‘Supernatural’ spinoff still a possibility — maybe even for Chicago

The ill-fated “Supernatural” spinoff, “Bloodlines,” is dead, but the Chicago setting might not be if — more likely, when — another stab is made at expanding the CW series’ franchise.

“I’d go back to Chicago in a heartbeat,” said CW President Mark Pedowitz, a graduate of John Marshall Law School. “I love Chicago. But nothing has been pitched yet, so I have no idea where it would be set.”

“Bloodlines” debuted on WGN-Channel 9 in April in what’s called a “backdoor pilot” during last season of the network’s popular monster-hunting bro show “Supernatural,” starring Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as Sam and Dean Winchester.

The spinoff, shot partly in Chicago, played into the city’s mob reputation. It featured freshly-minted monster hunter Ennis Roth (Lucien Laviscount, “Episodes”) and the Winchester brothers clashing with five monster mob families — each having separate bloodlines — that supposedly run Chicago’s underbelly.

“Creatively, [it] did not quite get where we wanted it to go,” Pedowitz said at the TV critics’ press tour Friday in Beverly Hills. “We’ve told Jeremy [Carver] and Eric [Kripke] and Bob [Singer] that we’re very open to do another spinoff. We’re waiting for them to come in with whatever the new concept is. I would love to get a Supernatural spinoff done.”

The backdoor pilot didn’t bomb in the ratings. It drew 2.1 million viewers and built on its lead-in (“The Originals,” another CW spinoff), inching up a tenth of a point from the previous week in the key 18-to-49-year old demo, where it logged a 1.0 rating — same as Fox’s “New Girl.” But the reaction on social media and the internet was fast and, for the most part, furious. Fans generally hated it.

“We waited to see the research” before pulling the plug on a series pick-up, Pedowitz said. “We went with our gut. The nice thing about running that episode, we saw a lot of interaction. There was a series there, it just wasn’t quite there yet.”

“Supernatural” starts its 10th season this fall.