[VIDEO] ‘The Winchesters’ Cast Previews ‘Supernatural’ Prequel Spinoff

The Winchesters stars Drake Rodger and Meg Donnelly are not taking the responsibility of playing Dean and Sam’s future parents lightly.

“It’s an honor,” Rodger, who portrays young John Winchester, tells TVLine in the above video. “It also comes with its territory. We’ve got to take it real serious. We owe a lot to the fans, so we’ve got to be there and we’ve got to represent.”

The Supernatural prequel (premiering this fall on The CW) 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.” Fans of the mothership series, of course, have already been told some tales about John and Mary’s early days, but “we’re going to give it to you in a cool way that you don’t quite expect,” Rodger says, adding that the pair’s first encounter is “a supernatural meet-cute.”

In prepping to take on the iconic roles, both Rodger and Donnelly (aka your new Mary Winchester) looked to their characters’ previous portrayers. As “a huge fan” of the original series, Rodger found inspiration in Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s adult John, whom Rodger’s younger version will one day evolve into. “He’s like the portrait. That’s where we end. Like, I get to paint,” Rodger says. “He definitely laid out the path for me.”

The stars were also able to call upon Winchesters executive producer/narrator and Supernatural vet Jensen Ackles for guidance during filming. “He was on set every single day of the pilot, just like being super collaborative, giving us notes, telling us about the universe that we might not know about. So it was really good insight,” Donnelly shares.

Press PLAY above to watch the full interview, then hit the comments with your thoughts!