Supernatural star Samantha Smith is opening up about fans’ reaction to her character, Mary Winchester.
While speaking to TV Insider for an August 2025 interview, Smith noted Mary, who is the mother of Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), is a polarizing character in the Supernatural fandom. The show’s first season established that the demon, Azazel, murdered Mary when Sam was a baby. However, she was resurrected during the show’s 11th season. Her subsequent behavior was met with criticism from fans.
According to Smith, Supernatural viewers share their honest opinions about her character during fan conventions. Smith also said she has tried to convince Supernatural fans to change their stance on Mary.
“The fandom is a little split on Mary. Some people love her, some people do not. I hear a lot, ‘I love you, I hate Mary. Sorry.’ And then I say, ‘Give me two minutes, I’ll change your mind.’ And I usually do. We just have a little conversation about what their perception was, and why,” said Smith during the interview with TV Insider.
She also gave an explanation as to why said Supernatural fans don’t love Mary.
“I think that some people were purists. They wanted the show to be about just the boys. And so, Mary came back — and she had been a canonized perfect mom — but when she came back, she was a fully-rounded human,” said Smith to the publication. “I think that was hard for some people, especially when a couple of episodes in, she takes the journal and bounces because she needed to figure some stuff out. She’d been dead for over 30 years. Her kids were grown, her husband was dead. Like, maybe she needed a minute. [Laughs]”
In addition, she said her character “was just trying to do what was right, not what the boys wanted.”
“She was trying to rid the world of monsters, and she made them sad for a minute while doing that,” said the actress in the interview. “I always point out: A Winchester takes it upon themselves to do something sort of secretive, but for the greater good while selflessly potentially sacrificing themselves and their relationship for the greater good for the wellbeing of the people they love. Do you know anyone else who’s ever done something like that every week?”
Ackles, Padalecki, and Misha Collins, who played angel Castiel, spoke about Supernatural‘s long-lasting fandom in a May 2025 interview with TV Insider, published in July 2025.
Padalecki said he appreciated that Supernatural “fans have raised millions of dollars for charities around the world.” He also noted that the fandom cares for one another and the show’s cast.
“But also, to see the relationships, the support, and care they give each other? I don’t spend a lot of time on social media, but here and there I’ll get an alert or someone will say, ‘Hey, did you hear that this person [is going through] this or that?'” said Padalecki during the interview. “And I’ll go and see comments from members of the SPN family who’ve never met each other, that are just sending love. The internet can be such a hell- hole at times, social media specifically, so to see our fandom going, ‘You got this,’ ‘We believe in you,’ ‘You’ve been through worse, and we will see you on the other side’ and ‘Hope to meet you’ — it is really awesome.
Collins also said that he feels a sense of community with the Supernatural fandom.
“At times, it feels like we see each other more than our family — we are a surrogate family for one another. But there’s also this extended Supernatural community that functions like a family. A dysfunctional one, but people really do take care of each other,” said Collins to the publication.
Ackles then noted that he started starring in Supernatural, which ended in 2020, during its first season in 2005. He said he’s enjoyed going to Supernatural conventions over the years because of his and his castmates’ “20-year relationship and friendship.”
“We are like, ‘OK, we’ll see you in Cleveland, see you in Tulsa, see you in L.A.’ We get to come together, put on a show for the people that all have a common love for Supernatural, and it is just this little family reunion that happens every few weeks in different cities around the country,” said Ackles in the interview.
