Ensemble Dark Horse / Supernatural

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• Sarah Blake. Seven years after her one appearance, she's still a Fan-Preferred Pairing for Sam (when not pairing him up with other males, at least). Her popularity is probably the reason she got brought back for another episode in Season 8, though she's now dead at Crowley's hands, so...
• Bobby. Even the actor expected him to have a small role, but he was deeply integrated into the show after his original appearance, becoming the third lead behind the boys. When he finally departed for good, you cannot help but feel that the writers have done everything with the character that was needed, and are satisfied with the conclusion to his story despite it being a Tear Jerker. Very few characters anywhere got as much of a privilege as him.
• Castiel. He was only supposed to be in a handful of episodes and killed off, allowing Anna to become the boys' angel guide and Dean's love interest. The writers recognized his popularity and chemistry with Dean, so it was Anna who was eventually killed and Cas was given her story. Since then, his popularity within the fandom causes many new viewers to be surprised he was ever an ensemble dark horse.
• The fanbase unanimously embraced Ellen; at one point, it was actually more common to pair her up with Dean (or Sam) than with Dean's intended Love Interest, Ellen's daughter Jo (not that she doesn't have her fans). To a lesser extent, there's Ellen's fellow moms Jody Mills and Linda Tran.
• Gordon Walker. Being a badass He Who Fights Monsters Knight Templar hunter portrayed by Sterling K. Brown will get you this status. In fact, he was so popular that he became a recurring antagonist in Seasons 2 and 3.
• Agent Henriksen. Television Without Pity bestowed upon him the nickname "Agent Scooter Javert Badassitude", and it actually suits him.
• The unnamed Crossroads Demon who appears in Seasons 2 and 3 is rather popular with fans, for her rather important role in Dean's storyline, as well as other reasons.
• Dean's old girlfriend Cassie is only in one episode but is a strong character who is shipped as his one true love just as often as plenty of main and supporting characters.
• Despite only showing up for four episodes as Lilith's lackey Alastair is shown to be very well received as a villain with his popularity rivaling that of even the Big Bads of this show. It helps that within these episodes he's lives up to his name as Hell's Grand Torturer kicking the asses of every one he crosses paths to with no effort while being an absolute Sadist about it making each episode as terrifying as possible.
• Gabriel has both a large number of fans (he even has his own Big Bang on Livejournal) and a lot of people who want to see him again even after he was Killed Off for Real by his brother. Their wishes were granted in Season 13.
• Crowley manages to be hilarious, classy, and simply magnificent. He's also played by Mark Sheppard.
• Death. His Big Entrance set to "O Death" by Jen Titus started it. Part of his badass credentials is that he's one of the very few supernatural entities that Dean actually respects. Dean being the guy that verbally abused an entire room full of gods multiple times as a way to offer his help, while unarmed and with no exit route. Death's on a completely different level from anything the boys have faced. He could solve just about any problem they had, it's just that he doesn't care any more than a biologist would care about the emotional state of a mold sample he's studying.
• Fans' reaction to Abaddon since her promotion to part of the Big Bad Ensemble of season nine has been quite positive.
• Benny the badass Friendly Neighborhood Vampire from Purgatory, who teams up with Dean and calls him "brother". Being one of the show's many woobies only sealed the deal.
• Heaven's most adorable angel AKA Samandriel has the quite the devoted fanbase as well. His death only increased it.
• Almighty Janitor, Badass Pacifist Joshua has a modest yet powerful fanbase for providing some stability amongst the more unstable high-ranking Angels, and having some unique powers.
• Jeanne d'Archétype Angel Anna Milton is liked for some providing some novelty among the early Angel characters and good chemistry with the brothers.
• Linda Tran has quite a large fanbase, who clamored for her off-screen death in Season 8 to be revealed to be fake. Their voices were heard!
• Balthazar, full stop. Despite only appearing in six episodes in Season 6, he has plenty of fans and is the thing that they probably like the most about Season 6. He's notable for sending the Winchesters into the Real Life parallel universe in "The French Mistake", unsinking the Titanic because he hated the movie, and for helping the Winchesters in the climax of Season 6. He is also notable for being one of the angels who fully embraces free will (although to questionable extents) and having many hilarious moments, not unlike the aforementioned Gabriel.
  Balthazar: (about why he unsunk the Titanic) "Because that godawful Céline Dion song made me want to smite myself!"
• Mick Davies is viewed as the bright spot of the often-maligned Men of Letters arc, being a competent, engaging Token Good Teammate to the group (a few We Hardly Knew Ye characters aside) with a distinct arc. His abrupt death was seen as cause for mourning, and was when the popularity of Men of Letters and their plot line took a nosedive.
• Alton and Serena, Mick's colleagues from The Raid are somewhat well-liked (as far as minor characters go) for being competent, but not infallible, and able to accept that they weren't infallible, qualities which were unfortunately rare among the British Men of Letters as a whole.
• Zachariah is probably the best example of a Love to Hate villain seen on the show; a snarky and petty scumbag through and through, but will usually be found near the top of a list ranking all of the villains on the show because he's so damn effective. Fans were notably excited upon learning that he'll be back in some form for the three-hundredth episode, "Lebanon", in Season 14.
  Zachariah: "The last person in the history of creation you want as your enemy is me. And I'll tell you why. Lucifer may be strong, but I'm...petty."
• The Special Children as a group are liked with Andy being appreciated for his combination of humor, resourcefulness and pathos, while Jake and Ava are well-acted Fallen Heroes with interesting powers, with all of them being characters occasionally mentioned as ones fans wouldn't mind seeing again.
• Elizabeth Higgins, was only in one episode (the one with the housewife witches) but was appreciated for being the Token Good Teammate of the group, and her Heroic Sacrifice at the end.
• Mixed race light witch hunter siblings Max and Alicia Banes have their fans.
• Most people agree that Jesse Turner, the potential anti-christ with his Child-like Reality Warping was pretty fun to watch.
• Jenny Klein, the cupcake baking Sexy Secretary from "Shut Up, Dr. Phil", was considered a scene stealer by many (and brought back in a minor way for a later episode) for her humorous Freak Out reaction to signs of magic, and (in a nice Bait-and-Switch manner) endearing confusion about the idea that anyone would think she was having an affair with her boss (who has a record of womanizing and she bakes cupcakes for). Jenny only appears in three scenes, but some fans consider her to be a highlight of that episode, even with Buffyverse alums James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter having more substantial guest roles. Plenty of fans consider her to be one of the most likable victims Sam and Dean rescue from paranormal harm without her even having any romantic chemistry with the brothers.
• The unnamed Angel who appears in three scenes of "Bad Seed" and "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" is pretty memorable. Fans enjoy his Odd Friendship moment with a demon in a bar and his game attempt at rallying the Host of Heaven against The Darkness.
• Emma, Dean's half-Amazon daughter, for being a formidable opponent with a unique dynamic with the brothers and playing the role in a manner that makes it difficult to tell whether she's a Tragic Monster who could have been better, or a Manipulative Bitch even after her role is over.
• The shapeshifter who shifted into movie monsters, for embodying Evil Is Hammy, while also having some dimensions and seriousness.
• Marie and Maeve (the girls who make a musical based on Chuck's In-universe Supernatural novels) are liked by a lot of people for some hilariously awkward moments, Meta jokes and providing some good assistance throughout the episode.
• Minnesota Nice Sheriff Donna Hanscum. Her first episode, in which Briana Buckmaster's name only appears in the closing credits, shows no sign that she was intended as anything but one-off comic relief. She turned out to be so popular that she was brought back as a recurring character and bubbly foil to the drier Sheriff Jody.

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