‘SUPERNATURAL’ Writer Dan Loflin Details Garth’s Origin Story, including How He Almost Didn’t Come to Be

For all those that have taken a liking to Garth in the ‘Supernatural’ series and you just have to know everything about him, well, writer Dan Loflin (@danloflin) decided to tweet out the story of how Garth came from just being an off-screen character to an on-screen persona, plus why he almost died.

“It all started way back in s6 when news hit that Jensen would be directing the first episode of the season.”

“Since it was Jensen’s first time directing, we thought it best to craft a Dean-light story, so he could focus on the enormous task before him. And by “enormous” I’m referring to the directing of Jared Padalecki.”

“You see, Jared (@jarpad) easily tops out at 7’ 10” while standing. And that’s no lie. #sasquatch #wookie #moose”

“So, we called on superstar Jim Beaver (@jumblejim) to anchor the Bobby-centric “Weekend at Bobby’s” with Jared.”

“And into the draft went the following scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-5ockqm2BY ”

“That was the first appearance of Garth. And though it was merely an off-screen mention the lovely Ms. Gamble (our fearless showrunner) took a liking to the hapless (and faceless) new hunter.”

“All HELLATUS long, I worried that Ms. Gamble would forget about dear Garth.”

“But when s7 rolled around, once again Jensen was called-on to direct and once again I worked a mention of Garth’s off-screen adventures into the first draft. This one resulting in his DEATH.”

“Hunters have been dying left and right to the new Leviathan threat. Well, Garth was originally one of the DEAD.”

“My thought was that it might strike Sera as tragic to lose beloved Garth– even as minor as he was at the time.”

“And I was right! Sera cut his off-screen death from the draft with a big “NOOO!” written into the margin.”

“And Garth’s off-screen life was spared. #whew”

“And like the fabled Phoenix, Garth rose from the ashes of near-death and made his ONSCREEN DEBUT as Dean’s “temp” partner in the “Wedding” episode. All thanks to the love of Sera Gamble.”

“So, in a sense, Garth’s BIRTH came from his DEATH– keeping with the Supernatural tradition of resurrection.”

“DJ @theonlydjqualls was my first choice for the part. Big fan since ROAD TRIP. Luckily, he said yes!”

“Ups to Andrew Dabb who made him a hugger!”

“More ups to Adam Glass who created Mr. Fizzles and has written Garth so beautifully.”

“Even more ups to Robbie Thompson who coined the phrase “You got Garthed!””

“And if she ever comes out of twitter seclusion– show Sera the love for making Garth a reality.”

“Props to Jeremy Carver who gave the “okay” to this twitter story. He’s a good man :)”

“As you can see, Garth’s (and #Supernatural’s) success has been a team effort. With you guys included!”

DJ Qualls (@TheOnlyDJQualls) also took to the Twitterverse in explaining how he got to play the loveable Garth.

“I was living in Nola shooting a TNT show called Memphis Beat. I knew it was going to get the ax and I was pretty sad about it”

“I called my manager and told him to look for a job so I would have something to take my mind off the death of my show.”

“TV’s a mean business, breaks ur heart a lot. A few days later, I get a call about this character Garth on a show called #SPN”

“The call went like this: you’re probably not going to want to do this, but you’ve been offered a guest spot on #spn”

“I told him I’d never seen it but to send over the scrip and a few episodes (I’d never seen the show).”

“Read the #SPN script any loved it. Watched an episode where @jarpad fell down a hole and went to hell and I was confused.”

“Couldnt figure out the show. Called my mgr and asked if these guys were models who chase monsters. And if so, what so they want w/me?”

“So I was initially on the fence about playing Garth at all. Decided that Id talk it out with Sera. She called and explained.”

“I thought, ok, Ill do it once. Sounds fun. I get there and @jarpad and Jensen treated me like Id been there always (they were mean to me)”

“Apparently they are mean to everyone they like including each other. After a couple of days I knew I wanted to come back.”

“Then the ep aired and I got to see hints of who Garth was from an outside prospective and fell in love with him.”

“Fast forward a year and Id done 3, been overseas to a convention, picked up 30k twitter followers. Garth changed my life”

“In public, people run up to me calling me Garth, I hug people while they cry, I get which shoe he ties 1st. It initially scared me.”

“I’d been decently well known for 12 years at that point, but I’d never known cult fame. Whole different ball game.”

“Playing Garth has been much more wonderful than I could have ever expected. All the love (and some hate) has been overwhelming”

“When Bobby died, I got a lot of crap. It was being teased that I was replacing him. I had no idea and I don’t write the show.”

“I wanted to quit the show for a minute. I talked to @jarpad about it and he was like Welcome to #spn. We all get both extremes.”

“Im now used to it and really appreciate the #SPNFamily interactions and know that Im a part of something ppl love”

“I look forward to returning to the show as soon as I fit into a storyline. Until then, I get to watch Garth be further developed thru calls”

“Garth’s safe boathouse made me laugh out loud.”

“And that’s my perspective on how Garth and I found each other. It was love at almost first sight.”