else had.

During production of Supernatural's first season, Morgan was also working on the shows Weeds and Grey's Anatomy, so he was often traveling back and forth between Los Angeles and Vancouver. This interfered at times with Morgan's acting, as he had trouble getting "Winchester-y enough" after portraying the nice character of Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy. Morgan commented, "I was stuck in Denny-land, where I was being too nice. Winchester's harder to find. Denny's more me. He's an intense guy, John is. And Denny, for a guy who's having trouble living, he's just a charming dude." Morgan was at first reluctant to return for Supernatural's second season due to his role on Grey's Anatomy. Although he lent his voice for the third season episode "Long-Distance Call," future appearances of Morgan as the character after the second season have been hindered due to the actor's busy schedule. Nevertheless, both Kripke and writer Sera Gamble have stated that they "would love to have him back." The scheduling conflict has continued into the sixth season of Supernatural, with executive producer Robert Singer revealing that the writers had considered bringing the character back in the alternate reality episode "My Heart Will Go On" instead of Ellen Harvelle, but due to concerns that they would not be able to secure Morgan's return, they ultimately chose Ellen for the deceased character they would have (temporarily) return in the episode. During the production of the fifth season, Morgan had an interview with MovieWeb in which he stated that no one from the show had contacted him about making another appearance, and expressed the desire to return for at least one more episode in what was then-believed to be the show's final season, as he had enjoying working with on-screen sons Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki and he felt that John's storyline had ended too soon.

Reception

While critics praised Morgan for his performance in the role, their reaction to the character has generally been mixed. Don Williams of BuddyTV felt that John is a "rather divisive character", with some fans not understanding John's motivation for keeping his sons in the dark. However, Williams himself found the character to be "completely fascinating". He chose "In My Time of Dying" as the second best episode of the series, mainly because of John's contributions, stating, "Even if you're not a huge fan of Poppa Winchester, I think it's impossible not to be moved by the final ten minutes of this episode... John's final speech to Dean, where he finally tells his son that he's proud of him, is one hell of a tear-jerker, and both Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jensen Ackles knock that scene out of the park." Williams praised Matt Cohen's performance of a younger version of the character in the time-travel episode "In the Beginning", believing that he "did an excellent job at portraying a more innocent John Winchester than we've ever seen before".

Diana Steenbergen of IGN also criticized John for his lack of explanation, feeling that "it is not exactly easy to watch John treat Dean and Sam so dismissively, especially after they have been nearly killing themselves all season to find him". However, Steenbergen praised Morgan for his acting, writing, "Even though he is used sparingly throughout the series, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is always effective as John." She also felt that he brought "emotional weight" to the character, allowing the audience to "feel John's weariness, and his resignation that things will most likely not go well". While Brian Tallerico of UGO enjoyed Morgan's performance, he was happy that the character was killed off because John's presence made Sam and Dean into "followers" that were "merely existing in the wake of their father". With their father gone, the brothers are no longer prevented from "heading up the battle with the other side".