'The Winchesters' Season 1 Ending Explained: What Is Dean Doing in the Past? (2024)

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of The Winchesters.

The Winchesters, a prequel to the undeniably successful Supernatural, follows a young John Winchester (Drake Rodger) and Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly) — future parents to Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) — in the early stages of their romance. Altering canon just a tad, the series finds John engulfed in the life of hunting far earlier than expected, while Mary continues to try to escape this life she has had forced on her by her parents, most notably her father Samuel (Tom Welling). As they face their personal struggles, alongside friends Carlos (Jojo Fleites), Latika (Nida Khurshid), and Ada (Demetria McKinney), they must seek a way to stop the upcoming invasion of the Akrida, a new monster in the universe, that threatens the entire world.

Going into the season finale, The Winchesters has much to deliver, especially as this could be the series finale given the current state of things at The CW. First and foremost is an explanation for what Dean, who died in the Supernatural series finale, is doing alive and kicking in the past. He’s interfered with his parents’ lives, but for what reason? Second, the threat of the Akrida remains strong, with special guest star Rowena (Ruth Connell) giving Ada a tool to kill the Akrida Queen that would, if used, cost Ada a part of her soul. Plus, what’s next for John and Mary in this twisted version of their young lives — and could the series continue without completely abandoning the history from the original? There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s dig into what goes down in The Winchesters finale.

Dean Winchester Finally Returns to ‘The Winchesters’

The episode begins with a flashback, taking us to Detroit, Michigan in 1972. John is returning home from war, having just buried a friend, and is unsure of where to go. He sits in the train station for most of the day, thinking. Little does he know that he’s being watched. A man approaches him — finally, it’s Dean — and hands him the letter that kicks off the show and brings about John’s return to Lawrence. After handing John the letter and disappearing, we catch up with Dean on the upper level of the station with none other than Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) himself. Bobby chastises Dean for interfering, with the implication that both of them are dead, but Dean lets Bobby’s comment roll off of his shoulders. He did what he had to do.

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The Akrida Threat Continues to Linger

Back at the Campbell house, Samuel confronts Mary about a letter he found regarding her future and college, but she blows him off. Instead, she shifts the subject to the Akrida, and Samuel tells her that he’s found a lead about the mysterious man that the Akrida are afraid of. At the Winchesters’ garage, John and Millie (Bianca Kajlich) discuss the crystal and, should their plan to stop the Akrida Queen work, what’s next for Mary.

Meanwhile, Ada, Carlos, and Latika are together at the Men of Letters’ compound talking about the planetary alignment and how the Akrida Queen could open the portal and bring even more of these monsters at any time. Knowing they have the crystal from Rowena helps bring some comfort, but Carlos and Latika do not want Ada to sacrifice a piece of her soul to stop the Queen. If she loses a piece, the rest of her soul will slowly disappear, and we all know what someone soulless is capable of from Supernatural. Carlos and Ada leave the lair to find the Queen and see if they can stumble onto another solution, while Latika stays behind to scour the lore for a plan of action in case Ada does have to sacrifice the piece of her soul.

Samuel, Mary, and John follow the lead, which brings them to a bar and a fellow hunter named Joan Hopkins (Kelly Sullivan). Only, Joan doesn’t know much more about Dean than they do, except that he’s from out of this world, and she tossed him into a portal where his body will be torn apart for eternity. Clearly, Joan is not what she seems. After taunting Mary about how she relates to her and how she’s learned everything she needs to know about the three of them from their hilariously thick police files, a bombshell is dropped: Joan is the Akrida Queen. Though, unlike what we’ve believed until now, she isn’t Akrida herself. Before we can get many answers, Joan blinks herself and the Akrida army she brought to the bar away, but first teasing the Akrida’s current invasion of the Men of Letters’ compound. Where, unfortunately, Latika is conducting her research, though the three of them don’t know that.

So, how did a hunter manage to get an army of these monsters to follow her? The answer is simpler, and darker, than you might expect. Given what Joan divulged about her connection to the Campbell family, Mary and John return to her house to dig through her family’s history for answers while Samuel is at the compound discovering that the Akrida have sealed every entrance. Mary and John stumble upon records that show Joan Hopkins was telling the truth about being a hunter. The catch? She was a hunter born in 1673 who quickly wanted out of the life (like Mary) and eventually turned on humanity after losing her entire family to the cause. She began to see humanity as a disease, believing the only way to save hunters from meeting the same fate as her family was to wipe out those in need of saving. Then, Joan injected herself with monster essence to aid the monsters in taking out humanity, making herself invulnerable. The Men of Letters teamed up with hunters when they couldn’t kill her, banishing her from the world.

At the Men of Letters’ compound, Joan arrives and Latika attempts to fight her off but loses. Joan burns off Latika’s tattoo that prevents Akrida possession, then sticks one of her loyal hench bugs into Latika’s body. Joan then burns the warding inside the compound that was left by one of the Men of Letters’ spells, which prevented her from opening the portal to bring more Akrida to this world. Meanwhile, Mary, John, Carlos, and Ada come up with a very complicated and science fiction-y plan to summon Dean, as they come to the understanding that only something from “out of this world” can harm Joan and the Akrida. But, first, they head to the compound to save Latika, who is left to give the group another ultimatum to join Joan or watch their friend die. They keep fighting, as Ada sacrifices the piece of her soul to power the crystal and free Latika.

Later, the group splits into two. After learning where Joan is planning to open her portal, John, Carlos, and Samuel take off to distract her as the ladies attempt to summon Dean from the Winchesters’ garage. They aren’t successful, though, only summoning Dean’s beloved car as Dean, a dead man, cannot be summoned by the spell. Still, it’s the answer to their problem. The car isn’t from this world, meaning it can cause harm to the Akrida and Joan. Down at the warehouses, the boys are losing. Majorly. Carlos and Samuel are pinned down by the monsters, while John continues to fight Joan. At just the right moment, Mary speeds in as John pushes Joan away. The Impala collides with Joan, taking both Joan and Mary (and the Impala) into the portal. Instantly, it seems the Akrida are defeated, as the people they were possessing come to their senses and leave. (Though, that’s up for debate as there’s nothing to actually show the Akrida leaving the bodies or anything. They just vanish alongside Joan, and it’s clear the world has been saved from their invasion.)

‘The Winchesters’ Finally Answers the Big Questions

After Mary drives the Dean’s Impala into the Akrida Queen’s portal, the car returns almost as quickly with another passenger: Dean. From there, the questions begin, and the long-awaited answers are delivered. Dean is dead, just like he was when he left him on Supernatural. He was in the world between worlds, limbo, watching. He left heaven to find a version of his family that could get a happy ending, effectively confirming that The Winchesters takes place on a different Earth. Meaning, Mary and John’s story will be different than what we know it to be, especially as Dean — with the approval of Jack (Alexander Calvert) — gave John his hunter’s journal and Mary the gun capable of killing the yellow-eyed demon to change their fate.

While not changing his life, this version of his parents may get their happily ever after if they play their cards right. However, Dean also chose to interfere by giving the letter to John earlier than he should have received it because of the threat of the Akrida. The Akrida were created by Chuck (Rob Benedict) a.k.a God to wipe out humanity whenever he decided. Without God around, the Akrida and Joan planned to wipe out humanity on every Earth in the multiverse. Dean stepped in to help them defeat the Akrida on this Earth, so the Akrida would never reach his own and Sam’s life would never be put at risk. With this threat gone, Dean, Jack, Bobby, and the Impala disappear and leave the group to contend with what they’ve faced and where they are going.

At the end of the finale, Latika succeeds in finding a way for Ada to regain her soul, as she breathes something in from a magical plant. As for Mary and John, they agree not to say goodbye as Mary intends to leave Lawrence and find a life free from hunting and figure out who she is and who she wants to be. However, John plans to continue hunting and working through his anger issues, which puts them on opposite paths. After one last kiss, John returns to the group as they plan for their next hunt. But, Mary arrives and the two agree to take things on the road. John can continue to hunt (without her) as they both work through their issues, following the road and wherever it takes them.

While not delivering complete closure, The Winchesters finale does end on a satisfying note. It would have been nice for the battle with the Akrida to not have felt so rushed, giving us time to learn more about Joan and offering a clearer end for these monsters, but there’s only so much that can be done with such a short season. From here, it’s clear that Mary can quickly be pulled back into the hunting life, but also teases a second season that more closely resembles Supernatural, with Mary and John on the road solving cases just like Sam and Dean did. It’s open-ended, teasing happiness and future apocalypses at the same time, but giving the audience a chance to picture a happier, healthier Winchester family that actually gets to spend their lives together.