“Supernatural” has helped shape several lives. I want to speak for all “Supernatural” fans when I say that watching Sam and Dean’s character arc through the show’s many seasons is a formative experience. “Doom Patrol” appears to have learned an essential lesson from “Supernatural,” and no, it’s not about how Sam and Dean are the best fictional brothers of all time (although that is true), but how the two stayed true to themselves no matter how crazy things got around them.
Jeremy Carver, “Doom Patrol” showrunner and former long-time “Supernatural” writer-showrunner, shared with Entertainment Weekly that the series was pitched as a character-first series. Carver leaned into his past experiences working on “Supernatural” and applied his learnings to “Doom Patrol.” He also brought in Mark Sheppard (who played Crowley) to appear in two episodes of the DC Universe show as the alcoholic occultist Willoughby Kipling. Carver wasn’t worried about fans having a pre-conceived image of Sheppard as Crowley — he knew as long as the characters were authentic, it would all work. Carver said:
“Speaking specifically to a person like Mark Sheppard, I learned to know when you have a winner. I wasn’t particularly worried about Mark being known as Crowley, because he’s a fantastic actor, so why wouldn’t I have availed myself of his talents? That was one thing I learned right there.”
