WhenSupernaturalfirst started,it was a horror road showaimed at following the misadventures of Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) and his older brother Dean (Jensen Ackles) as they hunt monsters, ghosts, demons, etc. As the show continued on, the writers were able to get a bit more creative with the situations they were able to put the Winchesters in, and eventually, this led to the boys traveling back in time to the 1800s. No,Supernaturaldidn’t go full1883, but the show did have a penchant for making the Old West a bit more (supernaturally) frightening.
While the Western doesn’t venture into the horror landscape all too often, occasionally these genres cross over,and the results can be deadly. Movies likeBone TomahawkorJohn Carpenter’sVampiresinstantly come to mind, challenging everything we thought we knew about these two genres; and thoughSupernaturaldid the Western on a television budget, the results speak for themselves. Horror is horror after all, and thoughSupernaturalarguably moved away from it in later years, the bloodiest elements still remain.
How ‘Supernatural’Took Sam and Dean Winchester to the Past
By the show’s sixth season,Supernaturalfocused a lot more on monsters than theapocalypse plotline that took over the previous years. Under new showrunnerSera Gamble, the series was in a stage of transition and introduced a new big bad named Eve, the Mother of All Monsters (Julia Maxwell). Unfortunately, the only way to kill the Mother is with the ashes of a phoenix, which leads our heroes to the Old West — the only place they know to find one. Except, the phoenix isn’t just some flaming red bird, it’s actually a gunslinger named Elias Finch (Matthew John Armstrong).
And oh boy, “Frontierland” is a blast. After Castiel (Misha Collins) sends the Winchesters back to 1861, Dean soon realizes that the Western movies he idolizes aren’t quite accurate to the actual time. Between the alcohol, the townsfolk, and even the dress (a serape was not common, after all), Dean’s hopes about visiting his favorite period in American history were quickly dashed. Though, he did get to use the nameClint Eastwood, and jokingly prophesiedJared Padalecki’s eventual tenure as Walker, Texas Ranger on The CW. No way the writers saw that one coming!
The ‘Supernatural’ Episode “Frontierland” Made Us Wish for More
But what worked so well about “Frontierland” wasn’t just how Sam and Dean interacted with the past, buthow the horrors ofSupernaturaltranslated to another time. Upon arriving in Sunrise, Wyoming, the Winchesters witness the execution of Finch, who (obviously) returns from the dead to take out his killers. Unlike many of the monsters Sam and Dean face in the 21st century, Finch isn’t afraid to use a pistol, and this vengeful phoenix wields a deadly combination of supernatural power and gunfighting prowess.
In many ways, the Western version of a phoenix echoes other Western horrors that include a ghostly figure, back from the dead to enact revenge.Pale Riderinstantly comes to mind and no doubt the writers were thinking the same thing. As Dean faces off against the phoenix, the monster turns out to not be such a monster after all. With a tragic backstory that we didn’t see coming, this creature is only righting a wrong done to him, and the Winchesters only get in his way. But that doesn’t make him any less formidable.
As this creature stalks its prey, we can only imagine what a feature-length version of this story might look like, and how impossible it would be to defeat such a deadly foe. Of course,the Winchesters tackle the impossible every week. But despite beating the phoenix at its own game, killing the creature with a magic bullet, the Winchesters still fail to collect the creature’s ashes before being ripped back to the present. Well, the present that was 2011. Thankfully, a friend from the past sends their winnings to them via snail mail, a la the end ofBack to the Future, Part II.
What Happened to Eric Kripke’s Samuel Colt Spin-Off Series?
Part of what grounds “Frontierland” deep within the mythology ofSupernaturalis the inclusion of legendary hunter and gun-maker Samuel Colt (Sam Hennings). In real life, Colt was just a gunsmith who crafted one of the most notable firearms of our day. But on the show, he created a gun simply named “the Colt” that could kill nearly any supernatural being short of God, the Devil, and Death itself. In fact, the reason Sam and Dean end up in 1861 Sunrise in the first place is because of Colt’s own journal, which boasts that the Colt can kill a phoenix as well.
Before stepping down as showrunner following Season 5, creatorEric Kripkehad tossed around the idea of a Samuel Colt-centered spin-off. The character had been a part of theSupernaturalmythos since the first season’s “Dead Man’s Blood,” and there was little known about his past exploits as a hunter. “We sometimes discuss a possibleSupernaturalspin-off…a prequel that relates the adventures of Samuel Colt and the band of hunters who roamed the Old West,” Kripke toldStarPulseback in 2008. “Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to tell that story.”
While Kripke never got to tell that story as a spin-off, theSupernaturalteam was able to include the character (who only appears once on-screen) in the sixth season, chronicling the tail end of his career as a hunter. The real Colt died the following year in 1862, but given that we see the character near the end of his life here, it’s possibleanotherSupernaturalspin-offfollowing the gunmaker-turned-hunter could happen one day. After all,the Western is terribly popular right now, and productions likeWalkerandWalker: Independenceshows that The CW is at least interested in the genre.
‘Supernatural’s “Tombstone” Revisited the Western Premise — Albeit With a Twist
Given how exciting the first Western-themed episode was, it shouldn’t come as a surprise thatSupernaturalwould attempt another Western gunfight before the series came to a close in 2020, though it may surprise you how long it took to get there. Many years later, in Season 13, the show told a neo-Western story titled “Tombstone,” which follows the Winchesters, Castiel, and their new ward Jack (Alexander Calvert) on a hunt in Dodge City, Kansas. If you didn’t know, Dodge City was the home to plenty of Old West lawmen, including none other thanWyatt Earp.
But the Winchesters don’t tackle Earp here, instead, they face off against a ghoul wearing the face of the legendary gunfighterMysterious Dave Mather(Jonathan Cherry). In real life, Mather disappeared suddenly in the 1880s, butSupernaturalreveals that he was eaten by a ghoul, who took his face and remained in Dodge for over a century. While “Tombstone” has a lot of plot-heavy elements to it, it’s fun to see Dean, especially in his Western element. As he geeks out over all the Old West icons littered about their motel room, he becomes especially interested once he realizes that he gets to hunt a real-life gunfighter. Or, at least a monster wearing his face.
Admittedly, “Tombstone” isn’t as exciting as “Frontierland.” It’s a bit slow at points, gets too bogged down by the over-arching mythology, and doesn’t spend nearly enough time with Dean in his Old West element. But it’s still a fun nod to the genre through neo-Western elements, even if the ghoulish Dave Mather isn’t nearly as frightening as the phoenix Elisas Finch.
‘Supernatural’ Has Always Been Something of a Western
According to series creator Eric Kripke, the Western was a massive inspiration forSupernatural, even from the very beginning. “We say it’s a modern American Western – two gunslingers who ride into town, fight the bad guys, kiss the girl and ride out into the sunset again,“Kripke related in 2008. “And we were always talking from the very beginning that if you’re going to have cowboys, they need a trusty horse.” That horse, of course, is none other than Dean’s “baby” the Impala, also known as the Metallicar, which carries the boys faithfully for the majority of all 15 seasons.
No doubt, the classic rock soundtrack lends well to Kripke’s idea as well, as does the brother’s gun-fighting style of hunting down monsters and ghosts. Oftentimes,the series' earliest episodesend with a Clint Eastwood-like stand-off where our heroes come out on top. In fact,the two-part Season 2 finaleeven closes out in a Western-style boneyard that Samuel Colt attempted to keep from demons by building frontier churches and an iron railroad around it. No doubt,Supernaturalis a show that thrives because of the old Westerns that influenced it, it’s just the same that we never got more Old West horror stories along the way.
