Having finished six seasons and already at work on their seventh, Supernatural is no stranger to Comic-Con, but this year Ballroom 20 would not be enough to hold them. For the first time ever, Supernatural’s panel was hosted in Hall H, with fans filling up the giant hall to scream and cheer for there favorite monster hunting brothers. Moderated by IGN’s Eric Goldman, the panel consisted of writer and showrunner Sera Gamble, writer Ben Edlund, Jensen Ackles (Dean), Jared Padalecki (Sam), Misha Collins (Castiel), Jim Beaver (Bobby Singer), and Mark Sheppard (Crowley). Hit the jump to read about what is in store for Sam and Dean this year.
Before the panel, Ackles came out to introduce a “Roads So Far” montage of clips from season 6 as well as a clip from the 3rd episode from season 7, “The Girl Next Door,” which is his second time directing an episode of Supernatural. The clip featured special guest stars Jewel Strait as “Amy Pond” and Colin Ford, who reprises his role as young Sam. After the clip Ackles talked a bit about how his experience directing his second episode different from the first back in season 6.
“It was more difficult the second time – last year it was more ignorance is bliss. I had to be in it more this time.”
- It was asked whether or not Jared Padalecki behaved for his co-star-come-director, which was answered with a resounding no. But that he trusts Jensen, after six years of working with him, to tell him where to go and when to talk. Ackles added that he doesn’t need to tell Padalecki how to be Sam.
- Misha Collins was asked a lot about his character’s dark turn at the cliffhanger of last year’s finale. To catch up those behind, Castiel has gotten himself a big shiny new set of cosmic powers and has decided that he is the new God, for better or worse. Collins mused about his character’s new status, commenting that he was surprised no one has written a godlike role for him before now and how much of a perfect fit it is for him (much to the groaning of his castmates). He feels that the role is a little daunting and is going to be an unusual challenge for him to do.
- Sera Gamble however was very tight lipped about how much we are going to be seeing Castiel in this next season, only stating that he will be in the first 2 episodes. Gamble stated that for a while Cas has felt that God abandoned him, and that his “daddy issues” will play a big role in regards to his new god-status. Castiel felt that God was doing a terrible job and that he will use his new status to do what he believes God should have been doing for a while, cleaning up the messes that he believes that his father has left.
- It was asked if Collins acts different on the set now that he is God. He said that he smites more.
- Mark Sheppard wants a spin-off called “Oh, Crowley,” possibly with a bit of singing and dancing. He will be returning in season 7 as Cas has “big plans” for him. Gamble says that we will find out what these are right at the start of the season.
- Jim Beaver was asked about his characters feelings towards Sam and Dean and their treatment of him in the previous season. He stated that he believes Bobby understands that in the world they inhabit, bad things happen; he believes that Bobby knows Sam didn’t mean it.
- Ben Edlund was asked if there are any more meta episodes in the works, and he answered that after the “French Mistake” it would be very difficult to top that level of breaking down the fourth wall, but believes that there is still much that can be done with form. He’s excited to experiment with what can be done with elements like the Ghostfacers.
- Sam went to some dark places of this last season and Jared Padalecki is excited to see what is the fallout of both what he experienced during his time in hell and also what he was involved in while he was Souless!Sam. Padalecki believes this season is going to deal a lot with Sam being scared and out of his depth with what has happened to him, but also about him healing from these experiences. He also quipped that Collin shirtless scares him. “I think you’re confusing fear with jealousy.”
- The question of Lisa and Ben was approached; Ackles believed that Dean’s sacrifice of them was necessary. That is never going to be his life. Dean is always going to be a hunter and he has bigger problems on his hands now.
- There are no plans as of yet to have Chuck return.
- Death doesn’t mean the same thing on Supernatural that is does on other shows and Gamble makes a point to tell actors this when they gets scenes in which they die. He also said that all the main actors have had a death on the show. Padalecki scoffed, “A death? A death?” Ackles then pointed out, “I died like 40 times in one episode.”
- Ackles and Padalecki said the scenes where Sam and Dean are fighting and bickering are some of their favorite scenes; they feel like there characters grow during these scenes. Ackles admits that playing off Soulless Sam was very difficult because the way that Sam and Dean have been playing off each other as brothers for years was so ingrained in the way he played Dean that to suddenly have Sam be so out of character threw him off.
There are plans to have a couple characters returning :
- Sheriff Mills is coming back and Beaver hopes that this means that Bobby will get lucky romantically for once.
- Jo is going to return as well, but they were very tight lipped as to how.
- Death is going to make another appearance in season 7
- Since the show already has gone beyond the 5 seasons it was originally plotted it was asked whether there is an ending planned. Gamble said that there is a plan in place if this is their last season and also there is another plan for if they get a pick up. She hopes, however, that it will go on for a long time.
- One fan asked about the arsenal that Sam and Dean keep in their trunk and if we are going to see some of the more esoteric weapons seen in the trunk used in the show, such as Ninja Stars or the grenade launcher. Edlund jokes that if they used the grenade launcher the episodes would be much shorter, but that he hopes to use the Ninja Stars in an episode.
- They touched a bit on the new anime series that is coming out July 26th to DVD and Blu Ray. Supernatural: The Animation is a retelling of the first season and both Ackles and Padalecki voice their characters in many of the episodes. Padalecki commented that it was weird for him because while they were doing the voices it coincided with the finale of the 6th season where he was already playing three different versions of his character, then to add a 4th “past” version of Sam was a little jarring for him.
Season 7 of Supernatural starts this September.