Via IGN.com
Supernatural returns for Season 7 Friday night, on the heels of – if you'll excuse the term – one hell of a cliffhanger, which had Sam and Dean's former friend and ally, the angel Castiel, gaining a ton of new power and declaring himself God in the process.
This week, I was among a group of journalists who got to see the Supernatural season premiere a couple of days early, followed by a Q&A with executive producers Sera Gamble and Robert Singer. Some of what they said I can't talk about yet, as it deals with some pretty major spoilers on how the season premiere plays out. But there are plenty of subjects we can go into now, to give you some idea of what to look forward to this season, which looks to once again be keeping Sam and Dean very busy.
Castiel: So just what is going on with Cas, as the season opens? Said Singer, "I think he totally bought into what he was doing at the end of last year. He totally believes in what he is doing and believes that it's the right thing. There's a certain amount of hubris and ego there that's probably misplaced."
Without going into specifics on Castiel's actions, Gamble noted, "There are things he's doing that come from, I think, a really pure, old place for him. Things that he has wished, for a long time, his dad would get his ass back here and do. And then there's stuff that's just been irking him. Cas realizes in this episode that he has more to prove than he thought. I think if you look at this from his perspective, he had friends that he stuck up for and he gave up everything for over and over again, for a long time, and they didn't stand by him. So some of his actions in this episode are kind of about proving them wrong."
Sam and Dean: Again, without getting specific, suffice to say that there is more to Sam to deal with now that the wall in his mind blocking him from remembering his time in hell has been broken. But that doesn't mean Dean won't be busy himself. While Singer said there were things they couldn't discuss yet, he did remark, "Dean will have lots of issues this year that he's going to have to deal with. I think in the first 13 episodes he probably will carry a rockier journey, in an odd way, of how he feels emotionally and the things that he has to deal with than in any other season. He's on a real rollercoaster."
Discussing any themes of the season, Gamble remarked, "One thing that I think is a through line that we keep seeing is that Sam and Dean now feel like they are kind of part of a small and almost outmoded way of fighting evil. They feel outmatched in a way that they didn't before. They feel like the world around them has really changed."
The Trial of Dean Winchester: One big episode for Dean will involve him being put on trial by the Egyptian God, Osiris, who Singer notes, "weighs your heavy heart against a feather and if your heart is heavier than the feather, then he does you in. And it's all about carrying guilt and that sort of thing. Not just, 'Do I feel bad?' But, 'Do I feel guilty?' And that's kind of a big turning point episode for [Dean's] arc this year."
That episode will see the return of the late Jo Harvelle (Alona Tal), who is called as a witness against Dean. Singer had a ton of praise for Tal, saying, "She's great in the episode. We put some flashbacks in the episode, back to an episode she was in years ago, and she has matured and incredibly grown as an actress. She's just wonderful. I hadn't really worked with her for quite sometime, and I was just blown away by what she did."
The Buffy Reunion: Gamble revealed that casting Buffy and Angel alums Charisma Carpenter and James Marsters in an upcoming episode came from "really hard work on the part of our casting directors and Bob and I were on the phone quite a bit." Added Singer, "And the network was helpful… and fairly insistent!"
Gamble recalled how the couple Carpenter and Marsters play, "seemed like a good opportunity to cast a couple and the first idea floated by the network was, 'Is there a real couple we could cast?' And then our very creative and savvy casting directors came back with this genre-specific idea that I think is great, because I think it speaks really directly to our fanbase in this way. Our casting directors really understand the people that watch this show."
Old Demons: Promises Gamble, "You'll see more of Crowley (Mark Sheppard). Crowley is sort of the ultimate self-interested character. He always finds a way to bend whatever is happening to his own best uses. And as the weather kind of changes, he figures out how to insert himself into the situation. There's a reason he's lived this long. He always finds the parachute under his seat. So as things evolve this season, we'll see him try and adapt. He's always fun, so we keep throwing stuff at him."
As for Meg, while nothing specific is currently planned, Singer noted, "We love her. I imagine she'll rear her lovely but evil head. Rachel [Miner] is great, so I think we'll probably have her back, sure."
New Allies: Gamble noted we'll be meeting, "An old acquaintance of Bobby's named Frank, who's a bit off the grid. And as Sam and Dean get squeezed in an upcoming episode and have to drop out of sight a bit more, he sends them to visit Frank and Frank is this really difficult guy to deal with. And Dean is stuck in an emergency situation and can't be with Bobby and can't be with Sam and needs a hunter. Bobby sends him this guy named Garth, who's going to be played by D.J. Qualls, so he's very quirky."
Added Gamble with a laugh, "You know what's really awesome? When you write, 'A D.J. Qualls type', and then you get D.J. Qualls! That's very exciting."
Also look for Jewel Staite (Firefly) as "an old friend of Sam's who he's reunited with after a long time. He met her when he was about 14, 15." We'll see a lot of flashbacks in this episode as well, and Gamble said, "The story is young Sam gets left behind in a town, while Dean and John go off to hunt and he runs into this girl and has a brief but important relationship with her."
Back in Time: Yep, there will be another time travel episode this season, though Gamble revealed it's by, "A whole new means, actually. It's not an angel time travel episode. One of the guys ends up stuck in 1944, which is very different than getting stuck in the wild west. It's a lot darker time period." Asked if this involves Nazi Germany, Gamble replied, with a smile, "No, although I still want to do Nazi zombies at some point!"
Explaining the story a bit, Gamble said, "It turns out a case that they were trying to solve back then is the same as a case that Sam and Dean are trying to solve now. We're breaking that right now, but all of the tropes of that time period are a lot of fun. In its own way, it's as iconic and fun as the western."
Supernatural: Season 7 premieres Friday, September 23rd at 9:00pm ET/PT on The CW.