According to major media reports, Eric Kripke addressed online dissatisfaction with the current season, stating he never considered any episodes to be filler. In an interview with TV Guide, Kripke explained that the show has 14 or 15 main characters and he owes it to them to flesh out their stories. He also noted that the budget does not cover constant fight scenes, warning that viewers expecting high-octane action are watching the wrong show.
Fans on Reddit criticized Kripke's comments, arguing that four seasons should have been enough for character development. One Reddit user said it feels weird to talk about fleshing out characters when the show should be wrapping up stories. Another user called Kripke's take baffling, noting that a final season should allow writers to go all-out.
None of the things that happen in the last few episodes will matter if you don’t flesh out the characters. I’m getting a lot of online dissatisfaction, to put it politely.
Season 5 will air its penultimate episode next week.
And I’m like, ‘What are you expecting? Are you expecting a huge battle scene every episode?'
We have something like 14 characters, maybe 15. And I owe it to all of them — in that television is the character business — I owe it to all of them to flesh them out and humanize them and their stories [sic].