The Winchesters Casts Smallville Veteran Tom Welling

The Winchesters is staging a reunion of sorts with its latest bit of casting news: Tom Welling is joining the Supernatural spinoff, it was announced during a panel at New York Comic Con on Sunday.

Welling will recur as family patriarch Samuel Campbell (originally played by Mitch Pileggi in Supernatural), Mary Campbell’s father, and Dean and Sam’s maternal grandfather. Welling, of course, starred as Clark Kent in The WB/CW’s Smallville, a series in which The Winchesters executive producer/Supernatural co-lead Jensen Ackles starred for 22 episodes.

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“Samuel taught Mary everything he knows. Gruff and pragmatic, he’s a veteran Hunter who prefers actions over words — and it’s always his way or the highway,” reads the official character description. “But when Samuel teams up with Mary and her friends to save the world, he won’t only have to defeat the most dangerous monster he’s ever faced — he’ll also have to mend his broken relationship with his daughter.” Welling will make his debut in Episode 7.

Premiering Tuesday at 8/7c on The CW, the prequel follows Dean and Sam Winchester’s parents (played by The In Between‘s Drake Rodger and American Housewife‘s Meg Donnelly) as they fall in love and hunt monsters together in the 1970s. The series is described as “the epic, untold love story of how John met Mary and how they put it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world.” It will be told from the perspective of their eldest son, Dean, with Ackles narrating.

During a recent virtual press panel for the offshoot, writer/showrunner Robbie Thompson hinted that Supernatural fans could also expect to see “some very familiar faces…in an episode we’re going to shoot in a couple of days.”

“And then some more that I can’t even reveal. Hopefully, someone that’s on the Zoom, as well, at a certain point. I’m looking at you, Ackles,” the EP added with a laugh. “And we also have plans not just to bring back some of our familiar faces, but younger versions of the characters that maybe we haven’t seen yet.”

Watch Ackles introduce Welling at The Winchesters‘ New York Comic Con panel, then hit the comments with your reactions to the big casting news!

Launch Gallery: <I>Winchesters</i> Bosses Talk Telling a Love Story While Hunting, Not Rewriting History and <I>Supernatural</i> Cameos

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