After 12 seasons, “Supernatural,” the show about two brothers who hunt things that go bump in the night, has cemented its place in the canon of television history. Its vibrant fan base drove the monster-hunting show’s progression from a risky bet on the part of the CW network to an inescapable cultural phenomenon. One of the show’s greatest strengths is its characters, acted with passion by its juggernaut cast.
One late addition to that cast was Castiel, the angel played by Misha Collins who first appeared in the Season 4 premiere, “Lazarus Rising,” in which he famously told Dean (Jensen Ackles), “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.” The angel went on to become a core member of the cast, nearly as central to its proceedings as the Winchester brothers themselves. No other character became as integral to the show’s mechanics, and even showrunner Erik Kripke has admitted he didn’t expect Cas to become a central character (via Insider).
However, while the character became so embedded in the show that most talk of the “Supernatural” finale was bound up in his character’s resolution, it is still unclear where the inspiration for the character originated. However, we do have some solid guesses.
Castiel was probably inspired by the Angel of Thursday
The story of Castiel begins with a Google search. In 2015, “Supernatural” showrunner Eric Kripke (who now runs “The Boys” on Amazon Prime Video) tweeted, “#SPNFunFact We were airing on Thursdays & needed a new character name. I googled ‘Angel of Thursday’ (for luck): got Castiel.” Kripke was referencing the fact that the show famously used to air on the CW on Thursday nights. A similar search did not return a close match for Castiel here at Looper, so we’ll have to take Kripke’s word for it.
The “Supernatural” mythology is a hodgepodge of folklore, religious myth, and its own imagination, so while an angel with a similar name to Castiel’s does exist in Hebrew scripture, it’s unclear whether that character was the inspiration for “Supernatural’s” Cas. The angel Kafziel, whose name does bear an uncanny resemblance to Castiel’s, is described by the Zohar (an ancient work of Jewish mysticism) as one of the chief aids to the archangel Gabriel.
While many biblical angels have, throughout millennia of translated texts and new writings, undergone countless variations upon their names, there does not appear to be an angel named Castiel in any easily referenced original text. The person to thank for his creation may not be a god of heaven and earth, but of television, in the form of Eric Kripke.
