By the time the show’s fourth season premiered in September 2009, Supernatural seemed to have its core formula pretty well set up. Two brothers on the open road, looking for (or finding, or losing) their dad, hunting down ghosts and monsters, facing urban legends, mythology, and increasingly dire infernal encounters. All the while, younger brother Sam worked to discover the dark secrets behind his mysterious magical powers, and older brother Dean did his well-intentioned, but often destructive, best to keep Sam safe, alive and definitively not evil. This setup had kept The Winchesters, and Supernatural, going strong for three seasons and two cliffhanger endings. However, the third season’s cliffhanger finale No Rest For The Wicked had made it a bit difficult for Season 4 to pick up where things left off— the episode, and the season, ended with Dean dying and going to Hell.
This situation would, for obvious reasons, need to be fixed for the show to continue— specifically, Dean would need to be restored to life and returned to Earth (and more importantly, to Sam). The Winchesters needed a miracle, and that miracle came in the form of a character who would, despite initially being meant as a short-term supporting role, go on to become not only one of the show’s most prominent characters alongside Sam and Dean, but an icon of 2010s fandom culture.
While fans today know the angel Castiel as the final member Supernatural‘s main trio, he was initially only intended to appear for a few episodes before being killed off. Castiel’s purpose in the story was simply to retrieve Dean from hell, stay on as a supporting character just long enough to introduce the Winchesters to the concepts of Angels and Heaven, and then be killed off to progress the plot. In fact, the narrative role that Castiel would go on to fill was originally meant to be filled by different angel, the fallen-angel-turned-human Anna Milton, who was meant to help the Winchesters survive their newly-arrived celestial enemies, while also becoming a love interest for Dean in a parallel to Sam’s toxic and corrupting relationship with the demon Ruby.
However, Castiel’s undeniable chemistry with the main cast, and his instant massive popularity among the fandom, left the writers in a pickle— Castiel was clearly a better choice to remain on the show then Anna (who, while a perfectly fine and well-acted character in her own right, did not generate the same level of immediate, feral audience attachment as Castiel). Choosing to go with popularity over previous planning, the plot of Supernatural‘s fourth and fifth seasons was altered at the last minute so that Castiel stayed with the Winchesters while Anna was recalled to Heaven before meeting her death in season 5.
From the moment of his introduction, Castiel’s presence on the show was electric— often quite literally, as the angel’s first scene had him making a dramatic entrance through showers of sparks and exploding lightbulbs. Played to gravelly-voiced perfection by the then-fairly-unknown Misha Collins, Castiel’s initial appearances on the show gave off a feeling of something deeply uncanny and truly inhuman.
Stilted dialogue delivery, uncomfortably close personal space, strange clothing choices, a stiff posture paired with birdlike head movements, and an extremely well-acted confusion with all trappings of human speech and daily life, all combined to create a believable portrayal of a thousand-year-old incomprehensible entity that had barely visited Earth for centuries and was now interacting with the mortal world from inside a possessed human body. Adding to this the fact that Castiel’s combat scenes often showcased angel-on-angel fighting, silhouetted wings, flying sparks, ancient sigils, and the new-to-the-show weapons known as angel blades, Castiel’s earlier-seasons appearances brought all of the intimidation— and strangeness— that audiences would expect of an Angel of the Lord.
This aura of intimidation and unknowability would not remain unmarred, as Castiel’s character changed drastically through the course of the show. While the angel’s shift from enigmatic inhuman to comic-relief ally was initially mostly conveyed through his misunderstanding of human phrases and customs to comedic effect, it soon became clear that Cas’ extended stay on earth was truly changing him. Betraying Heaven to ally with the Winchesters, Castiel explored human experiences such as emotions, mixtapes, and even food— experiences that were cut short when his anger and resentment at Heaven, and belief that he could do better, led the angel on a disastrous spiral of power-tripping that would leave him (temporarily) dead. Upon his return, Castiel’s attempts to make amends would eventually lead him to a full mental break. This isn’t even close to all that the rebel angel suffered, and it’s clear that he openly accepted the rough, dirty and often bloody life of his Winchester allies.
However, in spite of these darker and bloodier turns, Castiel’s overall arc in the show was one towards softness— learning to let go of the strict and warlike mindsets of Heaven and the simmering Eldritch tension of an angel inhabiting a human form, Castiel gradually discovered his own personality, interests, and values, and learned to live on Earth as one of its creatures rather than as a detached observer. The angel’s initial role as a source of unintended comic relief and as-needed Deus Ex Machina transitioned smoothly to that of a charmingly awkward, drily sarcastic lifelong friend and ally to The Winchesters, who, despite his waning powers, was still devoted to the brothers— and to Dean especially— to the point of self-sacrifice.
While Castiel’s dramatic confession of love to Dean in Supernatural’s antepenultimate episode came as a shock to both Dean and the fans, it was not completely without precedent— the ship between Dean and Castiel, known as “Destiel”, had long been a heated topic in fandom, as some fans interpreted Castiel’s devotion to Dean— as well as derogatory remarks by various antagonists mocking the extent of said devotion— as evidence of a potential romance between the pair.
As the seasons went on and the chemistry between Dean and Cas only seemed to strengthen— with Cas’ devotion to Dean continuing and Dean caring for Cas’ wellbeing, and mourning his death, on a level the hunter had never shown for anyone except his brother Sam— the ship grew in popularity. Dean doing such things as giving Cas a mixtape and inviting him to dress up as cowboys together certainly did not dissuade fans of the idea that they might be a couple (and neither did the words of Castiel’s actor, Misha Collins, who actively encouraged the fan theory).
Despite Supernatural‘s final season containing multiple references to gay love and partnership that seemed aimed directly at Dean and Cas, their ending would be somewhere between tragic and inconclusive— Castiel’s love confession would lead to the angel being claimed by The Empty, the sentient primordial void that serves as a prison of eternal torment for dead angels, and while the show’s final few minutes include a mention of Cas being released from The Empty, the angel does not appear onscreen again (although this may have been due to COVID-19 restrictions at time of filming). This abrupt end to such a central character left many fans stunned and confused, with the decisions made around Cas’ love confession, and subsequent death, leading many fans to draw comparisons to real-life religious queerphobia and discuss whether the many seeming hits towards Destiel counted as “Queerbaiting”.
Nonetheless, absence makes the heart grow fonder, tragic endings are notorious for spawning surges of fan activity in the form of fix-it fics and fanart, and Castiel’s death has not left the slightest dent in his popularity within fandom spaces. This popularity is definitely helped by the cross-fandom, cross-platform spread of a bizarre meme featuring the angel’s confession scene— Despair, the episode in which the confession formed the final scene, had its initial airing during the counting of votes for the 2020 presidential election, leading to a surreal scene in online fandom spaces as breaking news from the polls alternated with fans’ tearful and shocked reactions to the semi-canonization of Destiel. The subsequent meme, consisting of a shot of Castiel tearfully proclaiming “I love you”, followed by an image of Dean relaying some pertinent current event, is still an expected sight in fan spaces following major global news, and as long as it sticks around, nobody will be forgetting Castiel’s face anytime soon.
Memes aside, though, much of Cas’ staying power in the fandom comes from the angel just being his odd, unique self. A former soldier of Heaven who willingly left an eternal and holy existence as a massive being of pure energy in favor of becoming an awkward, somewhat disheveled, and nearly-fully-human 40something-year-old queer man in the midwestern USA, Castiel is deeply relatable to many fans. Especially for those who have escaped religious oppression, are queer, and/or are neurodivergent, Castiel’s characterization and arc have given people a figure whom they can relate to, sympathize with, and even use to explore deeper themes around religion, love, grief, and the inherent value of the smaller joys in life. Even Cas’ tragedy-adjacent ending has birthed countless beautiful works of art and writing from fans who felt that he— and Dean— deserved a happy and romantic ending. With all this love and creativity around him, it seems certain that Castiel will be flying high in fandom spaces for years to come.
Did you relate to Cas, or just find him a bit odd? Do you think his ending was fair? Do any specific quotes or moments from the angel still live rent-free in your head? Let me know in the comments.
