Jo's Unfair Kill Off is a Reminder of How Brutal SPN Fandom Once Was

Although Supernatural was one of the most popular network series of the last decade, the hit show still had a number of problems that alienated quite a few fans during its 15-season run.

For starters, the narrative sometimes felt too bloated, as the monster-of-the-week approach forced some people to simply skip filler episodes. However, there was another problem that plagued fans even more — complete lack of interesting romantic interests.

While the show had featured a lot of great, compelling female characters over the years, none of them managed to stick around for more than a couple of seasons, and hunter Jo Harvelle was the prime example of that.

Jo was first introduced in Season 2, and many were convinced she would become one of the main characters, considering how vivid and exciting she was to watch. However, Jo did not return to the story until Season 5 and was mercilessly killed off in Season 7, putting to rest the idea of her becoming a romantic partner for either Dean or Sam.

The fact that such a great character was killed while trying to save the Winchesters from a mundane Hellhound seemed absurd to many fans. But in fact, it looks like the Supernatural fandom is partially to blame for Jo's death.

'There was massive fan backlash at the time about love interests and girls. Hence why Jo, Ellen, Ruby and Bella didn't remain,' a fan pointed out on Reddit.

Apparently, the Supernatural writers decided to kill Jo off because the fandom supposedly hated her (and the other female characters). Looking back, it's actually heartbreaking that we were denied a great romantic storyline due to the backlash from a vocal minority who started a crusade against the harmless character.

'Every single time showrunners give into the loudest "fans" on social media, the show suffers. Every. Single. Time,' a Redditor complained. 'I would go so far as to add in the Castiel zealots with that one. Cas should have been written out long before the end of the series. I just watched Season 11 and started 12, and it's obvious he's just hanging around with no real purpose.'

Source: Reddit.