Jared Padalecki Says Supernatural Prequel 'Wasn't a Secret' Jensen Ackles Tried Keeping from Him

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Jared Padalecki is addressing what really went down after learning that his former Supernatural costar and friend Jensen Ackles was working on a prequel series without his knowledge.

The Walker star, 39, recently spoke to The New York Times about the misunderstanding, which sparked chatter online amongst the show's devoted fanbase.

"I hadn't heard of it, and then he and I chatted [the next morning]. He just kind of explained: 'Man, it's not picked up yet. It's not even written yet,'" said Padalecki, who played Sam Winchester on the series. "He knows and I know how much Supernatural means to both of us, and it wasn't a secret he was trying to keep, necessarily. It was just something that he didn't feel really even existed yet. But he has been like: 'Hey, I'll let you know what's going on.'"

He added, "I love Jensen deeply. He's my brother — he has been for many years, and he always will be, no matter what. He's spent more time with me on camera than anybody probably ever will, so he knows my strengths and weaknesses more than I do, and vice versa. I respect his opinion."

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Padalecki and Ackles starred on Supernatural from 2005 to 2020. The series ran for 15 seasons on The CW.

Deadline reported in June that The CW is developing a Supernatural prequel series titled The Winchesters. Ackles, 43, is on board as an executive producer and will narrate the show as his former character Dean Winchester. Ackles' wife, Danneel, will also serve as an executive producer.

After Ackles tweeted out a link to Deadline's article, Padalecki reacted to the news with shock.

Dean Buscher/The CW

"Dude. Happy for you," the Gilmore Girls alum wrote in response. "Wish I heard about this some way other than Twitter. I'm excited to watch, but bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever."

Though many fans didn't believe Padalecki was being serious, he replied to a commenter who thought this was all "a bad joke," saying: "No. It's not. This is the first I've heard about it. I'm gutted."

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The next day, Padalecki revealed that everything is "good" between him and Ackles.

"@JensenAckles and I had a great talk, as we do often, and things are good. The show is early in the process with miles to go," he tweeted. "We've travelled a lot of roads together, and sometimes those damn roads have bumps. Bumps don't stop us. Once brothers, always brothers. #spnfamily."

Padalecki told The New York Times he previously spoke out on the matter because fans were making assumptions about his involvement in the prequel.

"I should be old enough to know better than to put something out there and expect that people will understand," he continued. "It's hard to tweet a specific tone. If you write it online, it's like, 'Oh, he doesn't know! They're going to kill each other! The world is ending!' And I'm like, 'No, no, no.' I try to avoid social media as much as possible because of that."