Zachariah (Supernatural)

Plot

Zachariah debuts in the fourth season episode 'It's a Terrible Life', motivating Dean Winchester to prevent demons from freeing Lucifer. When the prophet Chuck Shurley receives a vision of the Winchesters, Zachariah warns him not to alert them. In the season finale 'Lucifer Rising', Zachariah reveals that angels have been running Heaven in God's absence and admits Heaven will allow Lucifer's release so that paradise on Earth can be achieved by defeating Lucifer in the apocalypse.

Castiel rescues Dean at the cost of his own life, but Dean arrives too late to stop Sam from killing Lilith, breaking the final seal imprisoning Lucifer. In the fifth season premiere 'Sympathy for the Devil', Zachariah tells Dean he is destined to be Michael's vessel. When Dean refuses, Zachariah tortures the brothers with diseases, but flees after Castiel appears, fearing God saved the Winchesters. In 'The End', Zachariah sends Dean to an apocalyptic future where Dean never became Michael's vessel and Lucifer controls Earth using Sam.

Dean still refuses, and Castiel saves him. In 'Dark Side of the Moon', Zachariah tortures the brothers in Heaven after they are killed, but God intervenes. Michael gives Zachariah one final chance in 'Point of No Return', resurrecting the Winchesters' half-brother Adam under false pretenses to take Dean's place as Michael's vessel.

Development

Fuller broke his habit of not auditioning for episodic television because he was impressed by Supernatural. He was unaware Zachariah would be revealed as an angel and was excited at the chance to break his tradition of playing villains. However, by his second episode the character turned less nice, and by the third he was stealing lungs and giving stomach cancer. Fuller decided he was apparently incapable of playing a nice guy.

He chose to play Zachariah as a boss type, believing the character's introduction as Dean's memory-wiped boss was a great way into it. Although Zachariah had been described as a Morgan Freeman-type with equanimity, Fuller felt the character ended up resembling Donald Trump. He researched angels but did not let that influence him, relying on the script as his bible. Fuller expected Zachariah to die in the fifth season but felt the death in the hundredth episode came a little early.

He was proud of the role and upset at the character's death, saying it was a part of him that died. He expressed interest in returning if asked.

Reception

Critics universally praised Fuller's portrayal. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune called him absolutely spot-on as the overly chipper and slightly sinister character, noting his ability to wring humor from lines while remaining scary. John Kubicek of BuddyTV found Fuller perfect at balancing comedy and evil, and was excited to see Zachariah die in an awesome way. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club called the final scene satisfying but was a little sad to see such a well-realized bad-guy leave. Tina Charles of TV Guide felt Fuller could do no wrong as Zachariah, liking that the character could go toe to toe with Dean like no other and was downright evil despite his motives. Diana Steenbergen of IGN deemed him definitely a villain easy to hate.