Meg Donnelly Of The Winchesters Says ‘Fans’ Minds Are Gonna Be Blown’

Actors Meg Donnelly and Drake Roger play the titular characters in the new The CW series, The Winchesters, a prequel to the popular, long-running series Supernatural. Fans will remember that the show, which ran from 2005 to 2020, starred brothers Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jenson Ackles) as they investigated paranormal events. The prequel follows the story of how Sam and Dean’s parents met and got into the family business.  Meanwhile, Jared, Jenson and his wife Danneel are executive producers of The Winchesters.

The Winchesters season 1

The Winchesters series is set in the 1970s, where Mary (Meg Donnelly) and John Winchester (Drake Rodger) first meet. Supernatural fans will recall that Samantha Smith and Jeffrey Dean Morgan originally played those roles in the series. In fact, The Winchesters revisits Mary and John’s origins, their love story and their own supernatural adventures. When they first meet, John is a Vietnam vet, and Mary is a 19-year-old demon hunter, trying to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance.

Donnelly, 22, spoke to The Post about her experiences with Supernatural. She said:

When I was younger, I was a little scared to watch [‘Supernatural’]. But since getting the audition I started re-watching Season 1, and I watched a lot of Mary- and John-heavy episodes for research. Drake [Rodger] is a huge superfan. So, it’s been really nice working on this as a team.

Meg explained that Mary has a lot of “Dean-like qualities.” She said she is “kind of badass”, but she did add that she is playing a different version of Mary. In fact, Jensen and Danneel made it clear that she make the character her own.

Mary Winchester’s character

Donnelly said that as she plays Mary more and more, she realizes she is just like herself, adding:

The most relatable part is her kind of being closed off, and not being super in tune with her emotions and having a hard time opening up and being vulnerable. She has all these aspirations. She knows what she wants, but doesn’t know how to get there. Drake and I have become a really close kind of instant best friends thing. It’s been awesome going on this journey with him.

Meg added that the original Supernatural cast had reached out to her and Rodger, giving them advice. She said they have particularly talked to Jensen a lot. Ironically, she says he has been “kind of an older brother/mentor” to them.

In fact, Donnelly said that she is so grateful to everyone on the Supernatural cast. This included Jared Padalecki, even though he is not part of The Winchesters project. He told them to let him know if they needed anything. Moreover, Misha Collins (the angel Castiel) said they could contact him if they needed any help.

Meg added that she was surprised after Comic Con when Ackles told her Jeffrey Dean Morgan and his wife, Hilarie Burton, wanted them to have dinner with them. Jeffrey particularly said he wants them to have fun making the show. She was amazed at how the cast still cared about the Supernatural universe.

Donnelly said there are some “really awesome cameos from Supernatural characters” coming in future episodes. According to her, “fans’ minds are gonna [sic] be blown.”

The Winchesters airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c and streams free on The CW the next day.