Reception
Critical response to the character has been extremely favorable. Castiel ranked ninth on TV.com's top ten list of best new supporting characters of 2008. The staff and voters of TelevisionWithoutPity both agreed Castiel was the 2008–2009 Most Welcome New Character on television, and BuddyTV's John Kubicek listed him as one of the ten "TV Characters Who Deserve Their Own Spin-Offs". TV Squad ranked him as the top reason to watch the series, noting the "slightly awkward, frighteningly precise angel... has done an amazing job of selling the underlying menace and vengefulness of God's most heavenly creatures."
Karla Peterson of The San Diego Union-Tribune described the concept of Castiel as "genius" and the actor Collins as "fabulous". Deeming Castiel to be a "fascinating new element", Diana Steenbergen of IGN ranked Castiel fourth in her list of the "Ten Things We Love About Supernatural". She posited that Collins plays the role with "somber intensity", and "brings a sense of curiosity about humans to the character". The angel's interactions with Dean were "one of the highlights of the season". She especially praised Collins for his dual role as Castiel and the angel's host Jimmy Novak in the episode "The Rapture", and wrote, "It is a tribute to Collins's acting that the audience knows immediately that the person we are seeing is not Castiel."
Fan response to the character has also been positive. Many pairings for the character have become popular, the most popular being Megstiel and Destiel. Collins enjoys the fan's enthusiasm over these pairing and often encourages fans to vote via twitter for them in polls. Collins has also said he believed that the character would end up being just another role for him, and never expected such a reaction from the fans. According to him, "The enthusiasm that I've been met with is something new and not something I'm really prepared for." The character was originally intended for only a six-episode story arc, but his role was rewritten to continue throughout the rest of the season. Upon Supernatural's renewal for a fifth season, Collins was promoted to a series regular, something he believes to be mainly due to fan support.
Read more about this topic: Castiel (Supernatural)
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