Why is Supernatural Season 14 a shorter season?
Supernatural Season 14 will be the shortest season in a decade. Just why is that the case? Is it bad for the show?
Jason Fischer confirmed that Supernatural Season 14 will only have 20 episodes. This is the shortest season since Season 3 when the series had 16 episodes. Now fans are worried that this is a bad thing for the show or The CW’s way of showing it doesn’t have much hope. The truth is likely the opposite. This could be the perfect way to keep it on the network.
Looking at the Supernatural Season 13 live + 7-day ratings compared to other shows on the Netflix, the Winchesters take one of the top spots. The Flash is the only one to consistently beat Supernatural, with many other shows being consistently lower rated. Considering The CW is a business, there’s no way it would treat one of its highest-rated and it’s longest-running series poorly.
That suggests the shorter season order is a decision from the show. We know Supernatural will end when one of two things happen: the ratings drop considerably or the lead actors decide to call it a day. Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins are all family men. Collins already has a shorter season order in his contract, so only Ackles and Padalecki are filming throughout the year. It’s possible that they don’t feel like they spend enough time with their families (they both fly home at weekends going from Vancouver to Texas), so they may have wanted a shorter season to allow for that.
More from Supernatural
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- Will The Winchesters be saved? (Can Supernatural fans save the prequel?)
- Did The Winchesters get renewed? (Is The Winchesters season 2 happening?)
- Is a new episode of The Winchesters on tonight? (March 14, 2023)
- The Winchesters Season1 finale explained: Did it connect to Supernatural?
Of course, this is just speculation. But before you start blaming the network, it’s worth looking at all the facts and the theories. The CW has given other shows full season orders–shows that don’t do as well as Supernatural. The only other time the season order was cut was when it was the 2008 writer’s strike and all shows had their season orders cut.
This shorter season order may be a way to get more seasons of the series but allow for the actors to spend more time with family. I’d certainly prefer shorter seasons than no seasons at all. Plus it’s only three episodes, so that’s not too much shorter!
Plus, the shorter seasons offers the benefit of less time to tell a story. More time can be devoted to the main storyline, with less time on filler episodes.
Next: Ranking the Supernatural Season 13 filler episodes
Are you willing to give Supernatural Season 14 a chance with a shorter season? Why do you think the shorter season has been ordered? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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