Update 05/11: Unfortunately, The CW has decided they will not be moving forward with Wayward Sisters. However, the story of the Supernatural spinoff episode is one that still deserves to be told.

Original story 1/17:

Thirteen years ago, the words "Dad's on a hunting trip, and he hasn't been home in a few days" started something massive. Supernatural, which follows brothers Sam and Dean Winchester (played by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles), fighting monsters as they drive across the states in a classic car, has become The CW's longest running show. It has also spawned one of the largest, most vocal internet fandoms: the #SPNFamily.

Supernatural's first major evolution occurred in its fourth season. With the introduction of angel Castiel (Misha Collins), the show shifted from an American road trip populated with urban legends like Bloody Mary and the Hook Man to epic battles in which Sam and Dean save the world from biblical threats, with the fallen angel on their shoulder. And now, with a familiar turn of phrase—"Sam and Dean are missing. They were on a hunting trip, and I haven't heard from them in a few days"—another chapter is here. The backdoor pilot of Wayward Sisters, the first diverse all-woman sci-fi genre show, will air as the mid-season premiere of Supernatural this Thursday.

Wayward picks up with a group of Supernatural's most beloved secondary characters coming together to save the boys' asses from an alternate universe known as The Bad Place. You've got Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes), a Sioux Falls law woman who lost her husband and son to the supernatural, and her three adopted girls: Alex Jones (Katherine Ramdeen), raised by vampires who used her as bait to lure victims; Claire Novak (Kathryn Newton), a troubled young woman who throws herself recklessly into hunting; and, most recently, Patience Turner (Clark Backo), who chose to follow her powerful psychic gift instead of the perfect apple-pie life ahead of her. Teaming up with out-of-towner Sheriff Donna Hanscum (Briana Buckmaster), a bubbly, badass vampire hunter, and Kaia Nieves (Yadira Guevara-Prip), a scarred Dream Walker who can enter alternate universes, the group hopes to find the Winchesters before a portal between the two worlds closes for good.



Front: Clark Backo (Patience), Katherine Ramdeen (Alex). Back: Kim Rhodes (Jody), Briana Buckmaster (Donna) The CW/Supernatural

Wayward Sisters has been gestating for about seven years. The CW has become the master of efficiently launching spinoff series (think The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow), but Wayward has slowly and surely taken shape, almost by its own volition. With the introduction of Jody in Supernatural's fifth season, a show about a group of diverse, complex women was born within a series centered on men—unbeknownst to anyone at the time. "Once we told the story of Jody sort of adopting Alex, the first Wayward daughter, that was sort of planting a flag...like, wait, there’s a story here that’s bigger than Supernatural—or, I should say, there’s a story that’s going to continue outside the frame of our own series," says writer and co-executive producer Robert Berens, who works on both shows. "[It] was a real combination of something that we built very consciously over several years and also something that developed very organically."

"We deserve to see ourselves, we deserve to celebrate ourselves, we deserve to explore what our selves could be in this world."

But it wasn't just the writers who put the pieces of Wayward together; it was fans, too. It is impossible to talk about the show without mentioning the fan-led “Wayward AF” campaign that canvassed for the show on Tumblr, in fan fiction, and during conventions. Even the name Wayward Sisters came from a term that originated from fans and the actresses, "Wayward Daughters," itself a nod to the Kansas song "Carry On Wayward Son," which caps every Supernatural season. "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,'" says Rhodes, the longest-running Wayward actress on Supernatural.

No series that has lasted as long as Supernatural can avoid controversy. While the show, including its core three leads (who have all died and been revived repeatedly), is built on the notion of loss—most characters can be expected to meet a less-than-pleasant end—some fans have been vocal about their disappointment with the lifespan and representation of some of their favorite Supernatural women. These are points Berens concedes. "[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," Berens says. "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."

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And if the Wayward Sisters were able to form an unlikely family in front of the camera, it's no wonder that the women who portray them found one too. Over the phone, Rhodes points out that, like each character, the actresses are unique: "They all have different senses of humor and different vulnerabilities, and every single one of them showed up. It’s a frightening industry and we don’t always know who we can trust, who we play well with, who will accept us for who we are—and these women came in and said, 'I don’t know what I bring, but I bring all of it.'"

Backo has already seen the potential impact of Wayward's more diverse casting. "While I was filming the backdoor pilot, I remember getting a tweet from an African-American girl who was watching my first Supernatural episode, and she tweeted, 'It’s nice to see someone on TV who looks like me.' I will tell you I cried in my trailer after reading that...because I didn’t have that as much growing up."

Yadira Guevara-Prip (Kaia), Kathryn Newton (Claire) The CW/Supernatural

Guevara-Prip remembers a day when only the women were on set, an experience she'd never had before. But she wasn't the only one who noticed the change. "I was off-screen watching, and one of the key grips and some other guys who were watching the monitors outside were like, 'You know, it’s nice to have this female injection, all this female energy.' It was really cool to hear these guys, who are used to seeing two men [on set], appreciating this."



If Sam and Dean could jump into The Bad Place, then things could jump out.

"It’s just the industry, and I know it’s changing and that’s amazing," Ramdeen says. "It’s getting better, but there’s something about going to set and having the crew saying, 'This is crazy, we’ve never had it in all of our time working on the show—only women working.'"

But the show won't lean on a simplistic "girl power" dimension. "I don’t want to separate things into, This is a masculine thing and this is a feminine thing, because people and characters are way more dynamic than that," Ramdeen continues. "I think people can expect the same type of badassery [that's in] Supernatural." And thanks to extensive training with the show's stunt coordinators, there will definitely be plenty of "badassery." "I think Donna is going to end up being kind of the brawn of the group," Buckmaster tells me. "I think that would be a fun contrast, because she has such a sunny disposition, for her to also be the one that has the best left hook, you know what I mean?"

Ultimately, Wayward will still have a similar feel to Supernatural, but with differences beyond the gender of its main players. Where the original is a road show, the women of the spinoff will be putting down roots. If you're wondering how many monsters can possibly spring up in Sioux Falls, remember this: If Sam and Dean could jump into The Bad Place, then things could jump out. That's right, consider this Supernatural's very own Hellmouth.



The CW/Supernatural

Though the backdoor pilot episode will air this Thursday as part of Supernatural, enough material has been filmed for a standalone pilot. According to executive producer Andrew Dabb, we'll know the fate of Wayward by May, and we could see the first episode as early as next fall. (To help make this happen, fans will be using both #WaywardSisters and #Supernatural hashtags while watching the episode live.) Should Wayward go to series, hiring women writers, directors, and crew members will be an important focus. "That’s something we’d put a high priority on and it’s something we’ve talked about internally," Dabb says. "Every show is a collaboration. Supernatural is not mine, it’s ours—there are a lot of different voices, and those voices [belong to] talented people."

I asked the Wayward Sisters actresses which baddies they'd be most excited to fight as the show goes forward. Backo would like another shot at a wraith, while Buckmaster loves herself a good vampire hunt. What would Ramdeen most like to vanquish? "Stereotypes." But it seems Wayward Sisters is already on its way in defeating that particular foe.

The Supernatural "Wayward Sisters" episode airs Thursday, January 18 at 8 P.M. EST.