TV Guide’s Burning Questions With Executive Producer Robert Singer – Full Interview
As I promised, here is the full interview with Supernatural Executive Producer Robert Singer by Ileane Rudolph of TV Guide that will appear in the Comic-Con Edition of TV Guide to be released tomorrow.
All credit for this interview belongs to TV Guide and Ileane Rudolph. If you really want to show them some love, please pick up a copy of this special edition. This is just one small blurb of the many great things they have in this magazine.
The questions are in bold, Singer's answers are underneath.
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Helped by a delicious double cross from Crowley, Season 7's finale saw Sam and Dean stake Dick Roman, the Leviathan monster who planned to turn humankind into a culinary delight. But Crowley had a price, and the brothers and their allies paid it in the cliff-hanger. The King of Hell sent Dean and befuddled angel Castiel to a monster filled Purgatory and whisked away his demon subject Meg and teen prophet Kevin, leaving a distraught Sam alone up on Earth. We asked executive producer Robert Singer for some scoop.
Will Season 8 hinge on Sam trying to save Dean from Purgatory?
No. We pick up the season a little bit down the line and Dean will have made his way back from Purgatory. We will do flashbacks through the season as to what happened there and what Sam did in the time that Dean was away.
Your fans usually hate it when the brothers are separated. Is that why they're back together so soon?
We're aware of that, so [we decided to tell] their stories in flashbacks and have them relate to the current story. The fact that the boys are going to be together pretty quickly was, we thought, a good thing.
When Castiel and Dean wound up in Purgatory, Cas did his angel disappearing act. Will Misha Collins go missing from Supernatural again?
We're just framing our ideas now, but our intention is to have Cas back a number of times.
Will Kevin the Prophet be back?
Kevin [played by Osric Chau] is an integral part of the year.
Crowley's got him in his clutches. Any hints what he's up to?
Well, you've got a prophet who can read these tablets that are supposedly the word of God. Every year we start with a theme — this is our "Raiders of the Lost Ark" year. The season-long story will be a quest. It's about Kevin and the tablets and the word of God.
Will you bring back any Winchester allies next season? They could use some!
We love Charlie–and she wasn't seen as a threat to the boys' relationship–we love Sheriff Mills, we love Garth. So we have a pretty good cast of people that we'd like to go to. And there's one new character that we're talking about. It's a monster that Dean meets in Purgatory.
Who will be the Big Bad this season?
It's basically and angels-and-demons year. It's not apocalyptic but about who can gain control and keep demons in Hell or angels in Heaven.
Former Producer Jeremy Carver, who exec produced the U.S. version of Being Human, is returning to Supernatural as your new co-showrunner. Will fans notice anything different?
No. Jeremy gave us a couple of years on the show, so I do think this season will be a little less earnest and a little more the kind of stuff we did in Seasons 2 and 3, before the weight of all the mythology got us.
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Okay, that's the whole interview. I still think that's just a beginning taste of what's to come, and we will find out more at Comic-Con this weekend. Stay tuned right here, for I'll be there to get all the details.
[quote]The season-long story will be a quest. It’s about Kevin and the tablets and the word of God.[/quote]
Wow, I love that idea.
[quote]We love Charlie–and she wasn’t seen as a threat to the boys’ relationship–we love Sheriff Mills, we love Garth.[/quote]
I do too!
[quote]our intention is to have Cas back a number of times.[/quote]
Looking forward to Cass
[quote]do think this season will be a little less earnest and a little more the kind of stuff we did in Seasons 2 and 3, before the weight of all the mythology got us.[/quote]
I think this will work, a simpler story. I just can’t wait!!
Aaaand I’m still loving the whole “Raiders” thing!
Maybe this love interest Amelia’s tragic past will turn out to be that she’s the monster Dean met in Purgatory . . . . . .what? I can hope can’t I?
P.S. Alice, I can’t load the page for the other article about these spoilers (I wanted to check the discussion) – it has completely frozen my computer three different times. I don’t know if its just too big with all the comments or what. This page and the home page load normally. (I’m using Explorer)
Melanie
(and now posting a comment is being wonky too — I’m having a bad night here! I think the uUniverse is telliing me to go to bed!
Alice — I just tried from my work computer and the page froze the internet (Not Responding) on the network one as well. There’s definately a problem with the page.
(You’re probably on your way to ComicCon and don’t give a hoot! Can’t wait for all the news from sunny CA!)
Melanie
I give a hoot, but it’s a delayed hoot! 🙂
I’ll look into it. I’m on Safari, Chrome, and Firefox and it works. I’ll try IE next, but that involves not being on a Mac! Do you by chance know what version of IE? Chances are you’re on an older version at work (most businesses are) but is it the same at home too?
I’m sorry I don’t know the version – 9, maybe? I still have XP in both places — ancient technology – I know.
I run in compatability mode at home – at work I don’t have that option.
Sorry to be a pain.
Melanie
Alice! It loads now – (slowly – but it doesn’t freeze anymore)
Thank you.
Hope you are having a blast a Comic Con!
I would love it if they would bring back Dr. Visyak. After all she was a monster from Purgatory and when she died, I would think that’s where she would have returned to. It would be nice if Dean comes into contact with her.
It’s so much fun to speculate! 😀
No. We pick up the season a little bit down the line and Dean will have made his way back from Purgatory. Does this mean he wont even spend one episode in Purgatory ide love to see him try to escape and fight monsters from purgatory
Luciano, this struck me too. I wonder if it is because they don’t really have too much to show? Perhaps the episode will open with Dean climbing out of Purgatory (just speculation) like the fourth season premiere where they showed Dean climbing out of hell. I am not sure whether this is what I want to see, but lets see how they handle it.
“We love Charlie–and she wasn’t seen as a threat to the boys’ relationship”
I laughed out loud when I read this.
So: fanservice cuts both ways.
The full interview hasn’t changed my view that this year sounds exactly like last year with the supporting character being the focus.
Why can’t the writers do anything for the brothers? That’s what I wanted to see this year. Preferably with a whole new set of supporting characters.
It just sounds like a retread to me. Boring!
“You never give the fans what they want. You always give them what they need.” Toby Whithouse (UK Being Human creator)
I look forward to seeing what Carver comes up with but the few episodes of US version of Being Human I saw do not inspire confidence.
So far SPN, post Kripke, has no vision or tone. It’s become very generic.
Why do they say in tv guide(they also did in the first short interview frm Mayor June) that Crowley sent them there as if it is a known fact instead of a new spoiler? Were we supposed to get it was him in the episode and he lied blaming it on God´s weapon?Or is it just speculation of the interviewer who understood it this way, since it´s never mentioned in a quote form Singer?
Leesa:
[i]”You never give the fans what they want. You always give them what they need.” Toby Whithouse (UK Being Human creator)[/i]
That’s Joss Whedon Storytelling 101 he’s quoting there: “Give fans what they need, not what they wantâ€. 😆
I agree the show would be wise to remember it.
I know it shouldn’t and I’m sure it’s just Robert Singer being discreet but this [quote]Dean will have made his way back from Purgatory[/quote] actually worries the crap out of me. Is there a possibility that Sam [i]won’t[/i] be the one to get Dean out of Purgatory, that it’ll be handed off to someone else? I really would not be overly enthused about that.
That is my biggest concern with this interview. And yes, considering Sam’s completely atrocious track record when it comes to doing the right thing when his family is in danger, I’m thoroughly expecting Dean to be rescued by just about anyone other than Sam.
I have to say I don’t really want Sam to save Dean. For him to do that I think he would have to go up the hieracrhy ladder and call on an angel or demon to zap Dean out of there. I personally am sick to death of “zapping” on the show.
I much prefer that Dean maybe meets a guide that reveals to him a clever way out of there.
I think some fans expected Purgatory to be a major plot point of season 8. I have a feeling that it will turn out to be more of a scouting mission. Where some clues are gathered that contribute to the story down the road.
I’m afraid I can’t agree with you there, Leesa. For me, Sam getting Dean out of Purgatory is of crucial importance (honestly, it will probably be the making or breaking of the season for me, even at this early stage!) Not only will there be good symmetry with Dean saving Sam in seasons past but it will go part way to balancing up, what I feel, is the drastically unfair and unequal portrayal of Sam that we’ve seen to date by showing that he can do more than just [i]be[/i] a problem for everyone; that he can actually [i]solve[/i] problems as well. We’ve had seven seasons of Sam = screw up and I am beyond weary of it.
I’m also weary of Sam being pushed aside in terms of getting the save, as we saw with [i]In My Time of Dying[/i], getting Dean out of hell, or getting him out of the Faery world etc . (Yes, I know he was soulless but as Sam himself acknowledges, it was him.) Supernatural is a show about the importance of family and the lengths you would go to in order to save family. That has been pushed since day one ie when Mary saved John, John saved Dean, Dean saved Sam. Hell, even Samuel was doing everything in his power to save Mary. Which member of the family did Sam directly save?
Add to that, if Sam is shown to just be sitting around scratching while someone or something else get’s the save then I’m heading for the hills where there is no internet connection because the thrashing the guy from much of the fandom would get would be absolutely unbearable.
I don’t feel that Sam will need to go to an angel or a demon in order to get them out. If it was as simple as that then Castiel would never have needed to go to the lengths that he did to get the door to Purgatory open in the first place, he could have just used himself (an angel) or Crowley (a demon) to zap in there and zap a few souls out or try to open the door to the inside.
I also don’t know if an angel or demon [i]would[/i] zap them out. Crowley wants Dean in Purgatory, that’s why he sent him there in the first place. No demon, bar possibly Meg, would ever (be allowed to) work with Sam in order to counter what Crowley did.
The same applies to the angels. Unless they’ve forgotten about the Lucifer vessel, Apocalypse thing, I don’t see angels lining up to help. Inias (is that his name and is he still alive?) might but I didn’t see him as being an overly powerful angel, certainly not in relation to Castiel so if Castiel couldn’t do it then I don’t think he’d be able to do it.
Ideally, I’d like Sam and Dean to work together in order to get him out ala [i]Time after Time[/i] but I feel it paramount that Sam be heavily involved in that storyline.
This is slightly off topic, but in relation to Jeremy Carver, I’m hopeful that he will get the show beyond the ‘Sam = screw up’ idea that has been a dominant theme in the show for so long. One thing that does worry me is that he is old school, and he was very heavily involved with the show at the time when it was critically acclaimed and tremendously popular with the fans ie season 3-5. Unfortunately, in the seasons he [i]was[/i] involved in, the ‘Sam = screw up’ idea was usually to the fore and there’s a tiny part of me that is worried that he will go back to that old tried and tested formula in order to try to get the show back to that level of acclaim again. (Am I just buying trouble with that idea??)
I totally agree with this. Sam has always failed at saving Dean. Everyone else has saved Dean while Sam is portrayed as a perpetual screwup. I am very convinced that Sam saving Dean from Purgatory is my line in the sand. Sam needs this win if he is EVER to be an equal partner with Dean.
I am concerned that Jeremy Carver was heavily involved during the Sam as a screw up years. I am slightly comforted that he was part of season three when Sam was supposed to save Dean by giving into his powers and turning dark. If he had done so, he would have at least saved Dean even if it had negative consequences. I also think the incredibly negative fan reaction to Sam would have been lessened if he had gone dark WHILE saving Dean. I am hoping that Jeremy Carver still has the vision of Sam saving Dean, at some cost to himself, although Sam goes dark/evil again will have me running for those same Internet free hills.
I think if Crowley wanted Dean in purgatory than he wants Dean to get him something from purgatory. I don’t get the feeling that Dean is actually in great mortal danger an in need of saving.
I thought I wanted Sam to ‘save’ Dean – but I’ve been thinking about it and in terms of a tit for tat situation — I think that the whole ‘Sam = screw up’ needs to be re-examined in light of all the information we gained in later seasons.
So too does the idea that Dean ‘saved’ Sam.
Let’s put aside the — let’s call them day-to-day saves– times that Dean and Sam have saved each other on MOTW hunts. Let’s talk about the biggies. Dean’saved’ Sam by selling his soul to the CrossRoads demon.
Did he? Maybe. If Sam went to hell when he was killed by Jake because of the demon blood taint, then, yes. Dean saved Sam from an eternity of pain and from eventually becoming a demon. If Sam’s soul went to Heaven after being killed by Jake, then Dean did not ‘save’ Sam at all and in fact, may have damned him by bringing him back.
Sam gets a lot of flack for not finding a way to keep Dean from going to Hell and/or for not saving Dean from Hell once he was dragged there. I don’t think it was possible for Sam to ‘save’ Dean. As we found out later, the forces of Heaven and Hell were aligned to make sure that Dean went to Hell and stayed there until he broke the first seal. There was no need for Sam to save Dean from Hell (although Sam didn’t know that, of course) – Dean was ‘destined’ to be the MichaelSword – Heaven would pull him out when it was time for him to fulfill his role.
Even if there was a way to beat the crossroads deal – nobody from Heaven or Hell was going to let that happen. And the Winchesters had no idea what they were up against — in fact it wasn’t until FTBMAY when Lucifer revealed that Sam was his true vessel did the brothers have a full understanding of the scope of what was really happening and how they had been manipulated.
I think Sam did finally ‘save’ Dean (and the world) by jumping into the Cage. Then Dean did ‘save’ Sam from the Cage by getting Death to fetch Sam’s soul. That makes them pretty even, to me.
So I’m open to Dean getting out of Purgatory in a way that doesn’t involve Sam ‘saving’ him. I’d like it if Sam did save Dean, but its not a dealbreaker for me.
yes melanie I like what you said about sam’s death in season 2 everyone is telling me sam went to heaven so dean did not really save he damned him. I like that thank you for saying that but we do not even know where sam went alot of people tell me he went to heaven but that dean did not know that or he was selfish and just wanted his brother back and to that suck.
I think Sam saving Dean when he was becoming dark was part of the overall plan of Sam’s characterization and this as everyone knows this was changed because there was no time to lead up to this because of the writer’s strike. Considering that Sam saving Dean and Dean saving Sam is what the show is about, I too think it is important. And whether an angel or demon saves Dean, they will not do it out of their own free will. None of them are that invested in Dean. Only Sam can make it happen. In any case they have already announced that season 8 is all about angels and demons so there is going to be a good deal of zapping! I don’t see how it matters, it’s how it fits into the story that matters.
It’s great that it doesn’t matter to you. To each his own. But in season four Cas didn’t rescue Dean because he cared one whit ab=out him, while Sam was destroyed because he didn’t rescue Dean. In the end, the impression was Cas=Good because he rescued Dean and Sam=complete failure on all fronts. For me, Sam rescuing Dean is my break point. Too many seasons of Sam failing to rescue anyone he cares about has scarred me and I need this. I can accept it if Dean is working on it as well, but really, I want this to be totally on Sam, no help from anyone.
You won’t care one way or the other, I will. Different strokes for different folks.
[quote]It’s great that it doesn’t matter to you[/quote]
Percyowner, I think you are misunderstanding my comment. My comment makes it abundantly clear that I do. What I meant was that how cleverly the writers make their story fit is what the ultimate test is. I don’t know how I gave you the impression that I don’t care. I re-read the comment and to me it seems that you took my last sentence out of context. I was under the impression that I was agreeing with you!
Also when I talked about not caring I meant the zapping!!! Please read my comment again and if it is not clear I apologize.
I apologize for not reading your comment carefully enough. Sorry if I offended you.