During The Winchesters panel at New York ComicCon, Executive Producer Jensen Ackles announced that Tom Welling will be joining the cast as Samuel Campbell.
The Winchesters is a prequel to Supernatural, the CW classic, the longest running genre series on American television. The Winchesters tells the story of how John Winchester (Drake Rodger) met Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly)–the two characters fated to become the parents of Sam Winchester and Dean Winchester, the main characters in Supernatural–and put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world. Welling will play Samuel Campbell, Mary’s father, a character who previously appeared in Supernatural played by Mitch Pileggi. Earlier in their careers, Ackles and Welling worked together on Smallville.
The big announcement
Ackles made the announcement not far into the panel. He introduced the news by saying, “Every time I get an email it says ‘TW’–The Winchesters. And it’s funny because I have a friend of mine who has the same initials that I have in my phone as TW. And so I keep thinking that I’m getting an email from TW, my buddy.” He went on, “Eventually [we were] going to need to cast the role of Samuel Campbell. I kept having this TW in my head. And I was ‘Well, I have an idea, what if we just make it TW?’ So I got a surprise for you guys: Introducing the guy playing [Mary’s] father, my grandfather, Samuel Campbell: Mr. Tom Welling.”
He went to say, “We knew we were going to need somebody with the power and the strength and the history. Obviously some of you know that Tom and I go way back to a little show called Smallville.” He then teased Donnelly saying, “Your father is Superman, by the way.”
Big shoes to fill, Meg.
The Winchesters premiers on Tuesday, October 11, at 8/7 Central on The CW.
Janna Silverstein has previously written for the ESO Network about Supernatural and is looking forward to covering The Winchesters episodes and news.
