Jared Padalecki Says He's 'Gutted' He Found Out About Planned Supernatural Prequel Through Twitter

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Jared Padalecki says he wasn't given a heads up about a follow-up series to his longtime show.

On Thursday, Deadline reported that The CW is working on a prequel series to Supernatural, with Jensen Ackles serving as an executive producer and reprising his role of Dean Winchester in a voiceover capacity.

After Ackles, 43, shared Deadline's report of the forthcoming series on Twitter, Padalecki, 38, reacted to the news, claiming that he was never told about the planned series prior to the public release. "Dude. Happy for you. Wish I heard about this some way other than Twitter," Padalecki tweeted. "I'm excited to watch, but bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever."

Many fans initially assumed that Padalecki was just playing around, with one supporter even writing, "this has GOTTA be a bad joke," before the actor replied, "No. It's not. This is the first I've heard about it. I'm gutted."

A representative for The CW did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

RELATED: 18 Photos of Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles' Supernatural Brotherly Love Through the Years

According to Deadline, the planned Supernatural prequel is "now in development" at The CW and "has a script commitment."

Titled The Winchesters, the series would follow Sam and Dean's parents, John and Mary, in an "epic, untold love story" that would chronicle how the pair met and "how they put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world."

On Supernatural, John and Mary were previously played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Samantha Smith, respectively.

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Ackles and wife Danneel Ackles are set to executive produce the planned series through their company, Chaos Machine Productions, which they launched in fall 2020, per Deadline.

"After Supernatural wrapped its 15th season, we knew it wasn't over. Because like we say in the show, 'nothing ever really ends, does it?'" Ackles said in a statement to the outlet. "When Danneel and I formed Chaos Machine Productions, we knew the first story we wanted to tell was the story of John and Mary Winchester, or rather the Supernatural origin story."

"I always felt like my character, Dean, would have wanted to know more about his parents' relationship and how it came to be," he added. "So I love the thought of having him take us on this journey."

RELATED: Jared Padalecki Says He Hopes to Reprise His Supernatural Character One Day

Sergei Bachlakov / The CW Jared Padalecki in Supernatural

Earlier this year, and two months after Supernatural aired its series finale, Padalecki chatted with PEOPLE about how he was holding out hope that he would get to reprise his role again one day.

"I love Supernatural, dearly, I always will," Padalecki told PEOPLE in January while promoting his new CW series, Walker. "I have a deep and abiding love for Sam Winchester, and I loved helping him come to life for 15 years and 327 episodes."

Though he admitted that Sam "deserved a little bit of a rest," he said he would love to revisit the character in the future, as he did with his Gilmore Girls character in the 2016 reboot of the hit series.

"I certainly have it somewhere in the bottom of my heart and soul that I hope September 10 isn't the last time I ever played Sam Winchester," he said at the time, referring to the date he filmed the final Supernatural episode.