Image via The CW
Published Feb 12, 2026, 8:06 AM EST
Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features and reviews, and has interviewed the cast and crew of Dark Winds. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His first work of self-published fiction – The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain – became a #1 Best Seller in "Religious Fiction Short Stories" on Amazon in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.
Over 327 episodes of Supernatural, Jensen Ackles delivered a plethora of memorable lines as Dean Winchester. The elder of the two demon-hunting Winchester brothers, Dean was always known for never giving up, and he often said as such. But of all of Dean's lines across 15 seasons of the WB-turned-CW drama, perhaps the one that hits the hardest after all this time comes from the second season premiere, "In My Time of Dying," where Dean reminds himself as much as the viewer that there is always something worth fighting for.
Dean Winchester Really Hit the Nail on the Head With This 'Supernatural' Line
Image via The CWWhen Supernatural Season 2 opens, the Winchesters have been hit by a literal demon-driven semi-truck that puts Dean in a coma. Caught between life and death, he is forced to fight off his own reaper in order to find some way to bring himself back from the dead. As Sam (Jared Padalecki) tries to find a way to reunite Dean's spirit with his body, the elder Winchester walks around incorporeally and meets another wayward passenger on the road to eternity, Tessa (Lindsey McKeon). Although Dean first believes Tessa to be another human victim like himself, it eventually becomes clear that she is actually the reaper that's been hunting him all along. But before that revelation comes out, he tries to dissuade her from giving into death's siren song by reminding her that, "You always have a choice. You can either roll over and die or you can keep fighting, no matter what."
In many ways, this quote perfectly embodies everything we know about Dean up until this point. It certainly describes him throughout the series as a whole. From the beginning, Dean was always the one who aimed to go down swinging. To "save people" and "hunt things" until the family business — or he — dries up. It's no wonder, then, that Dean dies on the job in the series finale, only finally accepting death after decades of choosing to fight that good fight alongside his brother. (Ironically, Dean would live up to this quote yet again in the afterlife by still choosing to fight for those he loves in The Winchesters spin-off series.) But at this point, the Winchesters still had yet to get revenge on the Yellow-Eyed Demon (Fredric Lehne) who killed their mother and destroyed their family 23 years earlier, so he had quite a bit to live for.
Of course, this quote really hits home in the Season 2 premiere because, as much as he's trying to convince Tessa at this moment not to give up hope, he's really giving himself the pep talk that he needs to carry on. It's a rare moment of complete Dean Winchester vulnerability disguised as a rousing hero speech meant to spark a call to arms against death itself. In reality, Dean needs to hear it the most. It's no wonder, then, that (upon discovering the truth of Tessa's identity) the reaper later throws these very words back in his face, trying to convince him that his part in the war is over, and that, for Dean, the battle could be finished. Naturally, the opposite proved true.
'Supernatural's "In My Time of Dying" Changed Dean Winchester Forever
Despite the episode's title (a reference to the Led Zeppelin track of the same name), Dean does everything he can to not die here, though ultimately his resurrection is not his doing. Instead, the sacrifice of his father, John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), is what brings the elder brother back to the land of the living. Once here, he aims to get back into the fight, even going so far as to lay down his own life for the sake of bringing his brother back from the grave, counting his own life as lost after his father's death. Although Dean falters in his conviction to carry on at times, he always gets back on the horse (or, behind the driver's seat of the Impala, in this case) and continues to fight that good fight. It seems almost serendipitous that the previous episode, Season 1's "Devil's Trap," utilizes the song "Fight the Good Fight" by Triumph in its opening "Road So Far" sequence (the only time Kansas' "Carry on Wayward Son" isn't used in a season finale).
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Although some might consider this Dean quote a throwaway line from an already exceptional episode, it speaks to the core truths of who Dean is as a character. This is why he struggled with Sam's decision to leave the family business for Stanford. He doesn't understand how one could give up the fight and choose to abandon the mission at hand. Even when he briefly settles down and creates a life for himself between the fifth and sixth seasons, Dean can never fully leave hunting behind, jumping right back into the action the moment Sam returns. It may not be a line that comes back later in the series, but the power behind it is echoed throughout Supernatural's landmark run on television, and continues to guide the character as we wonder about a potential revival.
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