Supernatural: 10 Best Characters Who Only Appeared In One Episode

Supernatural follows the Winchester brothers and their small cadre of helpers as they hunt down monsters. The episodes often adhere to a villain of the week format, and with the villains also come their victims of the week. These villains and victims often usually only in an episode or two.

This isn’t unusual. Casting is responsible for the largest portion of any production budget and the overall success of a franchise. Keeping the number of recurring characters in check is integral to running any show.

Have too few and a story ends up lacking depth and realism. Too few characters also limit audience appeal. Ideally, you want to appeal to the major demographics: the young and the middle-aged, then the males and the females.

The flip side of having too few characters is having too many, leading to a sprawling story that lacks focus or direction. Characters end up with too little screen time, egos clash on set, and the production budget balloons.

Supernatural managed to strike a good balance, as evidenced by its 15-season run. While many of its one-off characters are forgettable, the ten on this list have managed to sear themselves into our collective memory.

Jesse Turner is a Cambion, a human-demon hybrid, introduced in the season five episode I Believe Children Are Our Future. He is the literal Antichrist, born of a virgin after being conceived by a demon. His mother contemplates killing him out of fear that he's evil but chooses to give him up for adoption instead.

Jesse comes to the attention of the Winchesters after he causes untold chaos all over his hometown. Turner is the most powerful being the Winchesters ever encountered. He is as strong as Lucifer. In fact, Michael is the only angel more powerful than the child. When Castiel tries to kill the boy, Turner transforms him into an action figure.

The Winchesters tell Jesse that he is a superhero and promise to train him. Turner undoes the damage he has caused and just vanishes. He is never seen again despite his immense potential as an antagonist. It is disturbing to think that in the Supernatural universe, there is an Antichrist just walking around somewhere.