Jensen Ackles Looks Ahead to Directing Post-SUPERNATURAL

SUPERNATURAL star Jensen Ackles stepped behind the camera for the Thursday, November 7 episode, but the occasion was a bit bittersweet—it was his final time directing the series he’s worked on for 15 seasons. (“Atomic Monsters” marks his sixth occasion behind the camera.)

“I’m just grateful for the opportunities that come my way,” Ackles says in the video below. “When I first directed it wasn’t because I had negotiated it in my contract or because I demanded it…I literally went to them and I was like, ‘You’ve seen my interest. You’ve mentioned that this is something that you thought I could do…I would only do this if you had the confidence in me to do it, and you trusted me enough to do it. If you do, I will do everything I can to make it a great episode. If you don’t, I completely understand it’s a very difficult task.’ And they were like, ‘No, no, you get an episode.'”

Ackles acknowledges that directing isn’t simple—”It is a very difficult task…much bigger than then showing up and just playing one part, because you have to be responsible for the whole shebang. And you have to answer 100 questions a day. And you better have answers.”—but he is intrigued about the notion of stretching himself to do it on non-SUPERNATURAL shows in the future.

“[On SUPERNATURAL,] I’m surrounded by a crew that wants me to succeed,” he says. “That respects me and that I’ve spent many, many years trying to earn their respect in [my] tone and the professionalism that I try to bring to set every day…It’ll be a different kind of a challenge to go on to a different set and surround yourself with a bunch of people who we don’t have a personal relationship with and try to tell a story that you’re not overly familiar with.”

“We have people come on our set [and] do it all the time,” he continues. “We have new directors that show up and try to tell our story and try to command a crew that they have no personal relationship with. And it’s doable; it’s also a very difficult task…But I would look forward to a challenge like that. I think that would be really cool. I might try to keep it in the CW family, so there’s a little bit of familiarity and a little bit of a safety net there.”

Check out more from Ackles…

SUPERNATURAL, Thursdays, 8/7c, The CW

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