‘Supernatural’ Really Did This Character Dirty

The Big Picture

• Crowley’s end on Supernatural was underwhelming and lacked closure. His character arc had been dwindling down since Season 8 and his final goodbye fell flat.
• Mark A. Sheppard was removed from Supernatural due to budget cuts. The show prioritized funds for new cast members and Sheppard’s character suffered as a result.
• Despite not returning to Supernatural, Sheppard has found new roles and harbors no ill-will towards his former co-stars.

With such a long-running series like Supernatural, it’s not unfounded that over the course of 15 seasons and 327 episodes, there would be some characters who fall to the wayside. While some characters have fitting endings, others such as Mark A. Sheppard‘s Crowley were deemed particularly underwhelming by fans. The King of Hell had been a longstanding member of the cast for eight seasons and was killed off at the end of Season 12 in favor of new cast member Alexander Calvert, who played the Nephilim Jack Klein. But why did Crowley leave Supernatural, and why didn’t Sheppard ever return? Well, the answers to those questions are a bit complicated.

Crowley’s End On ‘Supernatural’ Was Pretty Underwhelming, But Not Particularly Surprising

Having first appeared during the show’s fifth season, Crowley was often a massive thorn in the side of Sam and Dean Winchester, who often butted heads with him. During his initial tenure on the show, Crowley did everything imaginable to attain more power. In Season 6, this meant harvesting souls from Purgatory. In Season 7, it meant usurping Dick Roman (James Patrick Stuart). And in Season 8, it meant taking out everyone that Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) had ever saved, to stop them from closing Hell forever. But by the ninth season, and certainly the tenth, Crowley had devolved into anti-hero territory, where he would often align himself with the Winchesters provided it suited their collective goals.

Despite Dean’s persecution of Sam in earlier years for trusting the demon Ruby (Genevieve Padalecki), the brothers were often seen with Crowley, and while they might not have trusted him, they certainly seemed to be allies more often than not. After binging on human blood and becoming increasingly more human, Crowley struggled to maintain his status as the King of Hell, and more than that, he neglected his demonic duties in favor of riding in the backseat of the Winchesters’ Impala. For nearly three years, it didn’t seem like Supernatural what to do with its favorite demon, which brings us to the Season 12 finale “All Along the Watchtower.”

After spending the season battling Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) for control of Hell, Crowley all but gives up. Having grown bored with Hell and his role as King, and hoping to put the Devil in his place, Crowley kills himself to give the Winchesters time to trap Lucifer in another world. Though imperfect, the spell works for a time, and Crowley is never seen again on Supernatural. After several years of B-plots and a real lack of compelling material, the writing was on the wall for the character. Unfortunately, things didn’t end particularly well between Mark A. Sheppard and the Supernatural team, his fellow castmates aside.

Mark A. Sheppard Was Removed From ‘Supernatural’ Due To Budget Cuts, But It Was A Long Time Coming

As it turns out, Mark A. Sheppard was removed from Supernatural due to budget cuts. There’s no denying that Crowley could’ve been brought back had the showrunners wanted to––Misha Collins‘ Castiel was brought back from the dead pretty quickly the following season––but it just wasn’t meant to be. “It was kind of tacky,” Sheppard revealed on an episode of Michael Rosenbaum‘s Inside of You podcast. “It was like, ‘Well, we don’t think we have the money to pick up your option next year.'” Sheppard revealed that, for Supernatural to continue on into its next phase, it needed to prioritize funds for a new cast member (likely Alexander Calvert) going forward. But that may not have been the full story.

“I think a particular showrunner, who will remain nameless, was trying to kill me off for about four or five years,” Sheppard joked. But joking aside, Crowley’s arc during that period of time had been dwindling down to nothing ever since the end of Season 8’s finale “Sacrifice.” The show had opened the door to Crowley possibly becoming human again, to immediately close it forever, and over the next few years, the character became a caricature of what made the King of Hell so interesting in the first place.

“I’d gone from being the smartest character on the show to being the dumbest character on the show in two seasons,” Sheppard told fans at the 2018 New York Comic Con. “They ran out of what to do.” Unfortunately, Sheppard is completely right. Fans of the character have lamented for years at how Crowley, who was once the most formidable and intelligent of the Winchester’s adversaries, had become nothing more than an occasional freelancer for “Team Free Will.” While redemption arcs can be compelling, Crowley’s was sorely lacking and his final goodbye was nothing more than anticlimactic and, well, as Sheppard puts it, tacky.

Mark A. Sheppard Had An Idea About How Crowley’s Story Should End, But ‘Supernatural’ Showrunners Said ‘No’

“Come on Crowley, you know whatever you try, you’re gonna lose,” Lucifer says to the King of Hell in his final moments. It’s here that Crowley turns back to the Winchesters, bids them farewell, and kills himself to activate the spell that’ll keep the Devil from returning to their world. But, according to Sheppard, that final “Bye boys” was meant to be something else entirely. Hoping to send off his character on top, Sheppard penned the phrase, “Even when I lose, I win,” which he hoped would be Crowley’s final words. Unfortunately, they were cut, and what could’ve been a more impactful self-sacrifice fell flat.

“I wrote this line to sum up the feeling behind the finale. Surprise, surprise, it was cut,” Sheppard revealed on his Instagram. Although the line didn’t end up in the final episode, Sheppard used it along with his likeness on a t-shirt he sold where the proceeds went to benefit Camp Conrad Chinnock, a camp for kids with diabetes. Though the shirts are now sold out, they represented the actor’s hopes to turn a bad situation into good, and many fans today still consider these Crowley’s true final words.

To add insult to injury, the Season 13 episode “Unfinished Business” features a line eerily similar to Sheppard’s proposed final words. “Even if you win, you still lose,” an alternate Kevin Tran (Osric Chau) tells Mary Winchester (Samantha Smith) and Jack. Many fans were enraged by the inclusion of Crowley’s last words here, while others saw it as the series attempting to honor Sheppard’s final wishes. Nevertheless, it seemed in poor taste for the show, which had killed Sheppard off, to turn around and use these words as their own.

Mark A. Sheppard Has Moved On From ‘Supernatural,’ And Didn’t Return In The Final Season

It should come as no surprise that Mark A. Sheppard never returned to Supernatural again, which is a crying shame given all the triumphant returns that Season 15 had to offer. Jake Abel‘s Adam Mulligan/Michael returned for the first time in a decade, Genevieve Padalecki reprised her role as Ruby in the Empty, and Rachel Miner even returned as the Empty, simulating the show’s best demon, for a few episodes after having been killed off in Season 8. Sheppard’s return in Season 15, the show’s final season, would’ve sent fans over the moon, especially those disappointed by the King of Hell’s abrupt exit.

Sure, Sheppard appears as Crowley in a brief “clip show” at the end of the series’ penultimate episode “Inherit the Earth,” but no new material with the character was ever filmed. Unfortunately, Crowley’s end felt particularly anticlimactic given that it was soon overshadowed by Castiel’s apparent death and the introduction of Jack, who, in many ways, took Crowley’s place. But despite not returning to Supernatural, Sheppard found other compelling characters to tackle in the years following, particularly in the DC Universe-turned-Max series Doom Patrol, which ironically was helmed by former Supernatural showrunner Jeremy Carver.

Playing Willoughby Kipling, a Templar Knight who helps the titular misfit heroes, Sheppard has transitioned from being the usual villain into a more heroic character. Though Kipling isn’t perfect, his goals are often for the betterment of humanity, and Sheppard seems to be having the time of his life. Additionally, Sheppard played Nathaniel Hagan on the short-lived Western drama series Walker: Independence, a prequel to Jared Padalecki’s latest CW venture, Walker, proving that the actor harbors no ill-will towards his former Supernatural co-stars.

Could Crowley Return in A Potential ‘Supernatural’ Season 16?

With the recent news that Supernatural could be returning for another season, it’s entirely possible that Mark A. Sheppard could return, albeit briefly, for a revival. While Crowley is still very dead, it’s been shown that angels and demons can return from the Empty. Lilith (Anna Grace Barlow) does it in Season 15, as do Castiel and Jack. Why couldn’t Crowley himself return from his eternal slumber? Nothing is impossible on Supernatural, and given all the returns that were supposed to happen in the series finale, it’s not unfounded that a new batch of episodes might try to bring our favorite characters back together again.

Supernatural can be streamed exclusively on Netflix.

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