Jensen Ackles (left) and Misha Collins (right), respectively, depict Dean Winchester and Castiel in the series

Destiel, occasionally referred to as Deancas,^[1] and as CasDean within the series itself,^[2] is a popular ship of the Supernatural characters Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) and Castiel (Misha Collins).

Supernatural debuted in 2005 as part of a trend of shows targeted at teenagers about hunting supernatural beings.^[3] In the episode "Lazarus Rising" from the fourth season of Supernatural, Castiel is introduced as angel who pulled Dean Winchester out of Hell, and Dean was hesitant to accept him being an angel. From this episode, people began to want the two characters to become romantically involved with each other.^[4][5][6] Throughout the show's run, there were very few queer characters introduced, and most of them were minor roles with the exception of Charlie Bradbury (Felicia Day), leading to further encouragement of the show to introduce more queer characters.^[7] Castiel became a series regular,^[8] and was viewed as the fan favorite character independently of the ship.^[5]

Over time following the beginning of Supernatural, other television series such as Glee and Teen Wolf began including queer characters, leading to greater acceptance of queer main characters and allowing a ship such as Destiel to form.^[9]

The ship became increasingly popular, with 15,000 fan fictions written about it by 2013,^[7] and actors Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins would get asked about it at fan conventions. At one event, Supernatural New JerseyCon, one of the convention's organizers had allegedly refused questions about Destiel on the basis of both characters being men. While Collins was asked a question about whether the two characters were in love, a question regarding Dean's sexuality allegedly did not make it past the organizer. One fan began to explain that they were bisexual and had noticed subtext, leading Ackles to interrupt the fan, say he would pretend not to know what the question was, and encouraged the fan not to "ruin it for everybody."^[10] This heated already intense debate within the Supernatural fandom about whether such questions would be invasive. This led to people becoming frustrated with Ackles.^[11] However, fans continued to encourage the series to have the two characters express romantic interest in each other^[12] and were often met with hostility.^[13] At one such fan event called ChiCon, a fan was allegedly banned from the convention as a safety threat to actors Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki on the basis of shipping Destiel. Other members of the fandom criticized the convention heavily, and the convention later clarified that she was not banned from future conventions.^[14]

In 2013, producer Chad Kennedy posted on Twitter the characters were unlikely to get together in the series. He explained that while he supported the idea of bisexual protagonists on television, it was not the intention for Dean and Castiel and that he would only support it if it served the story. This was met with controversy as Castiel had recently been involved in a story in which he had a sexual encounter with a woman that, as fans suggested, did not serve the plot. Further fans suggested that the two characters being romantically involved would in fact serve the plot. Kennedy received many negative messages, leading him to post again comparing himself to Damon Lindeloff, who had deleted his account after receiving backlash for sexism in the film Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), and deleting his Twitter account. Destiel fans got accused of bullying Kennedy as people noted that since the series was unlikely to make the ship canon, people did not feel it was worth arguing. However, others suggested that Kennedy was not bullied. Kennedy later returned Twitter, saying that he simply needed time off after the incident.^[7]

In 2014, Olive Garden posted about Dean and Sam's preferences. When asked about Castiel, Olive Garden replied that he would eat anything from Dean's plate, which was interpreted by fans to be in reference to Castiel.^[15]

That same year, the ship had become so popular that Tumblr named it the most reblogged ship on the website, notably beating Johnlock, the ship of the characters Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson from Glee, and Emma Swan and Regina Mills from Once Upon a Time.^[13] Destiel remained among the top ships for the following several years.^[8] However, several elements such as the failure of DashCon caused its popularity to wane on Tumblr.^[16] However, it remained popular in fan fiction. In 2019^[16] and through the end of the series, Destiel became the top ship on Archive of Our Own with over 20,000 fan fictions.^[6]

The ship continued to be popular long after the end of the series as well. In August 2023, poet Richard Siken posted that he had attempted to write for Destiel as well as Wincest, a ship between Dean and Sam Winchester, and that his Destiel writing was better.^[17] In September 2024, when Chili's posted on X about the relationship between Evan "Buck" Buckley and Thomas "Tommy" Kinard in the television series 9-1-1, a Supernatural fan commented underneath, comparing it to Olive Garden having previously posted about Destiel. Chili's responded to the post, referring to Destiel as "the inferior ship." Fans responded heavily in defense of Destiel, and Chili's responded to posts. However, the conversation eventually led to Chili's deleting their post as people continued to engage regarding Destiel. The interaction became notable enough to have been reported on by The Mary Sue.^[15]

Throughout Supernatural, the characters of Dean and Castiel were often written in ways that were reported on as containing homoerotic subtext. Throughout the show's eighth season, such subtext was read into the two characters saying "I need you" to each other at crucial plot moments.^[11] The script for one such moment also had Dean say "I love you" to Castiel but it was cut as the line was described as out of character for Dean. The series further teased the relationship in its twelfth season, with Castiel saying that he loves Dean before turning to other characters and adding that he loves all of them.^[4] Due to instances such as this, the show was often accused of queerbaiting, with one article from The Daily Dot pointing out that it occurred behind the scenes as well in DVD extras.^[11][18] Despite the subtlety of these references, they were still seen as significant to fans of Destiel.^[12]

By 2013, reports began to say that showrunners had begun to develop a "begrudging respect" for Destiel fans.^[9] In the season eight episode "Goodbye Stranger," there was a scripted moment in which Dean says "I love you" to Castiel that was later cut^[7] and changed to "I need you" at Ackles' suggestion.^[9]

The ninth season of the show featured a scene which was intended to mock Destiel shippers that was cut from the episode.^[19] Collins was given a note by showrunner Jeremy Carver to act like a "jilted lover" toward Dean that season.^[10] Despite this, viewership of the series continued to increase in the ninth season, which was attributed in part to Destiel shippers.^[20]

The season ten episode "Fan Fiction" introduced the term "Destiel" into Supernatural.^[3] In the episode, a group of young girls who are fans of the in-universe book series that publish Dean and Sam Winchester's adventures put on a musical adaptation of the series, allowing the series to comment on its own fanbase. At one point in the episode, Dean comments on the unlikelihood of Destiel to get together, leading the young girl to whom he was talking to simply roll her eyes and continue writing her fan fiction.^[19] Sam proceeds in the episode to tease Dean about the ship existing.^[2] The Daily Dot described the episode as an improvement of its relationship with its fans^[19] and an explicit encouragement by the show for fans to continue shipping Destiel.^[13] However TV Guide reported on the episode as less supportive of the fandom and a firm statement that the producers do not support Destiel and a denial of the creators' role in encouraging queer readings of the serious and a dismissal of the ship by the series as "cute."^[10]

In the fifteenth season, two episodes before the series finale in an episode titled "Despair," while being pursued by the personification of Death,^[4] Castiel admits his love for Dean in what was described as a "tear-stricken confession," satisfying a deal which Castiel had made the season prior that he could only die once he experienced true happiness, leading to the character's death^{[8][21][22][23]} which also stopped Death from killing Dean.^{[1][4][5][24][25][26]} Castiel left a handprint on Dean's shoulder, which mirrored the one left by Castiel in the fourth season.^[4][21] His final words were wishing Dean goodbye, which The Mary Sue said was significant as they identified "Hello Dean" as Castiel's catchphrase.^[4] Castiel then got brought to a place referred to as the Empty, which was compared to Hell^[6] and the only form of death which fans saw as permanent due to the consistent resurrections which had previously happened prior to "Despair."^[16] The episode was written by gay man, Robert Berens, who had previously written several moments that were viewed by audiences as romantic between Castiel and Dean.^[12] Wanting the moment to be special, episode director Richard Speight Jr. made sure that it was the last scene which Collins filmed for the season.^[18] That night, the term "Destiel" trended on Twitter, even amid the 2020 United States presidential election results being calculated the same night.^[8]

In the English version of "Despair," Dean responds to Castiel's confession by asking him not to sacrifice himself. Gizmodo claimed that due to this, Destiel was in fact not part of the series' canon.^[6] However, several weeks after the episode aired, the version of the episode which was translated to Spanish aired and circulated on social media, in which Dean responds by returning Castiel's confession.^[1] This led to backlash toward The CW as people believed the network to have censored the scene in the English version.^[27] However, Collins later posted that this was not the result of an alternate ending of the scene that was filmed, claiming that it was a translator changing the scene.^[25]

The Daily Dot noted that Destiel fans were especially strong in the hope of their ship becoming canon partly due to the lack of representation for gay men in television. In the 2013 article, The Daily Dot said that the ship was unlikely to become canon due to the series' perceived poor record of representation.^[11] They referred to the ship as the fandom's "most controversial subject,"^[7] a sentiment which was echoed by Vanity Fair.^[3] However, as Castiel first made the deal to be killed after experiencing happiness, fans compared it to Buffy Summers and Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, leading people to believe it was possible.^[4]

In discussing the incident surrounding Chad Kennedy's deletion of his Twitter accounts, fans noted that the issue was larger than the specific ship. The show had very few queer characters, and people noted that the larger issue of representation of queer people was at play in the way people discussed Destiel. Despite this, The Daily Dot still suggested that such an attitude would cause a bad relationship between the fandom and the production team.^[7] They continued in later articles to note that the fandom had a notable contentious relationship with the series' creators, suggesting however that Destiel was likely responsible for the series continuing to have a large fan base.^[13]

The series was often accused of queer baiting in regards to Dean and Castiel,^[10] and Collins had previously referred to them as unfair.^[16] TV Guide noted several instances in which queerness was referenced in regards to Dean, particularly in regards to Castiel. In reacting to "Fan Fiction's" perceived dismissal of Destiel, they claimed that the writers were encouraging queer readings of the series and the consistent denial that the story lines exists from creators of the series.^[10]

When "Despair" aired, establishing Castiel's feelings for Dean to be true within the series, it was met with heavy criticism. It was described as an example of the "bury your gays" trope of killing queer characters once they are able to be happy.^{[3][4][5][8][22][23][25][16]} The Daily Dot further criticized the show for Ackles' performance in that moment, saying that Dean looked uncomfortable as he did not return Castiel's declaration of love and referred to the scene as "queer-baiting taking to its most disappointing extreme."^[21][22] This sentiment was echoed by several other reports on the episode,^[3][18][24] including one by Vulture which found significance in the fact that Dean does not return Castiel's confession, describing it as an attempt by the show to avoid having an actual queer relationship onscreen.^[5] Some users did not view the confession as one of love, but rather a platonic expression of love between friends.

The reactions to the episode led Den of Geek to analyze Castiel's history as a character, identifying him as a "well-developed queer icon." They identified queer coding in the character from the beginning and the way Castiel saw Dean. They criticized Supernatural for not using the potential they had identified earlier. They noted that Dean not reciprocating the confession would likely be changed in fan fictions, saying it was unfortunate that Supernatural left that part of their relationship out of the series.

The reactions were not entirely negative, as The Mary Sue noted that despite the negativity of the "bury your gays" trope, it was still a major success that the series had managed to bring the relationship into the series' canon in its long run and significant use of subtext with the two characters.^[12] They further noted that the fans which were blaming The CW, the network on which Supernatural aired, was unhelpful, noting that The CW had a significant amount of representation of queer characters prior to Castiel.^[1] Polygon also posted that many of the reactions and Internet memes online were in fact positive.^[16]

The reactions were very widespread, leading to various Internet memes,^[8] including ones noting the timing of reports Vladimir Putin was planning to resign coming out on the same day as "Despair" airing, often implying a connection between the two.^[16] These memes became the means through which many people learned about Putin's resignation.^[22][28]

Collins, who had previously been supportive of Destiel fans and queer fans in general,^[29] defended the choice from the writers, labeling the criticisms of the scene as unfair.^[21] The night the episode released, he posted on Twitter referring to Castiel as "openhearted," "selfless," and "true."^[26] He stated that he was happy with the ending for his character, noting that the series finale several episodes later established that Castiel was not dead and was instead in Heaven.^[29] He acknowledged the death playing into the "bury your gays" trope while confirming the ship to be canon at an online convention,^[18] but added that since Castiel was established not to have been saved and that his declaration allowed Dean to save the world in the penultimate episode, "Inherit the Earth," he did not believe that the trope applied.^[29] He continued, saying that he was disheartened by the amount of criticism the ending had received and that he wanted people to enjoy the good parts of it. Collins received backlash for these comments, and later posted an apology, explaining that he was naive in believing that Castiel's confession would feel validating, instead offering to listen to fans explaining why it was not.^[25]

• Dean Winchester/Castiel at Fanlore