While we need more details on The Winchesters, initial reservations about its premise, particularly criticisms of the decision to tell *this* story in the wake of the finale's substantial & damaging fallout, are valid & founded in real concerns over storytelling, trauma, & trust. This prequel announcement comes during what continues to be an extremely difficult year for many people. Not only dealing with the mental health impacts of what by any account was an irresponsible and callous end to a beloved show and source of comfort, (2)

To be clear. This is not about reciprocation. Castiel’s confession, his love, is bigger than him and it’s bigger than Dean. It’s bigger than the show. This is a moment of BEING in a system that is built on its nonbeing. Being, not having, not asking. (1)

https://twitter.com/deirdret14/status/1383932101318176769

That's the victory— love w/out control, w/out demand. This is the PERMISSION to be happy, it's the breaking of the seal over his soul. Breaking God’s lock on the story. Subverting the real limits on what can & cannot exist, and how it's allowed to exist, on a show like S/pn.(2)

A perspective shift on S/pn 15.18 [thread] In retrospect of the final episodes, it’s easy to find yourself wishing 15.18 hadn't happened. Without the confession, without *hope*, the finale’s emptiness may have been more bearable or at the very least less pointedly cruel. (1)

"Dean’s story was a coming out story in many ways, but it wasn’t him coming out to the audience. It was the audience coming out from its own preconceptions about what it understood or expected of queerness and masculinity in the first place." #deanisbi (1) buzzfeed.com/deirdre-t/supe… Dean Winchester is a rare character in popular media, let alone queer media. This is someone we got to see grow over fifteen years, watching his psychology and relationships explored and developed consistently over what, for some fans even, was nearly a lifetime— (2)