A Crucial Communication Lesson from Supernatural

The Winchester Brothers Weren’t Ready for This Monster

For 15 years, actors Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki starred as brothers Dean and Sam Winchester fighting demons and monsters on the TV series Supernatural.

If you’re not familiar with Supernatural, here’s what you need to know: When the show ended in November 2020, it was the longest-running sci-fi/genre series in American broadcast history. And it has a huge dedicated, active, powerful  fanbase, known as the Supernatural Family (#SPN Family).  

But last week, a different kind of monster struck the Supernatural Family: a communication monster. 

On Thursday afternoon, Deadline reported that a Supernatural prequel called The Winchesters was in the works – from star Jensen and his wife Danneel Ackles. Jensen Ackles will also be reprising his Dean Winchester character as a narrator of the new show.

The Supernatural Family was blowing up twitter with excitement, until they saw Padelecki’s response on twitter:

Fans were confused, and thought Padalecki was joking about being blindsided. But 7 minutes later, he made it clear that he was not.

“This is the first I’ve heard about it,” he tweeted. “I’m gutted.”

Those two tweets started a firestorm and sent Supernatural fans into a frenzy – flooding both Jensen and Danneel Ackles’ twitter accounts with attacks and criticism.

It got so intense that the next morning, Padelecki appealed to the fans for peace by tweeting: 

Yikes. These guys acted on a show where they had to fight monsters and demons each week, but they weren’t ready for this kind of monster.

What’s the communication lesson?

This story illustrates why it’s so crucial to know your stakeholders – and to have a strong communication plan whenever you’re making an announcement. 

You need to clearly identify who needs to know what – and in what order. Too often businesses make big announcements and leave stakeholders out – and all hell breaks loose. Maybe they forget – or don’t think it’s necessary –  to consult with the union or employees. These groups may not feel as important as investors, but they can certainly be vocal when they’re left out or angry.

How many times have employees groaned when they’ve found out big news about their company – mergers, acquisitions, layoffs – via the media? While some updates have to be embargoed, too often companies neglect to send an official announcement to employees – or they do it too late. 

Even changes like promotions or restructures should be communicated. I remember drawing out a communication plan for a leader who was promoted to the C-suite at a large global company. I went into his office with a communication plan that identified the various stakeholders, the suggested order of the conversations, and the messages he needed to convey to each stakeholder. It isn’t complicated to create a plan like this, but it’s a step that too often gets overlooked as leaders focus on ‘more important’ things.  

But stories like this highlight why it’s so important. 

How this conflict could have been avoided

For Ackles, the stakeholders for this announcement should have included both his former co-star and the Supernatural Family.

For The Winchesters to succeed, it needs the support of the Supernatural fans. And the fans love the relationship between the brothers Dean and Sam Winchester. They are attached not just to the characters, but to the actors who play them.

As a producer, Ackles and his new show have a better chance of success with Padalecki – and the Supernatural Family’s – support. Ideally, he would have obtained Padalecki’s support (or at least informed him about the show) before the announcement went out.

But Padalecki made a mistake here, too. 

He knows how intense and devoted the Supernatural Family is. These fans know how to mobilize the community on social media – and they are active. And fans can be intense – and Padalecki knows this. His tweet implies that people were being threatened – and while he may have had hurt feelings, he wouldn’t want to see anyone physically hurt.

It probably stung to find out the news via twitter (and not be part of it – though Padalecki is already starring in another TV show), but airing his frustration privately would have been a better approach.

Padalecki now stars as Walker in the re-boot of Walker Texas Ranger

Maybe there is a reason Ackles didn’t reach out to Padalecki in advance. 

And maybe there is a reason Padalecki didn’t reach out to Ackles privately.

But this conflict affects them personally – and it also affects them commercially. People’s jobs and livelihoods are at stake. 

Even communication monsters can be defeated

But this story has a happy ending – as Ackles and Padalecki know how to save people (it was the family business after all).

Late Friday morning, Padalecki tweeted that he and Ackles had a great talk, and things were good.

“The show is early in the process with miles to go. We’ve travelled a lot of roads together, and sometimes those damn roads have bumps. Bumps don’t stop us. Once brothers, always brothers.”

And 14 minutes later, Ackles responded:

This situation reminds us that it doesn’t take much for a communication monster to suddenly appear and wreak havoc. But these monsters can be defeated – and avoided – when you focus on the people in your communication plan.

It’s easy to talk about how to communicate effectively – but harder to execute. But communication is crucial, because when you get it wrong, it affects relationships, reputations – and finances.

This issue may not have been resolved as quickly as a Supernatural episode, but it seems the Winchesters have defeated this monster, and there is peace in the Supernatural Family once again.

****************************************************************************

Want a dose of positivity and fun in your inbox? Sign up to receive my free newsletter, Curious Minds.

Each week you'll get insights that mix curiosity with business, history, or pop culture.

Be curious - and keep learning!