SPN Toronto 2022

Classic J2 | #SPNTOR 2022 Gold Panel [video: @gayled_it]

Classic J2 @ #SPNTOR 2022 [video: @gayled_it @wais_choice]

Bonus

#SPNTOR 2022 [video: @wais_choice]

Bonus about learning while filming with Jensen 😜

Extra bonus, Jensen about Jared earlier in the panel [video: @gayled_it]

J2 Gold Panel Torcon 2022

These poor boys must be exhausted, especially Jensen, they got woken up by a fire alarm at around 5:50 am in their hotel so they are running on very little sleep. They both debated evacuating…and then decided not to, oh boys, and they got annoyed because the alarm went on for like 40mins 😆

The first question is where was Jesse the antichrist at the end? Because this fan thought he would be the one to defeat Chuck since you know he’s the antichrist.

Jared says that once the spn train headed on certain tracks it stayed the route but it would have been fun to have him back. Jensen says it was cool to see him again on The Boys - for those that don’t know the actor that played Jesse, Gattlin Griffith was on The Boys this season playing Gunpowder -  that when he showed up he told him he looked familiar and the actor was like ‘yeah’ and then when Jensen figured it out he was like ‘oh my gosh, you grew up!’. Also, Jared recalled how he threw a shoe at the boy when he was 7 and working on spn (he didn’t throw it at him he threw it in his direction in some weird attempt to be funny and then was like my bad) 😂

With the show running for 15yrs, and all the serious storylines, was there a point where they picked up a script and read something that made them go ‘really this is what we’re doing? this is ridiculous but okay’? 

Jared says the first thing that came to his mind is when s5 ended and Sarah Gamble took over the show. Everyone at the time was wondering what they were gonna do now and since he was in LA he met up with Sarah to congratulate her and catch up, and he took the opportunity to ask her about s6 and she told him about Sam coming back soulless. At the time, on the outside he was like, “cool, sounds great man” but on the inside, he was wondering what that meant and how he was even supposed to play that but because he had had that conversation with her, he had months to figure out what to do. 

Jensen says they got a lot of those wtf moments reading the scripts but something spn did very well was taking risks, they swung for the fences a lot. He brings up something Kripke said once: that it’s not jumping the shark if you never come down. And spn never came down they just kept going. x

With the number of special effects involved over 15 seasons was there ever a special effect where they were told one thing and then it aired and they were like ‘that’s not what I pictured’? 

Mr. Jensen ‘ I hated the fight scene in the air between Michael!Dean and Lucifer’ Ackles says nothing can come to mind. Because there was very little fat in the scripts and the show was so streamlined, everything they shot made it into the show, and everything that was planned generally happened it was very rare that there would be some left-field thing that would occur in the final product that they weren't aware of or it wasn't in the script. Sure buddy, I believe you *guffaw*

Jared says there were times when the brothers were saying each other's names differently; he gives a scene from s8 as an example. There’s a scene where Dean says “hey, Sam time to go” but it’s a hallucination so for the sake of special effects Jensen had to make weird expressions because later on they would add distortions and shake the camera. He also mentions the vampire fangs; he says those sucked because you would get fitted for mouth guards, top and bottom, but they were rigid so if you had to play a vamp the inside of your mouth was cut up afterward. Jensen says that you also drool everywhere because you can’t close your mouth properly. Jared quips that Jensen drools anyways 😆

Jensen recalls when Lindsey, the actress who played Tessa the Reaper, in the s2 premiere she had to touch his face but had contacts on and couldn’t see so when she had to put her hand on his face to bring him back Jensen had to move her hand into place. 

A fan points out that’s on the gag reel so they mention, once again, how many hours of content they have from those and Jared starts to say they could do an entire season of gag reels like 15 episodes that's like, and I quote, "here's every time they were jerking off-" as a joke on purpose funny, as the Freudian slip it was hilarious. You can actually see him freeze in real time as his brain process what he just said, is that what you and Jensen were up to that morning Jared? 🤣

Who does Jensen think would win in a fight between his new character Sheriff Beau in Big Sky, Dean, Soldier Boy, Michael!Dean, or demon!Dean? And who does Jared think would win in a fight between Sam and Cordell?

Jared says, Sam would kick Cordell’s ass. He loves Cordell but he’s a bit of a softie he would not want to fight, but Sam’s like “I killed Lucifer, what are you gonna do to me?”.

Jensen says any mortal version of a character’s out so bye Dean and Beau. Demon!Dean has supernatural powers so goodbye Soldier Boy cause he’s just a tough guy with a bad attitude. At this point, Jared interjects and compliments his man saying Soldier Boy has great hair and great glutes which makes Jensen all bashful ❤️ 

Then Jensen continues and goes with Michael to win the fight because he thinks an archangel is probably top dog in that scenario. x

Canada related question: as boys growing up in Texas what was their impression of Canada when they were young? And was there something that really surprised them when they started living and working there? Jared says his impression of Canada was that it was a lot like America just a little nicer with more bears and moose but then getting to Canada and spending a lot of time in Van he was struck by how beautiful it is. He’s been fortunate to travel for work or for play but not a lot rivals walking along the Seawall in Vancouver; it's a beautiful place with really kind, passionate people, and that he’d never heard more about hockey in his life but it was a distinct honor and pleasure to consider Canada a second home.

Jensen says they do a thing in Texas, he’s not sure if they still do this but they’ll find out with their kids going through school, where an entire year is spent learning Texas history alone. And then they move on to US history, and the following year is world history so Canada got lumped into world history which is a lot to cover. So for him growing up, Canada was just the friendly neighbor to the north. But when he got there geography wise it struck him as interesting, and he might have the percentage wrong, that 90% of Canadians live right on the border of the US, which struck him because Canada is huge. Also, a large percentage of that 90% live below the northern border so if it’s looked at on a map most of the US is actually above where most Canadians live because it dips down in Ontario and a majority of the population is there; so he found the geography fascinating. He also mentions the people, and that he's made lifelong friends. I didn’t know this man had such a love of geography. 

Jensen also says that he and Jared can certainly consider it a second home, and his only complaint about working for so long in Van/Canada is that it wasn’t his home. x

Last question of the panel! If Jensen could be any character besides Soldier Boy who would he wanna be and why? 

Jensen says he wouldn’t be the Deep 😂 That he texted Chase on one of his (Jensen's) days off and asked him how work was and Chase replayed that honestly, he doesn't know if he’d be able to work again after doing what he’s doing 🤣

Jensen says he’s happy he’s got to play who he did and he certainly wouldn’t change it but if you take Soldier Boy off the table he’s a huge fan of Butcher who he feels is the extreme version of Dean; he’s what Kripke wanted to write Dean as but couldn’t, and Karl knocks it out of the park every take so it was an awesome experience. 

Jared mentions that he got a text from Kripke on his birthday saying he couldn’t believe he was 40 that he remembers thinking Jared was too young to play Sam now he’s too old; and that Kripke also asked him when he's gonna go play on the show (The Boys) and Jared replied he’d love to he just has to do 4 months of squats cause he knows Kripke will show his ass. I would love, love, love to see Jared on The Boys so 🤞 the schedules can line up and it'll happen. x

J2 Gold Panel Torcon

Mic flip | SPNTOR 2022

J2 Main Panel Torcon 2022

The main panel started a little bit late because Jensen had a wardrobe malfunction, he jokes that his shirt fell off, so he had to change shirts. And Jared was an emotional mess and even cried a bit at the beginning of the panel because Tom has been at camp for the first time for the past 30 days so they haven't been able to see him or talk to him he was only allowed emails but today was his last day and only half an hour before the panel he got picked up and Jared was seeing the videos of him. And then Jensen also got emotional over it! He walked into the room to see Jared crying and Jared showed him the video and when he saw it he cried too, and then he showed Jared video of Arrow and JJ. So they were crying over their kids 🥺

When he started telling the story Jared got all teary-eyed again so Jensen rubbed his shoulder making sure his boy is okay, offering some comfort. Jared's crying, Jensen was crying, I'm crying 😭

First question comes from a fan who is re-watching the series with their boyfriend who has never seen the show before, and they want to know what is their advice to the boyfriend on what to look forward to, as well as is there a fav moment of theirs that they want him to look forward to? Jared says he really dug s6, s8, and s9. That the show just gets better. Jensen says wait for the musical. x

If they were in a Tim Burton movie which one would they be in? Jensen says The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is one of his daughters' fav movies. Jared says Edward Scissorhands.

Jensen says he could see him with the scars and the hands and the crazy hair that it's pretty much him every morning anyway...no comment 😏

Jensen has had two siblings named Sammy, which one did he like more? Jensen answers by saying that he learned a lot from his experience on Days Of Our Lives and Alison Sweeney was the one who took him in and showed him the ropes and he couldn’t have asked for a better sister to play opposite to him. But with Jared, he couldn’t have asked for a better brother to play opposite to. x

In spn Sam had long hair and Dean short, now the hair has reversed, how do they feel about that? Jared says it sounds silly but it’s a big deal, for 15yrs he had his hair long, it’s the reason he started wearing beanies. He, tells the story about being at the gym jogging on the treadmill when this girl gets on the treadmill next to him and when she's putting her info into the machine to do her workout she keeps looking at her arm- drops of Jared's sweat was falling on her because his long hair was flinging it everywhere. He says he doesn't mind having the short hair now.

Jensen says short hair is way lower maintenance but it was kind of a conscious decision from both him and the production to try and change his look a little bit so it wouldn't look like Dean playing Soldier Boy and then the long hair look kinda stuck around for a bit but that he'll probably chop it all off sooner or later. I agree with the crowd whose reaction was to go 'noooooo'.

Somehow things go from talking about their hair to Jensen's ass on The Boys, and Jensen's like "who wants to see that?" Of course, Jared raises his hand because he loves his man's booty 🍑

Jensen hopes Jared does go on The Boys because it's a lot of fun, and he hopes Jared gets the same experience he had of having to show up on his first-day butt naked in front of the cast and crew with nothing but a sock. To which Jared asks him "what size sock?" 🤣

Moving on, are the rumors true that Jensen asked for a scene with Soldier Boy to be changed, and what was it? Yes, it was and he’ll never tell. The only thing he shares about the scene in question is that he called Kripke to discuss it with him, telling him that it wasn't something he had a problem with from a creative standpoint but from a logistical one. Kripke just laughed and asked if he had found his line, and Jensen was like 'no, I'm not saying I have an issue but can we tweak it?'. At first, Kripke was just gonna scrap the scene completely but Jensen told him to keep it because he thought there was value in it from a character standpoint as well as from an entertainment standpoint so they just changed the scene.

He also mentions that he was very careful in how he approached Kripke about it because if Kripke learns he has found your line he keeps writing it, for example, the reason the character of Mother's Milk gets blasted with fluids so often is that the actor, Laz Alonzo, hates it so Kripke keeps writing it because it gets real reactions out of Laz. Like that scene from the herogasm episode- if you watch the show you know - that was a real reaction from the actor. x

Do they prefer playing the villain or the hero? Jensen answers that both are very fun to do; being the bad guy or the villain allows for a bit more exploration outside of what your normal person is; he doesn’t think most people are inherently evil so getting to do that is fun and getting to step outside the box. But playing the hero is also very satisfying as well, he grew up looking to the heroic characters and aspiring to be something like that so to get to put that suit or persona on and bring that to life in front of an audience is really fun.

Jared thinks the same. That playing a character that is good is really fulfilling and a joy to do but he loves the idea of exploring somebody who's doing really bad things thinking it's the right thing to do like the saying "everybody is the hero of their own story" so playing somebody who is clearly messed up from an objective standpoint but thinks they’re doing it for the good of the whole. That if he went on The Boys he would like it to be some crazy maniacal character like that. x

The next fan is thirsting over Jensen and being a bit flirty - I'll make the note here that Jensen does not seem uncomfortable he's joking around with the fan - and Jared makes the comment about working with these beautiful men on Walker and how he looks at them and is like "wtf have I done to myself?" Jensen was not having the self-deprecating humor, he calls Jared Fabio, says that every time he steps on stage with Jared it's like working with a romance novel cover and when the fan says Jared's the best Fabio Jensen understands the next Fabio instead and he says "the next? shoot. He's Jared. Just Jared." I 👏 love 👏 a supportive 👏 husband 💕

The fan's question is: in 20 to 30 years from now what part would they like to play? Jared says he wants to play a father, which he already does on Walker, but anyways this brings up fatherhood and Jared starts to talk about how when you're a dad you want to be with your kids all the time and in the crowd, someone shouts "don’t start crying" and Jensen was once again not having it, he very seriously shouts back "he can cry if he wants to!" and Jared gives him such a sweet hug- it’s classic j2 🥰

He continues that in 20 or 30 years he would love to be able to get a job, that he thinks for those in this life who are blessed enough to get to "advanced age" the more you grow in age and experience the more you have to offer and the more you realize how much you have to learn as well and he would love for the characters he plays to mirror that; he doesn't have a specific role in mind but Jensen jumps in and pitches Jared an idea that 10yrs from now he and Jared should redo Lonesome Dove- which I had to look up cause I have no idea what the hell that is, it's a western from the late 80's. Jared says he's in.

Y'all need to see the way Jensen pitches this to Jared because he does so while leaning back and playing with one of the buttons on his shirt like sir what are you doing? It looks like he's propositioning Jared 😂

Jensens, answer to the question, is that he doesn't think there's a certain role or type of role that he's hoping to be playing 30yrs from now that his only hope is that he’s still as sharp mentally and capable physically to allow him to play in the incredible world that he and Jared get to play in, playing in-depth characters and nuanced storylines. He comments that he’s flying to the west coast tomorrow to do a movie 👀 and says that he's realized a busy Jensen is a happy Jensen that he really, truly enjoys being on set.

Jared mentions they have a mutual friend who played Jensen's stunt double, and one time he said to Jared "man, I can’t wait to know you when you’re 60" and at the time Jared didn’t know how to take it but it’s the coolest thing he’s ever heard. x

What makes Jared’s hair so shiny? Jared says his friend Victoria makes it shiny when doing Creation cons otherwise he thinks it’s just the beanies. He asks the fan what makes her hair shiny and she replies brushing it 😂

Also, the boys start joking around, and someone in the crowd asks "can I brush your hair Jensen?" and now it's Jared who's not having it cause he goes "can you stay in your seat?" Husbands are in full force today!  x

How hard was it to leave Sam and Dean behind to go into their next role? Did they have to remind themselves that they weren't Sam or Dean, that they were Cordell or Soldier Boy? Jensen says he did; that he had some discerning eyes on him: Kripke who knew him and was very precise on what he wanted but also knew Dean very well, and Phil Sgriccia who was on set producer-director on spn for years and also knew Dean very well. Having them put pressure on him to not fall into the comfortable role of Dean Winchester, made him fight the urge to rely on that; he was consciously making an effort to steer clear of Dean.

Jared says it was similar for him. He compares it to taking like jujutsu classes, when he started on spn he was a white belt but as time passed he went learning more and went getting his other belts.

He feels he learned so much working with Jensen; in his 15yrs on spn he got to work with a super talented, super savvy actor who's a great guy. Seeing him as an actor, as a director, knowing him as a friend and as a brother both on screen and off so then when spn ended he was ready to speak a new language. He feels like there were things he would see Jensen doing on set or on camera, and specifically, the stuff he would do when he wasn’t talking- which makes Jensen wink I can't with these two

Anyways, Jared says he loves it sounds funny but he means it, and what he means is that even if it was Jared's close-up and he wouldn't be seen Jensen would be giving back all the attitude and mannerisms as if there were no cameras there so he was like "I wanna do more of that"; he grew with Jensen over 15yrs and kind of learned and studied and hit a few nice shots back when he could. To which Jensen says more than a few 🥺

Jensen brings up the 10,000-hour rule so basically if you do something for 10,000 hours you become a master of your craft. He says he and Jared became masters of that specific craft together, so if they were woodworkers they'd be masters at creating a chair but when they got off spn they were asked to make a dresser. It's different but they had to ask themselves what they could use of what they've learned from making the chair to make the dresser. x

Final question! Do they have a fav memory from when they were 16? Jared says when he turned 16 they couldn’t afford to get him insurance for him a driver's license but around 16yrs and 8 or 9 months, he got his driver's license and he remembers going on a drive for himself for the first time.

Jensen says same. He mentions he had bought a car with his own money when he was 15 so he had to wait months to be able to drive it. Legally. Because he did take it for a ride before getting his license. One night, his parents went away for their anniversary and left him and his siblings by themselves, and as soon as they left Jensen went for a drive, ignoring his brother's warning that he was gonna get in trouble which he did because his dad had checked the mileage and he noticed there was an extra 82 miles in the car. Part of his punishment was that he couldn't drive the first two days after he turned 16. x

The reason for this question is because the fan recently turned 16 so to wrap up the panel Jensen and the band sing the fan, and Jared, happy birthday 🎂

And that was Torcon! It was great, with lots of classic j2 and little moments and casual touches between the boys.

J2 Main Panel Torcon

Jared  | torcon | actual sunshine

#SPNTOR 2022 [video: @gayled_it]

Bonus [video: @Hanmei Cui]

Jensen Ackles | SPNTOR 2022

Talking about Jensen first day on The Boys set (naked Soldier Boy scene) at #SPNTOR 2022 [video: @wais_choice | @gayled_it]

😏 #SPNTOR 2022 [video: @gayled_it]

torcon 2022  |  emotional Jared

Jensen in alex Calverts IG Story

J2 | Toronto 2022