Supernatural (TV series)/Trivia


 * Acting for Two: Pretty common, given the amount of possession and shapeshifting going on in this show, not to mention that the show likes reusing actors.
 * Actors who have played multiple characters as a result of possessions or imitations:
 * Jensen Ackles plays main character Dean Winchester in every episode, a shapeshifter in 1.06 "Skin", and a Leviathan in 7.06 "Slash Fiction".
 * Jared Padalecki plays main character Sam Winchester in every episode, the demon Meg in 2.14 "Born Under a Bad Sign", Gary Frankel in 5.12 "Swap Meat", Lucifer in 5.04 "The End", and 5.22 "Swan Song", a Leviathan who assumes Sam's identity in 7.06 "Slash Fiction", and recurring character Gadreel in Season 9.
 * Jeffrey Dean Morgen plays recurring character John Winchester in Season 1 and later appearances, and the demon Azazel in 1.22 "Devil's Trap".
 * Samantha Smith plays Mary Winchester in various appearances throughout the seasons and Eve in 6.19 "Mommy Dearest".
 * Nicki Aycox plays the recurring demon Meg in Season 1 and the real Meg Masters in 1.22 "Devil's Trap" and 4.02 "Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester".
 * Erica Carroll, as noted below.
 * Jim Beaver plays recurring character Bobby Singer in Seasons 1-8, a demon in 5.01 "Sympathy for the Devil", and the Khan Worm in 6.16 "And Then There Were None".
 * Linsey McKeon plays recurring character Tessa in various episodes between Seasons 2 and 9, and Azazel in 2.01 "In My Time of Dying".
 * Katie Cassidy plays recurring character Ruby in Season 3 and Lilith in 3.16 "No Rest for the Wicked".
 * Cindy Sampson plays recurring character Lisa Braeden in Seasons 3, 5, and 6, and a demon that possesses her in 6.21 "Let it Bleed".
 * Nicholas Elia plays Ben Braeden in Seasons 3, 5, and 6, and a changeling in 3.02 "The Kids are Alright".
 * Misha Collins plays recurring character Castiel in Seasons 4-10, Castiel's vessel Jimmy Novak in 4.20 "The Rapture", Misha Collins in 6.15 "The French Mistake", and all of the Leviathan at once in 7.01 "Meet the New Boss".
 * Matt Cohen plays young John Winchester in 4.03 "In the Beginning" and 5.13 "The Song Remains the Same", and the archangel Michael, also in "The Song Remains the Same".
 * Mitch Pillegi plays recurring character Samuel Campbell in Seasons 4 and 6 and the demon Azazel in 4.03 "In the Beginning".
 * Christopher B. MacCabe plays Dr. Brown and the demon Azazel in 4.03 "In the Beginning".
 * Jake Abel plays a ghoul pretending to be Adam Milligan in 4.19 "Jump the Shark", the real Adam Milligan in 5.18 "Point of No Return", and the archangel Michael in 5.22 "Swan Song".
 * Rob LaBelle plays Father Lehne and the demon Azazel in 4.22 "Lucifer Rising".
 * Mark Pellegrino plays Nick in 5.01 "Sympathy for the Devil" and recurring character Lucifer in Seasons 5 and 7.
 * Cameron Bancroft plays Dr. Gaines in 7.02 "Hello, Cruel World" and the Leviathan that assumes his identity in the rest of Season 7.
 * Felicia Day plays recurring character Charlie Bradbury in Seasons 7-10, and, when she gets split in two, Charlie's evil side and her good side in 10.11 "There's No Place Like Home".
 * Lauren Tom plays recurring character Linda Tran in Seasons 8-9 and the demon Crowley in 8.02 "What's Up, Tiger Mommy?".
 * Alaina Huffman plays recurring character Abaddon in Seasons 8-9 and Josie Sands in 8.22 "Clip Show" and 9.17 "Mother's Little Helper".
 * Tahmoh Penikett plays recurring character Gadreel in Season 9 and his bartender vessel in 9.10 "Road Trip".
 * Actors who have portrayed multiple, separate characters at different times in the show:
 * Donnelly Rhodes plays the ranger Shaw in 1.02 "Wendigo" and Father Simmons in 8.22 "Clip Show".
 * Nico McEown plays Lucas Barr in 1.03 "Dead in the Water" and a bully in 7.03 "The Girl Next Door".
 * Brian Markinson plays Jerry Panowski in 1.04 "Phantom Traveler" and Stan Thompson in 8.08 "Hunteri Heroici".
 * Daryl Shuttleworth plays Chuck Lambert in 1.04 "Phantom Traveler" and Sheriff Carnegie in 5.05 "Fallen Idols".
 * Michael Teigen plays a teacher in 1.05 "Bloody Mary" and a police officer in 4.08 "Wishful Thinking".
 * Anita Brown plays Lindsay in 1.06 "Skin" and Hope Lynn Casey in 4.08 "Wishful Thinking".
 * Christie Laing plays Taylor in 1.07 "Hookman" and a Crossroads Demon in 2.08 "Crossroad Blues".
 * Tyler Johnston plays Matt Pike in 1.08 "Bugs" and recurring character Samandriel in Season 8.
 * Don Thompson plays Mr. Guenther in 1.09 "Home" and the sheriff in 8.11 "LARP and the Real Girl".
 * Peter Benson plays Walter Kelly in 1.10 "Asylum" and Sheriff Pat in 9.12 "Sharp Teeth".
 * Tom Butler plays Harley Jorgeson in 1.11 "Scarecrow" and Reverend Jim Myers in 9.12 "Sharp Teeth".
 * Lara Gilchrist plays Holly in 1.11 "Scarecrow" and a wraith in 5.11 "Sam, Interrupted".
 * Brent Stait plays Scotty in 1.11 "Scarecrow" and Rick in 6.16 "... And Then There Were None".
 * Erica Carroll is both: she plays a nurse in 1.12 "Faith", a young mother in 1.18 "Something Wicked", recurring character Hannah in Seasons 9-10, and Hannah's vessel Caroline in 10.7 "Girls, Girls, Girls".
 * Alex Diakun plays a Reaper in 1.12 "Faith" and Mr. Vili in 8.02 "What's Up, Tiger Mommy?".
 * Colin Lawrence plays Jason in 1.12 "Faith" and Reggie Hull in 5.03 "Free to Be You and Me".
 * Cainan Wiebe plays a boy in 1.12 "Faith", a bully in 4.08 "Wishful Thinking", and Barry Cook in 4.13 "After School Special".
 * Kevin McNulty plays Roy Le Grange in 1.12 "Faith" and the butler Phillip in 10.06 "Ask Jeeves".
 * Alexa Fast plays Missy Bender in 1.15 "The Benders" and Emma in 7.13 "The Slice Girls".
 * Mary Black plays the old woman in 1.18 "Something Wicked" and Red Riding Hood's grandmother in 3.05 "Bedtime Stories".
 * Adrian Hough plays Dr. Hydeker in 1.18 "Something Wicked" and Victor Rogers in 8.18 "Freaks and Geeks".
 * Linden Banks plays Isaiah Merchant in 1.19 "Provenance" and Mr. Brennan in 6.09 "Clap Your Hands if You Believe".
 * Jay Brazeau plays the librarian in 1.19 "Provenance" and Dr. Corman in 5.14 "My Bloody Valentine".
 * Terence Kelly plays Daniel Elkins in 1.20 "Dead Man's Blood" and a doctor in 3.15 "Time is On My Side".
 * Christine Chatelain plays Jenny in 1.20 "Dead Man's Blood" and Dr. Ellen Piccolo in 5.08 "Changing Channels".
 * Serinda Swan plays a hotel receptionist in 1.21 "Salvation" and Veritas in 6.06 "You Can't Handle the Truth".
 * Erin Karpluk plays Monica Holt in 1.21 "Salvation" and Robin in 9.07 "Bad Boys".
 * Melinda Sward plays a nurse in 2.01 "In My Time of Dying" and Jamie in 4.05 "Monster Movie".
 * Carrie Fleming plays a dying nurse in 2.01 "In My Time of Dying" and Karen Singer in 5.15 "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" and 7.10 "Death's Door".
 * Genevieve Cortese plays recurring character Ruby in Season 4 and, well, Genevieve Padalecki in 6.15 "The French Mistake".
 * Actor Allusion:
 * At the end of "The Usual Suspects", Dean wonders if Detective Ballard looks familiar to Sam, and adds that he's hungry and would like to eat some pea soup. Linda Blair, who plays Ballard in this episode, played Regan in The Exorcist (where special effects involved pea soup).
 * In "Hollywood Babylon", Sam does not want to tour the set of Gilmore Girls. Jared Padalecki played a regular character on that show.
 * In "Fallen Idols", Dean remarks that he's never seen House of Wax, in which Jared Padalecki starred alongside Paris Hilton.
 * In Season 1's "Shadow", Meg mentions that she went to California and met 'Chad Michael Something' (meaning Chad Michael Murray). Sam has no clue who she's talking about. Chad Michael Murray was another one of Jared Padalecki's co-stars in the aforementioned House of Wax. They also starred together in Gilmore Girls.
 * A Season 5 episode is titled "My Bloody Valentine", which is also the name of a movie starring... JensenAckles.

And it happens again in the Season 7 episode "The Girl Next Door" where, a commercial for My Bloodiest Valentine "in hell-a-vision 3D" while Dean is sleeping on the couch. "Dean: And there's Johnny Drake. But he's not even alive, he's a ghost in the mind of her. Sam: So this show has ghosts? Why?"
 * Possibly unintentional, and although Misha Collins wasn't in it, there is a Season 5 episode called "Sam, Interrupted". Misha Collins played a small role in the movie Girl, Interrupted.
 * Also in "Sam, Interrupted", and also possibly unintentional, there is a female orderly named Karla. Misha Collins starred in a movie  called Karla.
 * From "Changing Channels", when they're stuck in Dr. Sexy, M.D.


 * "Johnny Drake" is the copy of Grey's Anatomy character Denny Duquette, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the actor who also played John Winchester (Sam and Dean's father).
 * Season 6 "The French Mistake" where Sam and Dean are transported into an alternate dimension where they are Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki filming Supernatural. Yes that's right, you heard me. Once again proving that the writing staff are one third Cloudcuckoolander, one third certifiably insane, and one third Crazy Awesome.
 * In "Frontierland", Bobby Singer makes a reference to Deadwood. In the next episode "The Man Who Would Be King", there is a demon counterpart to Bobby named, you guessed it, Ellsworth.
 * Fits the trope because Bobby Singer is played by Jim Beaver, the same actor who played Whitney Ellsworth on Deadwood.
 * Bobby's lady friend Sherrif Mills shares a name with Jim Beaver's character from Harper's Island.
 * James Marsters as a witch in "Shut Up, Dr. Phil" prepares to fire a spell with the kamehameha pose.
 * The Danza: One-off character Don Harding from "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester" is played by Don McManus.
 * Dawson Casting: In his first appearance, 25-year-old Osric Chau played Kevin Tran as a 16-year-old senior in high school.
 * Directed by Cast Member:
 * Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) directed the sixth season episode "Weekend at Bobby's", the seventh season episode "The Girl Next Door", the eighth season episode "Heartache", and the tenth season episode "Soul Survivor".
 * Misha Collins (Castiel) directed the ninth season episode "Mother's Little Helper".
 * Enforced Method Acting:
 * In the pilot, Jared Padalecki was asked to take Jensen Ackles by surprise when pulling him into the motel room.
 * During Castiel and Dean's first meeting, Misha Collins has stated he got much closer into Jensen's personal space and stared at him much more blatantly than in rehearsals, just to enforce how Castiel is unused to human interaction. Jensen's squirming and uncomfortable reaction is real.
 * Later on in Season 4, when, Mitch Pileggi apparently decided to sniff Jensen's neck just to get the squicked-out reaction seen on camera.
 * Fake American:
 * Israeli Alona Tal as Midwest raised Hunter Jo and her mother Ellen is played by the Canadian Samantha Ferris.
 * Kevin McNally, who plays Frank Deveraux, is British.
 * Fake Nationality: In "Taxi Driver", Assaf Cohen plays Ajay with an Indian name and accent. Cohen is an American actor of Yemenite, Russian, and Israeli descent.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!:
 * Joe Dawson is a Anthropology professor in "Bugs".
 * Mark Sheppard, pretty much the poster boy for this trope, finally shows up in "Abandon All Hope".
 * Also Cigarette Smoking Man in Season 1's "Scarecrow".
 * Mr. Gibbs is Frank, the conspiracy theorist who destroys Sam's laptop.
 * Meg Masters (Nicki Aycox) is Max's sister Syl from Dark Angel. Max's brother Ben was played by Jensen Ackles, so Dean and Meg's actors have played brother and sister, albeit not appearing in the same episode.
 * Finn gets eaten by the wendigo in the second episode of Season 1.
 * Also from Glee, The TV station manager Mr. McClung is the angel Zachariah.
 * Or, if you're a bit older, Russel from Wayne's World.
 * Dr. Beckett plays a role in the fifth episode of Season Five.
 * Fred is alive and well with a son! (But her husband was drowned by a ghost. And her Dad's kind of a jerk.)
 * Paula Cassidy / Maggie MacKenzie appears as a cop in "The Benders".
 * Daniel Jackson is a fellow hunter in "99 Problems".
 * And Jonas Quinn is a hunter in Season Six.
 * This show is positively squee-worthy for Stargate SG-1 fans: Daniel Jackson, Jonas Quinn, Carolyn Lam, Janet Fraiser and General Hammond have all popped up, and Ellen Harvelle was that Tok'ra from the Season 2 finale.
 * AD Skinner is Dean and Sam's grandfather!
 * Douglas Fargo gets the crap hugged out of him by Pansy!Sam in "Tall Tales".
 * Hey, what's Jacob doing off the island interrogating Alexis Drazen?
 * Is that Six getting chased down by a ghost?
 * Lisa is a hunter.
 * Meg is the daughter of a hunter.
 * Tory Foster is Kali.
 * Moloch tries to kill the Comedian's sons...
 * Harmony is a vampire! And Tara too!
 * Hoyt is a siren.
 * An asshole and a subway ghost are elderly magicians.
 * Uncle Rico is a hunter who had some sort of breakdown in Albuquerque.
 * Warren 'Skip' Muck is mistaken to be a Trickster, but is later revealed to be an archangel.
 * The Man in Black has seemingly resolved all issues with his brother, and now works for him.
 * Major 'Bunny' Colvin is Uriel, the funniest angel in the garrison.
 * I don't know why Blake's a security guard now, but he's definitely lost his Ninja skills if a couple of mannequins can take him out like that.
 * And apparently, Jen made a pit stop in 2025 to pick up Syd to let her become an actress while she learned witchcraft.
 * Of course, none of this explains why Kira put her singing career on hold and started calling herself Jen.
 * Freddie Krueger is a supernatural doctor.
 * What, no mention of Optimus Primal as the Sheriff in "Monster Movie"?
 * Paige's rapist was among those under War's spell.
 * The head Leviathan is Xigbar.
 * Colonel Tigh aids the boys in melting some Levianthans. Because if there's one thing he hates, it's skinjobs!
 * Spike is married to Cordelia! And they're both witches?
 * Cameron and Nina are, respectively, a vampire and a djinn.
 * Logan is a time-traveling god.
 * Kaylee is a brain-eating kitsune.
 * Rommie is a hunter.
 * Dick Roman is a childlike little penguin who happens to be a covert operative. No, really.
 * Celestia is knowledgeable in white magic and sends a demon to hell.
 * Gil McKinney (Henry Winchester) also played Dr. Paul Grady in ER and Derek Bishop in Friday Night Lights.
 * Mar Andersons (Dennis Adams) also played Major Green in Stargate Universe.
 * Taylor Cole who plays Sarah Blake, also played Rachel Mills in Heroes.
 * The Other Darrin:
 * Claire Novak is played by Sydney Imbeau in Season 4 and by Kathryn Love Newton in Season 10.
 * Carrie Ann Fleming replaced Elizabeth Marleau in Karen Singer's second episode because the latter was heavily pregnant at the time of the episode and the idea of a pregnant zombie was a little more than the crew could handle.
 * Linda Tran's actress was replaced in Season 8 because Jeremy Carver is a fan of Lauren Tom.
 * What Could Have Been:
 * In a Real Life example, Jensen Ackles was considered to play Leon Kennedy in the fourth Resident Evil film, but delays due to rewrites prevented it.
 * Jason Voorhees (and not a Captain Ersatz) was originally going to appear in "Dream a Little Dream of Me". So was John Winchester, an apparition of whom would confront Dean during the climax. Unfortunately, Jeffrey Dean Morgan wasn't available at the time, so they replaced him with Jensen Ackles and did the "I'm my own worst nightmare" thing instead.
 * Kripke's original idea for the show was more like equal parts X-Files and Scooby Doo. It was originally an anthology series about two tabloid reporters who travel around in a van fighting demons. Then, after the show got reworked into what we now know and love, it was originally "Sal and Dean Harrison" traveling around in a '65 Mustang. The names were changed for legal reasons (as was their father's, which was originally Jack) and the car was changed because a friend suggested an Impala is a rougher, more aggressive looking car (and because it's easy to fit a body in the trunk).
 * Jess, several times! First off, she lived in one of Eric Kripke's earlier drafts for the pilot, and the network wanted her to stay, but Eric thought that one of the main characters having a long-term girlfriend wouldn't work for a roadshow about two brothers. Apparently, the idea that she could come with them and become a hunter herself didn't occur to him. Then the network suggested that he have her turn out to be a demon manipulating him, but he didn't use that, either, until he introduced her real killer in "The Devil You Know", a college friend of Sam and Jessica's who became possessed by one of Azazel's minions and manipulated Sam into going back to hunting by tricking him into falling for Jess and then killing her in front of him. Finally, Sera Gamble had Jessica planned to be one of Sam's Witnesses in "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester", but Adrianne Palicki was unavailable and they replaced her with Ronald Reznick from "Nightshifter".
 * Missouri was planned to be a recurring character, and she was actually supposed to have Bobby's role in "Devil's Trap", but Loretta Devine declined because she wanted to focus on her Broadway career. Bobby was created in her stead and Missouri didn't appear beyond one episode, unfortunately.
 * The Wiki Rule: Several, most notably Supernatural Wiki and Supernatural Wikia.