Supernatural really raised the stakes last week by not just confirming a long-running fan “ship,” but also by killing off one of its leads. The result was an implosion in the SPN fandom as those who’ve stuck with the show for the past 15 years had to come to terms with an enormous high followed by a tragic low.

Here’s what happened in a nutshell: Castiel finally told Dean Winchester that he loved him, only to be killed moments later. “Destiel” has been the number one dream romantic pairing on the series for over a decade, with fans believing that the two friends always had something unspoken going on. So, to have it confirmed was a big moment, but then it was tainted by Castiel dying as soon as he came out.

That is, assuming that his “I love you” farewell message to Dean was meant to be taken romantically and not platonically. In case we had any doubt, though, star Misha Collins has now confirmed that Castiel was indeed in love with Dean. Speaking virtually at the DarkLight Online Convention, the actor summed up what happened, acknowledging that he understands fans’ mixed feelings in the process.

“Castiel tells Dean he loves him and basically makes Destiel canon,” Collins said. “Fans are freaking out after that. To complicate matters, he dies after that. So Castiel makes his homosexual declaration of love and then dies, which plays into a timeless Hollywood trope of ‘Kill the gays.’ We give, and then we take away.”

Like Collins reminds us, if this really is how Castiel’s story ends, then it’ll go down as hugely controversial due to the troubling trend for TV series to kill off their LGBTQ characters. This being SPN, though, where anything is possible and resurrections happen all the time, there’s a chance the angel could return in one of the next couple of episodes, so we’ll just have to see how things unfold.

After 15 seasons, Supernatural is almost at its end. The final two instalments air over the coming Thursdays on The CW.

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