Crowley's Final Scene Was So Disappointing, Sheppard Made SPN Producers Rewrite It
One of the most difficult things in producing a television series is the decision-making that must go into every aspect of it.
The entertainment industry is not renowned for its kindness and sensitivity, and at the end of the day, the almighty dollar will always win in the end.
So, when an actor approaches producers and asks them to re-write a scene, chances are they will be told no. And very possibly laughed at.
When you are talking about the final scene for their character, the actor has even less chance of swaying the big wigs to see their point of view.
But after seven seasons on Supernatural and feeling an increasing level of frustration and disappointment over the final two years, that is exactly what Mark Sheppard did.
Approached the producers asking for his character, Crowley's final scene to be rewritten. As Sheppard himself explained at Fan Expo Canada:
"I called [executive producer] Ben [Edlund]. I wrote him a letter and I said, 'Thank you for everything you've done. I really appreciate it, but if I'm gonna go out, why not make it mean something in some way?' He did a massive rewrite on that and it was really good.
It was really tight. It had a point to it and then we got around to filming it and we filmed all the bits that we wanted to do. I gave it everything I could give it and then they cut out the bits that were me, in order to preserve what they wanted to preserve."
Fans hated saying goodbye to Crowley as he had become such a firm fan favourite over the years that his loss was felt deeply.
And that was in no small part due to Sheppard's incredible performance in portraying the character. But even Sheppard himself had sensed it was coming, despite not being directly told so.
He has spoken of his concern starting in the tenth season, feeling that Crowley was not being used to his full potential.
With the addition of other onset drama, he has revealed, Sheppard has made no secret of the fact that he looks back on his time on Supernatural with mixed emotions.
Regardless, viewers were given a spectacular gift by Sheppard, not only in his amazing performance as Crowley but his insistence on his final scene being rewritten to be meaningful and offering a worthy send-off to one of the most popular characters the show had ever seen.