Supernatural Spoilers: Jensen Ackles Reveals How He Got a Major Character to Return

Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles reveals how he had a hand in getting a major character to return. (Warning: This article contains spoilers on Thursday night’s episode of Supernatural. If you want to avoid the spoilers, then check the other news on our website.)

The fourth episode of Supernatural’s final season has fans wondering if Sam is having dreams or visions. In his dream, Dean is seen killing a slew of demons. When he comes across one of his fallen victims, he noticed that it’s Benny. Unfortunately, Benny doesn’t make it, but neither does Dean. Jensen Ackles – director of Supernatural – revealed that it was important for fans to see this major character in such a vulnerable moment.

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Ackles told Entertainment Weekly that he wanted to bring back a major character. He just didn’t know who. Ackles knew that he wanted the character’s death to play out as if a soldier has lost a battle. So, Ackles and the production team went over a few names from past episodes. Some of those names that were thrown around were Bobby, Donna, and Jody. While there was a long list of possible returns, nobody was available for taping on that day. That’s when Ackles decided on bringing back Ty Olsson.

Olsson first appeared on Supernatural in Season 2 as a vampire named Eli. But he later played Benny in Season 8. Benny is known as Dean’s best friend who happens to be a vampire. He also spent most of his life in purgatory. Benny last appeared in Season 10. Ackles revealed that it was “cool” having Olsson back on set and that it “was like he’d never left.” It was also a bittersweet goodbye to his character, Benny.

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According to Variety, Ackles made his directorial debut on Season 6 of the sci-fi series. From there on, he’s had a hand in directing more episodes. Following Season 11 of “The Bad Seed,” Ackles decided to take a break on the popular CW series. It turns out his work in front of the camera was taking up most of his time. He’s also a busy father to five children. But when Ackles’ beloved show was renewed for a 15th and final season, he knew he had to direct the show once more.

Ackles’ ended up directing the sixth episode entitled “Atomic Monsters” and the fourth episode of the finale season. Ackles has had other ideas for other episodes, but they didn’t make it into the finale season. That’s where rumors of a possible Supernatural reboot started to surface. Ackles is aware that some of his ideas are “lofty,” but he wanted to pack so much into the final episodes as an effort to make the fans happy. He joked that if there’s not enough room to do everything, then “maybe we’ll save it for the reboot.”

Supernatural airs on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. on The CW.