Female characters haven't always had the best survival rate on Supernatural -- a shortcoming that has earned TV's longest-running genre show its share criticism over its 13 season run, even occasionally from members of its own cast

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While the horror series has had an exceptionally high body count across both genders (hell, the show's three male series regular characters have all been killed multiple times), and no shortage of scene-stealing ladies, it's hard not to recognize the disposability of the women who have historically interacted Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles), whether they're short-lived love interests, season-long villains, or capable allies whose untimely deaths are used to motivate our heroes.But the CW mainstay is aiming to flip the script with its potential spinoff, Wayward Sisters, using its midseason premiere as a backdoor pilot for the concept, which, if ordered to series in May, will feature a diverse, all-female cast that would make even Buffy and Xena envious.Unlike The CW's previous attempt at a spinoff, Supernatural: Bloodlines, which would've focused on warring monster families that viewers weren't familiar with, Wayward Sisters centers around previously established characters: the level-headed Sioux Falls Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes), who was introduced back in Season 5; Season 9 additions Sheriff Donna Hanscum (Briana Buckmaster) and Alex Jones (Katherine Ramdeen); headstrong hunter Claire Novak (Kathryn Newton), a character who first debuted back in Season 4 but took on a bigger role during Season 10; and more recent additions like Patience Turner (Clark Backo) -- the psychic granddaughter of beloved character Missouri Moseley -- and orphaned Dream Walker Kaia Nieves (Yadira Guevara-Prip), who both joined the show in Season 13."[Wayward] is an answer to that [criticism] and I think it did grow from a sense that there are these women we would love to see protected and nurtured in their own environment," said Supernatural writer and co-executive producer Robert Berens in an interview with Elle . "I think fans saw Wayward as an opportunity, and I think they were also pleased with the way these characters have been treated and developed over time."Wayward Sisters, like so much of Supernatural's legacy, began with its passionate fandom -- a devoted, protective, and consistent audience that has loyally followed the show through numerous timeslot shifts, showrunner changes and even a switch in networks. After Jody offered Alex a home in Season 9, followed by Claire in Season 10, the fans started to realize the potential in the concept of a "halfway house for wayward girls," as Claire jokingly referred to it in episode 20 of Season 10. Following the episode, two fans set up a campaign to promote the concept on social media and through a petition, which soon caught fire among the fandom, actors and writers.This kind of proactivity is a hallmark of Supernatural fandom (aka #SPNFamily), which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity over the years, promoted the show on magazine covers and at awards shows, and forged an enviable community online and in real life, uniting via conventions, social media and even worldwide scavenger hunts While it took the show a while to lay the groundwork for Wayward Sisters, the care and thought behind it was evident on screen when the pilot aired on January 18 -- in contrast to Bloodlines, which failed to connect because it relied on characters with no ties to Sam and Dean or the larger Supernatural mythology, the women who populate Wayward Sisters have had time to grow organically and earn their own fans through the actresses' compelling performances and the emotional weight of their stories.The passion behind Wayward Sisters is reminiscent of the big screen fervor that built around Wonder Woman and Rey in the Star Wars franchise -- there are many reasons why The Last Jedi, Wonder Woman, and Beauty and the Beast became the highest grossing films of 2017, but a large part of their success came from audiences who were hungry to see women driving their own stories, being treated as equals in genres that for too long had ignored or marginalized them.The same is true of Wayward Sisters, which isn't trying to take the spotlight from Sam and Dean (who will always be the heart and soul of Supernatural, and the primary reason why fans continue to tune in after more than a decade), but simply to excavate another corner of the world and tell other, equally entertaining stories from a different point of view. It would've been even better if those stories were being written and directed by women, too, but if the spinoff gets a series pickup, hopefully that's the first thing on the agenda.“Supernatural has had a lot of really fantastic female characters, but at its core, it is kind of a mono-gendered entity,” Berens told EW . “It’s got this male melodrama soap opera quality that’s so rich and interesting and actually fairly unique in genre TV. So making this an all-female ensemble [felt like] the exact right move to make. We have not seen a genre show where all the conflicts are filtered through that sensibility and embodied by female characters. I think that was definitely something that excited us about this.”"This is something [the fans] saw themselves in...and within that, they said, 'We deserve more. We deserve to see ourselves, we deserve to celebrate ourselves, we deserve to explore what our selves could be in this world,'" Rhodes told Elle , crystallizing what was so resonant about the episode.Supernatural has taken plenty of storytelling risks over the years, occasionally focusing episodes on characters other than Sam and Dean -- sometimes with mixed results -- but "Wayward Sisters" was an engaging hour even with the Winchester brothers taking a backseat, buoyed by the fascinating dynamics between these six women. (You picked up on the chemistry between Claire and Kaia too, right?) They're not all expert shooters or fighters, but each woman comes with her own skills, passions and insecurities, and most importantly, when the chips are down, they all have each other's backs.Much like The CW used Arrow as a launchpad for The Flash, soon expanding their superhero concept into a full-blown TV universe, it's obvious how a Wayward Sisters series could stand on its own while cross-pollinating with Supernatural, having characters cross over, share intel over the phone, or trade cases between the two shows, further deepening the mythology of the universe the way Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel did in The WB's heyday.But perhaps the most refreshing aspect of "Wayward Sisters" as an episode was how it clearly wasn't trying to emulate Supernatural -- the pilot paid homage to the series that inspired it, and used the characters' connections to Sam and Dean as the impetus behind their mission, but there's no way to replicate the special sauce that has made the Winchesters' journey so addictive for so many years. "Wayward Sisters" didn't try to shortchange the fans by attempting to fit it into the mothership's mold, with Berens and the episode's other writer, Supernatural showrunner Andrew Dabb, clearly making sure that the show -- like each of the "Sisters" themselves -- had its own distinct voice.While both concepts use interpersonal relationships and family drama to ground the narrative, Supernatural was designed as a road show, whereas Wayward Sisters seems like it would be predominantly based in Sioux Falls, using Jody's home as HQ. Likewise, Sam and Dean's brotherly bond is immediately different from a makeshift foster family built with women of varying ages, backgrounds and experience levels, which should add fascinating texture and plenty of opportunities for conflict if the show goes to series.Genre TV has long been a space for female-led stories, but it's especially heartening to see Supernatural taking care to correct past missteps and allow female characters to be in charge of their own stories and destinies, rather than supporting players in someone else's. The show has always featured women who are capable, brave, and heroic, but Supernatural's core format -- two brothers saving the world and each other -- inevitably makes it a lot harder to give recurring or guest-starring female characters the narrative real estate they deserve.Wayward Sisters could be the answer to that -- although a female-centric spinoff still wouldn't let Supernatural off the hook in terms of introducing more fully-realized female characters in addition to Jody and her gang, or improving the number of female writers, directors and crew members the show employs, as women still make up only 28% of all creators, directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and directors of photography working across broadcast network, cable, and streaming TV, according to the most recent report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film.And while I was infuriated by the decision to kill Kaia, the Sister I found most compelling and one of only two women of color on the show, the episode's twist ending (which revealed that Kaia was seemingly murdered by her Bad Place doppelgänger, who followed Claire back to our world) was undoubtedly an intriguing hook to draw us into the story -- the mark of any good pilot. Here's hoping Wayward sticks to Supernatural's rule and allows the real Kaia to be resurrected somehow if it goes to series, especially since Berens wasted no time teasing fans on Twitter following the episode.Whether the spinoff is given a series order or not (and it damn sure should be), the episode stands as a testament to the power of fandom, illustrating just how much we can accomplish when we work together -- which is exactly the kind of tenacity that Jody, Donna, Claire, Alex, Patience and Kaia embody.So carry on, Wayward Sisters -- the road is long, but it'll be one hell of a ride.