Tom Welling Is Playing Dean Winchester’s Grandpa on ‘The Winchesters’ and My ‘Smallville’ Loving Heart Is Full

I was but a young buck when Smallville started back in 2001 (I was 9 turning 10 to be exact) and so I grew up with the series. When Jensen Ackles came into the show as Jason Teague in season four, it was the first I’d seen of him before then he left to go live on the road with his brother Sam for 15 seasons of Supernatural, a show I instantly started watching thanks to my love of Smallville.

It’s been years since Ackles and Smallville’s Clark Kent Tom Welling were together onscreen. With them both being at New York Comic Con at the same time, I thought it would have been nice to have Ackles included in the Smallville meet-up. That didn’t happen but hearing the news that Welling is joining the cast of The Winchesters more than made up for it.

At NYCC’s Sunday panel for The Winchesters, fans got to learn more about the prequel in the Supernatural universe. The show takes us into the lives of John Winchester and Mary Campbell before they were married and had Sam and Dean. That means that we’re learning more about their families as well, including their strained relationships with their fathers. I’ve seen the pilot episode and we don’t get to see their dads (or at least I didn’t in my screener) but they announced at the convention that Tom Welling will be joining as Mary’s father Sam. I felt my fandom brain burst at the idea of Welling being in the Supernatural universe.

Jason Teague is Clark Kent’s grandson and I’m delighted.

Again, I want to state that the reason I watched Supernatural was because I loved Ackles on Smallville, so it truly delights me that these worlds are coming together again. One aspect of The Winchesters that’s really quite cool is the connection it has back to Dean in the current time. He’s trying to learn about his parents and their past and he’s the one framing the story, so while we won’t get to see Welling and Ackles together again, it is fun to know that Welling was Dean and Sam’s grandpa all alone.

Now, in Supernatural we got to meet Mary’s dad as well as Henry Winchester so it’ll be interesting to see how the show connects back to the canon of Supernatural in that regard but I’m just so excited for teenage me. I used to love these shows so unconditionally and watch them week in and week out, trying to get everyone in my life to watch them. To have my Smallville and Supernatural love come together once more? That’s just the gift that keeps on giving.

(image: The CW)