Jared Padalecki Revives Supernatural's Alternate Sam Winchester (Sort Of)
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While there are still no plans for a Supernatural revival, Jared Padalecki's upcoming movie will feel like a stroll down memory lane for fans of his long-running CW series. Since Supernatural aired its series finale in 2020, Padalecki has continued to stick to the small screen, playing the title character in the CW's action crime drama Walker and reuniting with his Supernatural co-stars Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins in the fifth and final season of Prime Video's The Boys.
This year, Padalecki is officially stepping outside his wheelhouse with Guarding Stars, an upcoming Christmas rom-com premiering on Netflix on November 18. Based on Katherine Center's The Bodyguard novel, Padalecki plays Jack Stapleton, a charming — if not pretentious — action movie star whose team hires tough-as-nails bodyguard Hannah Brooks (Leighton Meester) to protect him from a stalker. Not wanting his family to worry about his safety during the holidays, Jack Stapleton convinces Hannah to pretend to be his girlfriend.
At first blush, Guarding Stars is a major departure from the types of roles Padalecki usually plays. For starters, it's his first feature film since 2009's Friday the 13th, and the Supernatural actor doesn't often star in romantic comedies. However, Jack Stapleton isn't all that different from a certain version of Padalecki's Sam Winchester.
Jared Padalecki's Guarding Stars Character Feels Like His Hipster Sam Winchester
Season 15 as a whole may have been one of Supernatural's most polarizing installments, but a definite highlight was the alternate versions of Sam and Dean Winchester (Ackles) in episode 13, "Destiny's Child". Nicknamed the "Fancychesters" by the fandom, these brothers hail from an alternate reality where monster-hunting has gone corporate, and they are the spoiled heirs to John's HunterCorp.
Hipster Sam and Dean drink private reserve scotch instead of cold beer and drive an impractical Fiat 500 instead of Supernatural's iconic Chevy Impala. Most notable — and hilarious — is Sam's man bun, the perfect icing on the Fancychester cake.
Though Padalecki's Guarding Stars character doesn't sport a man bun of his own — at least, not in the trailer — the airs that Jack Stapleton puts on are incredibly reminiscent of hipster Sam. Jack also flies private, and his reaction to the petite Hannah serving as his bodyguard is not unlike hipster Sam sneering at his real-world counterpart. However, as the Guarding Stars trailer suggests, there's a little more substance to Jack than first meets the eye, whereas the personality of Padalecki's Fancychester begins and ends with the man bun.
Guarding Stars Also Has Parallels To Supernatural's Best Episode
Hilariously, Guarding Stars also has shades of arguably the best Supernatural episode of all time, season 6's "The French Mistake". In it, Sam and Dean meet an alternate reality version of not themselves but the actors who play them, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. It's a hilarious meta episode, with the actors clearly having a blast at portraying themselves as pretentiously as possible.
The Guarding Stars parallels don't end with Padalecki's character either, as "The French Mistake" also features a bodyguard. Actor Phil Hayes plays a fictionalized version of Clif Kosterman, Padalecki and Ackles' actual bodyguard and driver for Supernatural. Though the "French Mistake" Kosterman isn't involved in any romantic storylines the way Meester is in Guarding Stars, devoted Supernatural fans are sure to have noticed these parallels in the Guarding Stars trailer.
Scratch & Peek
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.
As fun as these comparisons are, what's most noteworthy is how much range Padalecki has, even when playing similar characters. Whether it's hipster Sam, his "The French Mistake" self, or Jack Stapleton, the Supernatural actor brings something different and special to each role. Spreading his wings to the romance genre with Guarding Stars is a great move, and hopefully, one that pays off come November.
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Supernatural
8/10
- Release Date
- 2005 - 2020-00-00
- Network
- The WB, The CW
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Sam Winchester
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Dean Winchester
Supernatural is a television series that follows brothers Sam and Dean Winchester, who were raised by their father to hunt and combat supernatural entities after losing their mother to a demonic force. Traversing the American landscape in their '67 Chevy Impala, they face numerous paranormal threats.
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Guarding Stars
- Director
- Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
- Writers
- Richard Keith, Erin Cardillo
- Producers
- Gina Matthews, Grant Scharbo, Jared Padalecki, Genevieve Padalecki
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Jack
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Leighton Meester
Hannah
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Andie MacDowell
Uncredited
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Phil Brooks
Doghouse
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.