Supernatural reached major milestones last year with the 20th anniversary of the pilot as well as the fifth anniversary of the divisive series finale. One of the only elements of that finale (available streaming now with a Peacock subscription and Amazon Prime subscription) that wasn’t terribly divisive among fans was that Jim Beaver appeared one last time as Bobby in the afterlife. Bobby was a pivotal figure in Sam and Dean’s lives before and after his death, and Beaver has opened up about his reaction to his character’s demise as well as the one silver lining.
While not a series regular from start to finish, Jim Beaver was one of the few Supernatural actors to appear in at least one episode of all fifteen seasons. That’s especially impressive given that Bobby was killed in Season 7. The actor, who went on to work with Supernatural creator Eric Kripke on The Boys, spoke with TV Insider about Bobby’s swan song among the living:
I learned I would die from the showrunners Bob Singer (my character is named after him) and Sera Gamble, who said, ‘We’re going to kill you, but you’re coming back as a ghost.’ I ended up doing more seasons after I was dead. Still, I was disappointed that instead of doing half of a season’s episodes, I’d be lucky to do one or two.
I can’t blame Jim Beaver for being disappointed, especially since Bobby was killed in one of the less popular seasons by one of the least impressive big bads of the series. True to their word, Bob Singer and Sera Gamble brought his character back as a ghost just months after his death in the Season 7 midseason finale, and the actor also went on to portray a version of Bobby from an alternate world.
Beaver would eventually be credited in 19 episodes after OG Bobby’s death. He went on to share what he appreciates about how his character’s demise was handled:
But my death episode, ‘Death’s Door,’ was one of the best episodes of television I’ve ever been associated with.
“Death’s Door” broke the usual format of Supernatural by delving into a series of flashbacks as Bobby’s mind slowly died, with Steven Williams reprising his role as the late Rufus for Bobby’s final bow. To the show’s credit, keeping Bobby dead does make his passing in “Death’s Door” pack a lot more of a punch than other deaths.
I’ve lost count of how many times Dean was killed before Jensen Ackles performed the final demise, and Misha Collins had several options to choose from when he selected his favorite Castiel death… and that was when there were still several seasons left before the one that actually stuck! Deaths were harder to take seriously by the end of the series, and Bobby’s stands as one of the most emotional because it did stick. (Though it should be noted that he did experience one resurrection after being killed the first time in Season 5.)
Jim Beaver was able to reprise his role one last time, although not in Supernatural. Bobby turned up in the series finale of The Winchesters, the short-lived spinoff executive produced by Jensen Ackles. Short of a revival like the ones pitched by Ackles and Jared Padalecki, it’s possible that The Winchesters was the last time that Bobby Singer appeared on the small screen.
For now, you can always revisit all fifteen seasons of Supernatural on Peacock and/or Prime Video after leaving its longtime streaming home on Netflix in late 2025.