SDCC 2014: 'Supernatural' Press Room
Megan Miller ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
The actors and showrunner of Supernatural had interesting things to say regarding the past season’s twists and turns, the upcoming episodes, and what they are most excited for.
Mark Sheppard (Crowley) started out by saying that playing the demon king is great because it always includes surprises. He discussed the fun atmosphere on set which is supplemented by the hard work the actors and creators put into the show, and talked about how the storyline with Crowley’s son this past season was an interesting journey for the character.
The most challenging scenes, he concluded, are always season endings, because Supernatural seasons always end with a bang.
Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) said that currently in production they are all getting their bearings. Playing Dean as a different is fun, new, and different, he commented. It’ll come to an end, but it hasn’t yet, and he’s enjoying it while it last. He says he plays the character as a much lighter Dean, without any worries. As a demon, Dean “doesn’t give a shit.”
He clarified how Dean will be lighter, by adding that the character isn’t going to be funny. This carefree Dean isn’t comedic; on the contrary, it’s scary how flippant he is.
So far he’s not sure how long Dean as a demon will last into the season. Sam will take drastic measures just to locate his brother, who no longer wants to be found, and when he does it will be even more difficult to convince him that being a demon is not what should be.
Ackles also addressed what he would want from the end of the series; he doesn’t want them to go riding into the sunset. He wants tragedy.
The resident angel, Misha Collins (Castiel) talked about how in the beginning of season ten, he will be putting Dean first. Cas is almost a “martyr,” he commented. He feels that he’s done bad things and part of him wants to die as the season opens, so in lieu of that he is very determined not to do the wrong thing, which, first and foremost, would be to cooperate with Metatron.
In the start of the season, the pairings have changed a bit; Cas and Sam are now working together, while Dean and Crowley are off, as Crowley put it, howling at the moon. Castiel’s perspective on Dean as a demon is that if they are unable to fix him, they will have to kill him.
Collins discussed that he is looking forward to the angel’s personal emotional journey in the coming season. He’s not going to become human, and he is able to empathize with humans but not sympathize.
He also talked about the upcoming 200th episode, which will be one of Supernatural’s notorious “meta” episodes, with overt call outs to the fans. Regarding his own life, he commented that he will probably make another episode of his “webseries,” “Cooking Fast and Fresh with West,” soon. The videos feature the actor cooking with his son West, and he added that maybe soon his younger daughter Mason will be the “sous chef”. He also made a point of plugging GISHWHES, short for “Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen”, a week long scavenger hunt event he has organized for several years to raise money for charity.
Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester) began with the obvious: as a hunter, Sam’s responsibility is to kill Dean. Confronting his brother when he first sees him is very intense; Sam doesn’t know he’s a demon at the end of season nine, and when he finds out he’s not upset with Dean, he’s angry with Crowley.
He does want to heal his brother, but in his journey this season, Padalecki teased, Sam will tease the depths of ethics and morality more than ever before. He’s more pensive and logical, while he tries to stay true to his word to Dean last season, that he would never go as far as Dean did to get Sam back (in tricking Sam into saying yes to “Ezekial”, the angel who was actually Gadreel, Metatron’s agent).
He also revealed that season ten picks up about six months after season nine left off.
The showrunner himself, Jeremy Carver, addressed many questions that the answers given by the actors brought up. Of Sam’s morally grey journey this season, he said that they will play off of the fan expectations, and that it is all a question of what the viewers are willing to accept.
He’s excited that they won’t be doing their traditional Big Bad season arc, because now the “Big Bad” is the fact that Dean is a demon. This will allow them to let in new feelings, which will hopefully be more impactful as the season goes on. He added that they’ll be exploring the question of “I am who I am”.
The changing pairings will add a new dynamic as well. Dean and Crowley’s relationship sprung up last year, and this season Crowley has other plans as well.
Sam, on the other hand, will be working with Castiel, but not at first, because he explained that Cas doesn’t want to be a burden. While on his own, the angel goes on a personal journey, which will have a “far-reaching impact”.
He is also excited for a buddy cop episode featuring Sheriff Mills.