Supernatural Did a Huge Disservice to Jared Padalecki as an Actor

Don't get us wrong: Sam Winchester is undoubtedly Jared Padalecki 's signature role that brought him many opportunities and allowed him to shine for 15 years. However, many OG Supernatural fans believe that at some point, the CW hit started doing Sam (and obviously Jared) very dirty.

Up until season 6, Sam Winchester was almost the show's main character. Jared brilliantly utilized every acting opportunity, bring us many versions of the younger Winchester: the one heavily addicted to demon blood, the vampire Sam, soulless Sam, and finally, the Lucifer- Sam.

However, many Supernatural fans noted that something went south after that. Slowly, Sam Winchester started giving up his spotlight to his older brother Dean, and a new fan favorite, Castiel.

Starting from season 7 and onward, Padalecki's acting was pretty much the same except bright moments such as Sam's confession-slash-borderline sacrifice in the end of season 8.

According to Supernatural fans, it's not exactly Padalecki's fault, but rather the bleak storylines his character received were to blame. After the sixth season, the show appeared to heavily concentrate on Jensen Ackles ' Dean and his relationship with Castiel (which famously ended in the most frustrating way possible in season 15).

Fans believe that Jared was robbed of his on-screen presence compared to Ackles and Misha Collins, who portrayed Castiel.

Even Crowley, played by Mark A. Sheppard, got a chance to have a more meaningful character arc with his long journey from sarcastic king of the crossroads to borderline-human King of Hell.

By the end of the show, Padalecki's main means of delivering his character emotions were neck spasms and twitching — not because Jared is an ultimately bad actor, but because Sam never actually had any other way to express himself and grow as a character.

"I think he's very limited and his acting choices became sort of by rote over the years. [...] It's also, I think, why the writers tended to write storylines that messed with Sam physically, while saving the emotional stuff for Jensen," Redditor noosten noted.

Despite all its flaws, Supernatural remains a true icon, and it's pretty challenging for true Winchester fans to pick their favorite brother. Both Sam and Dean are immensely important for the show (and for each other), and all the little grievances fans still have about the acting or the storylines could not ruin Supernatural's undying charm.