The Only Retcon Explanation That Might Save The Winchesters
The Supernatural prequel has some explaining to do since its premiere, and fans think there is only one way to justify what's going on properly.
The Winchesters has been telling the story of Sam and Dean's parents in a way that has so far managed to only infuriate Supernatural fans because of how loosely the prequel treats the John and Mary story established by the original show.
Jensen Ackles-led show appears to heavily retcon Supernatural, and seven episodes into the story, it still has not explained a single thing it changed about the canon. We still do not know why it's now Mary who introduces John to the world of monster hunting, and not him picking the dangerous business up after her death at the hands of Azazel.
The only possibility for it all to somehow co-exist with the original show is, of course, an alternative timeline or a different universe. One Reddit theory suggests that the events of The Winchesters might be taking place on an alternative Earth that Chuck created in Supernatural.
In fact, some fans already have suggestions on how to make the explanation a bit less predictable.
"What if it's a mix-matching of universes? What if this isn't our universe, but it is our universe's Mary? Maybe John dies, and Mary is sent by an akrida that's from another dimension into our universe or by Samuel as a last ditch effort to try and buy her time to find a way to stop the Akrida before they make it to the universe where she goes, and she just so happens to go to the SPN universe," Redditor Dear_Lime_585 said.
Turning The Winchesters into a multiversal extravaganza seems to be the only appropriate way for the showrunners to save the prequel from relentless criticism over the retcon. Given that Supernatural never shied away from flirting with the concept of the multiverse, it falls in line with everything that happened over the 15 seasons of the original show.
There are 8 more episodes of The Winchesters to come, with the show currently on hiatus after episode 7 premiered on December 6. Next episode is scheduled to hit The CW on January 24. The first season will consist of 13 episodes, and the network has not yet announced the renewal.