The WFB Supernatural Interviews at Comic Con: The Transcripts
While the roundtable interviews that I did at Comic Con have long been posted via video and the spoilers are hardly fresh, I’ve had requests to publish the full transcripts of these interviews. Some times it’s hard to hear what the actors are saying in those noisy press rooms, and others prefer reading such interviews in written word. So, by request, here’s the official transcripts. I’m posting it here in the spoiler section because they do contain spoilers. The interviews are in order of who appeared at our table. It starts with Mark Sheppard, then Jensen Ackles, Bob Singer, Jared Padlecki, and Misha Collins. Our table didn’t get to speak to Jeremy Carver.
Enjoy!
Mark Sheppard
Last year we asked you about being a villain, and you said “Oh, no, I see myself as a trusted ally.†After season eight, do you still consider yourself a trusted ally.
Well, even the best of friends have a fall out on occasion.
That’s quite a fallout.
Somewhat. I mean they were usurping my position and trying to get rid of me essentially. I was just responding to the way I was being treated.
So you think you can kiss and makeup?
We’ll see. Kiss and make up. That’d be stealing a soul. Does that mean I’ve never kissed anyone on the show? (gives us an evil smile and laughs). I’ve kissed more men than anyone.
But is there going to be a new profound bond between Sam and Crowley?
I think what Jeremy’s been saying that’s so right and what Bob was also hinting is that what happened to Crowley, we haven’t quite quantified what happened to Crowley. So whatever the effect is I guess of trying to cure Crowley is certainly something more to explore.
You have two characters that are eternal that have essentially become human now…
I don’t know that Crowley has become human.
He has more of a consciousness I guess.
Again, you’re qualifying it by how much of the tasks have we done therefore how much of it has happened. As far as the canon is concerned if you don’t complete the task then it doesn’t happen. So it’s more along the lines of they did not cure Crowley. If there’s any residual effect of any sort…
Let me put it in a different way then. With Castiel having lost his grace and Crowley having had this experience of a moral consciousness seep in with they have something more to relate to this season?
I think both have very different situations as we’ve left them. Cass isn’t going to be jumping around everywhere is he, yet, that I can think of. He doesn’t have the ability to move around in the way he used to. Crowley is kind of restricted in his environment where he is in his environment, as you saw in the teaser. What did you think of the scene? (Entire table loved it). It’s an interesting thing to do. Men of Letters is a complex place though isn’t it? You never know how it goes.
You said you’re not going to be able to move around as you used to be. So are you going to be in a car with Sam and Dean henceforth whenever they’re going out to do stuff, you’re kind of going to be the third musketeer now?
I’ll be the third musketeer? (Mark laughs while a few of us at the table point out he’d be the fourth musketeer, as in Castiel is the third). The great thing about this show is we’ve never made anything that obvious. Have we ever taken steps that were that simple? Have we ever taken steps that were like, “Okay, now you’re this.� It don’t think it really works that way. This is one of the first years where we have another reboot, a great reboot, with such a different set of circumstances than have ever happened before, and now we have a set of character problems that we’ve never had before. At the end of the season most of the characters know who they are, to me it was always the brothers who had the difficult choice to make at that point. As Jeremy and Bob were both saying, they chose each other over the quest, over what they had to do which is a very interesting change. In that consequence the characters took a very different turn. Metatron’s disservice or service to Castiel is kind of intriguing. I don’t know where that’s going to go but I’m fascinated to see how that works.
So what can you tell us about the first two episodes?
Nothing. That teaser you saw, were you told what episode that was?
Pilot?
Pilot? That would be nine years ago. That’s obviously quite early in the situation as I’m brought into that situation. You get a good idea that it’s starting with the same look.
You mean where we left off?
Maybe, looks like it to me. Ask Jeremy that directly. (Note, we didn’t get to talk to Jeremy, but we learned from Jared the teaser is from the second episode and things to continue where they left off).
How do you think Crowley’s going to feel about the fact that there’s all these angels walking on the earth?
I think that’s great. The phrase “fallen angel†to me just as a viewer is fascinating. Because that’s one thing your dealing with that has a massive (impact). You forget, angels fall, it’s a fallen angel, and what does that therefore mean? A bunch of pissed off angels. I see there daddy doing whatever it is. We’ve had all of those versions but what does that mean? I don’t think they like Castiel that much. He’s someone to blame.
And the original fallen angel was of course your boss.
My what??
Lucifer.
My what?? My what?? My boss?? In your dreams my boss. It was a person in my way.
Well the person who was in your way then. You have a lot of people to relate to on that level.
He’s busy on Tomorrow People (laughs).
It seems like the ideal setup though, because Crowley loves taking advantage of people with agendas and working things. And here’s all these angels.
The end of that scene was very telling. We’re leaving you on your own (laughs). It’s the ultimate punishment. I think Crowley enjoys what Crowley does, a lot. It’ll take it’s turn. The world is such a different place than the end of season eight. Very, very different place. Could be fascinating. You want to know, I want to know, right? After nine seasons you still want to know, right?
It’s pretty amazing.
It’s pretty good.
Is Crowley going to miss Meg at all?
I love Meg. My little chew toy.
Is he going to miss his chew toy, is he going to have another chew toy?
(Mark shrugs). How many times has Meg been back? You never know. That’s the great thing about this show. My bones were burned apparently. I’m sure they thought of many ways of getting rid of me over the years, for whatever reason. But it’s worked very, very well, the way people have come back, it has worked very, very well. I honestly believe it’s a show that’s gotten better and better year over year. It’s a lot to do with the way the writers treat it. It‘s a job, it’s a job they want to make it really really well. They care a lot about the facts. It’s not pandering to fans, but the fact that they care about making something that at least seems somewhat true to the canon.
The boys are what make it fun. Without them we’d have an interesting show, but it wouldn’t be the same show. We have to do the sitcom, “Oh Crowley.â€
Maybe we’ll do that within an episode?
I think we should. I think “Oh Crowley†would be the best half hour within the show. Laugh track over everything.
Are there any storylines that you have talked about with Jeremy?
Me, talk to him? I call him on a regular basis and say “Am I dead yet?†(He says) “I’m just about to write that scene.â€
Do you think Crowley ever wants to defeat the Winchesters? What does he have left?
I think there’s a lot of love there in a very strange way.
Do you think he lets them get away because the chase is more fun.
Oh, Crowley! (laughs) I think you’ve got to remember that above all else, Crowley serves Crowley before he serves anybody else. He serves himself. He’s more been benevolent apart from the some of the last parts of the season (eight). But he’s been more benevolent over the years toward the Winchesters. Better the devil you know has always been that argument. We’ll see what the deal is.
Jensen Ackles
We didn’t get your perspective from the panel on Cas in this state. How do you think Dean’s going to feel about that and how will it affect their relationship?
That’s a good question. We’ve only done one episode so far and I’ve read the first three. At this point I think they’ve got such a big issue to deal with that trying to understand the effects of Cas’ situation is on the back burner right now. I think Dean’s like “We’ll deal with that later, we’ve got bigger problems.†It is going to be interesting because Somebody that has been such a valuable tool to Sam and Dean over the years he’s essentially useless as a power tool. And especially with the fact that there are now fallen angels roaming among us to have an angel on your team would have been very beneficial but now we just have a back seat driver. It’ll be going to be interesting how their relationship evolves given his new lack of skills.
Dean’s also seen of version of Cas without power at the end of the world. Is that going come into play at all?
I haven’t heard anything about that. I think that’s something they’re going to have to figure out together. It’s going to be interesting like having to pick up a phone to call him and talk to him as opposed to praying to him. There’s a lot of elements that are really going to be different for both of them, all three of them actually, given the relationship and the nature of what the situation is. It will be interesting to see how that one develops.
Do you have a good grasp on what Dean’s plot is for season nine, or his arc?
“Not the big arc. I think at this point they are opening up a lot of doors and they’re going to see which one really kind of sticks. They have a general understanding of where we’re going and how we we’re going get there as far as specifics go they haven’t let me in on a lot of that stuff.
I do know that given the fact that the brothers have chosen each other, as opposed to closing the gates of Hell, that is now given a lot to deal with. They’ve got angels, they’ve got demons and they’ve got all the other stuff in between to now deal with. They’ve got to somehow figure out how to navigate the terrain with all the new elements. So I think that they’re really going to need each other more than ever at this point and they’re going to have to rely on each other more than ever. Which is going to be difficult because there’s a secret that Dean is harboring right now from Sam that is one of the bigger issues of the series. It’ll be interesting how that’s going to play out as well. They haven’t told me, I don’t know.
For many seasons there was that conflict with Sam and Dean where sometimes they work together and sometimes they’d go apart they always came back together for the job. Now that they’ve chosen each together, is there an element of that conflict that’s still going to be in the background? Personally, I like the fact that they’ve chosen each other.
So do I. There’s always this kind of struggle between the two of them where one of them has a clear idea of what they should be doing and the other is maybe dragging his heels a bit. I think the motivation switches from brother to brother from season to season. You never have them both on the same page so to speak. And that struggle makes for good TV, it makes for good story. But now that they’re going to have so much struggle I think that they’re going to have to unite and I like that too. Every now and again they get on the same page. I think the fans really like it, we really like it, but then a wrench has got to be thrown in the mix. With that said, there is a massive wrench in the mix, it’s just that Sam doesn’t quite know it yet. For right now, they’re on the same page but we’ll see how long that lasts.
What can you saw about the plot of the episode you’re directing?
I’m not directing this year, well, not yet. They haven’t given me one, I decided not to do (it). I usually direct episode one right out of the gate. Because I have a seven week old daughter I opted to stay home with the newborn instead this year. There’s still a few episodes that are not slated yet with directors I think they’re trying to figure out if they can slide me in there storyline wise because they have to write me extremely light in the episode prior to the one I direct so that I can prep it. Prepping is where all the work goes into. To me, directing is like the final exam. It’s the studying, and quizzing, and all of that stuff is the prep. That’s really the hard work. If you prepare yourself, then you should be able to ace the test. If you don’t prepare yourself, then you’re going to fail.
Robert Singer
Welcome to Comic Con Sir.
Thank you.
So perhaps you can answer some of the questions we were asking before. For instance, we have two major characters who were Heaven and Hell and had a lot of different powers and for various reasons they had either certain powers taken away from them or they were restricted. Can you talk about the impact of that this season in the terms of Sam and Dean? Jensen talked about Cas not being able to help them.
That always presented interesting writing challenges for us because we didn’t want to feel like Cas was Mighty Mouse who’s come to save the day. We had to be judicious how we used Cas or why Cas wasn’t available to help him or if Cas didn’t have a mindset to help them. This year is different. Cas is, at least as we kick the season off, powerless. His story probably up to the midseason break is first dealing with being with human. As Misha was saying having to eat, having go to the bathroom and all that stuff.
As the season progresses and he becomes a little more comfortable with that, his challenge down the line will be as the angel lore starts to develop, do I want to sit on the sidelines as a human or do I get back in the fight? If I get back in the fight how do I regain my powers? So that’s pretty much the Cas arc for a while and we’re looking forward to doing it. What was the other part?
Also with Crowley. Just to follow up on Cas, is there be any part of that alternative universe Cas or the Case at end of the world we saw that’s going pop up in this version of Cas?
No, not really. This is a grounded Cas and a Cas that has big decisions right now. Crowley, the short hand of it with Crowley as we talked about it in the writer’s room is for a time Crowley is our Hannibal Lecter. We have him locked up, as you saw in the clip, but he is still Crowley, and he manipulates, and there’s a tug there. He wants to get out of Sam and Dean’s clutches and re-establish his position as the King of Hell.
What about that attempt to cure Crowley? How much of that is going to come into play?
Certainly Sam is aware of it, Sam saw it, he tells Crowley he saw it, Crowley denies he has any leftover feelings about that but he probably does.
I was really excited to hear that you have big plans for Charlie next season. Is there anything you can share about how we might be seeing her and is it a one off episode, or might we be seeing her, I know Felicia is really busy, in a multi-episode arc?
The Charlie stories are separated apart. The one that she’s doing us, number four, has certain mythological elements but Charlie’s not really part of the mythology. She’s just a great story springboard for us and a great character. We love her and she’s a great shot in the arm for us. We’ll use her as much as we can, she loves doing the show, we love having her. I don’t know if she’ll ever be based in the mythology because she’s a busy girl.
Since you’re one of the few left from season one…
That’s right, day one, season one.
How challenging is it going into the new seasons, and we saw a bit of this in season eight, maintaining the continuity especially when you’ve got a fanbase that gets vocal when something goes wrong?
Years ago there’s a director who said he makes film like he’s cooking dinner for friends. He hopes they like it but if they don’t, he’s fully prepared to enjoy it himself. We try to tell the best stories we can, we try to come up with stuff that gets us excited and we hope the fans come along. I don’t think anybody anticipated that when we started this show we’d be looking at season nine. I’m actually the only one left from the beginning in terms of the writing staff that are left.
The fact that we do manage to keep it fresh is why I keep coming back. If I felt we were getting cookie cutter and retreading stuff I’d say then we would need someone else to help because I’m burnt out. I think we’ve done a really terrific job of keeping it fresh. The only thing about doing a show this long with these same characters is that when you’re starting a show you really don’t have any character history. You’re kind of creating it out of whole cloth and inventing it as it goes along. You go through the years, they have a history that you bring forward that you go back to develop. In terms of the boys, it makes it easier to write for them because they have such a rich history we’ve seen. The guys are great and they’re game for anything as Jensen said. We consulted them once and that was on “The French Mistake.†We rarely set up one of these off the wall things that get any push back from them. They just go, “We trust you guys and let’s go for it.†It’s a great working relationship.
Jared Padalecki
(He sits down, and he’s laughing over his child Thomas and Mark Sheppard’s son rolling around in the hallway next to us. He keeps trying to find Mark Sheppard to see if he saw that. It looked like fun. “Why don’t we all go roll around.â€)
Let’s talk about you and Mark this season. We’ve been trying to tease with Mark and Robert about the effects of what Sam did with Crowley. How is your relationship going to change?
Well, Sam, and what we saw is from episode 2 (the preview clip from the panel), the scene where we saw Sam and Dean in the dungeon with Crowley is not the season premiere. We had to flip the schedule. Clearly, we have him, he’s in our basement, our dungeon and we’re trying to weasel some information from him. He plays his cards very close to the vest and he’s not going to show them all them yet obviously but we have possession of him and we think we can’t be found.
He almost confessed to Sam. He did, he started becoming human. and Sam’s certain that he can get it back out of him, there’s something in there, that it’s not all dead and gone. It’s not like, “Oh, he’s the King of Hell, there’s no humanity left in him.†He saw it. Sam is certain that he wasn’t faking and he’s going to try everything he can to get him back to that spot. And we know how to cure demons, right?
Sam was, again, they do this to you every season finale…
All the freaking time.
They leave you in really bad shape.
I know.
So any kind of hints, teasers, as to how Sam fares?
The finale, I loved it, I loved doing it. (The answer is interrupted because he finally finds Mark Sheppard and points out the antics in the hallway). It was so fun to work with Sheppard for three days. He did a kick ass job. It was a cool story line. I felt like, “And I dying, am I curing? What’s going on?†I think it was by design that it happened. We saw Sam and Dean choose each other for the first time instead of go straight for the job and mission. It’s be interesting because Sam didn’t get better. If fact he got worse. We see at the beginning of the season he’s even worse than he was. And now we’ve got no angel friend and just more angel enemies, powerful running around and no way to fix ourselves. I like it when we’re in dire straits.
Unlike other season finales or season transitions, nobody died or went to Hell..
I know, disappointing huh (laughs).
I know from the voices of our fans, that’s what they’ve been wanting. How do you feel about that?
I completely agree. Unfortunately one of the reasons finales do that because they have to because we don’t know if we’ve been picked up yet. If we have been told nine years ago we get one 176 episode season we would have told the story very differently. Half of it’s been dictated by “Listen, you might not get another episode so have it wrapped up enough.†We knew before the episode was written that we were coming back. As kind of a thank you to the fans, Jeremy, and Bob and the bunch were like, “We’re just going to continue season 8 into 9 as opposed to, What happened, we’re coming back!†Our fans aren’t stupid. The only reason we ever have to treat them stupid is because we’re being treated stupid. It’s not like “Did Sam and Dean die?†It’s like, “Listen guys, the people who are paying for the show make us write it and do in such a way that if they don’t pick us up it could be an ending.†It was nice to have enough fan following and enough support from that fans that we were able to write season 8 (straight) into season 9. It’s great for the show and it’ll make for a really strong season. And this season is badass, it’s awesome. It’s really cool.â€
In seasons past Sam has always been very much like the little brother. In this season something happened. Dean couldn’t help Sam because Sam started the trials, and he couldn’t help Cas. I felt like Dean was running around and couldn’t help anybody. Where Sam it almost felt like Sam was almost the big brother. How do you think Sam is going to transition in the next season. Is he going to continue down that path and not be the pushed down little brother anymore?
He’s going to try. I think Sam has always had one foot out, one foot in for a long time and now I think he’s committed. Clearly with his decision to have a partnership with his brother in cahoots against evil as opposed to, “I’m going to fight evil my way, we’ll link up when we can, but I’m going to do this. I’m going to close the gates of Hell, I’m going to kill Lilith, I’m going to marry a demon or whatever (smiles and looks at Gen out in the hall).†His brother came to him and said, “Fight alongside me.†Not like, “Let me take the lead.†The line was written even, I remember when we first read it, the line was “It’s your choice, but I’m just telling you.†I think they cut it for whatever reason, timing or something. It was a very Dean (way of) saying we’re equals, let’s fight this as equals, I can’t do this alone. Sam’s not like, “Dean you said, remember what I did?†Sam’s happy to take the lead when he wants and vice versa. And now that Sam’s older now he gets to do what he wants I guess.
Jensen mentioned that there’s a wrench, a secret that Sam doesn’t know about. How does that affect their relationship?
I’ve only read episodes where Sam doesn’t know but there is a wrench. I’m so pissed off that they didn’t talk about it. I’m limited what I can say as to what Bob and Jeremy said but I want to talk about it, I’m so excited. There is a secret that Sam doesn’t know, that really heavily involves Sam, and it even has a lot to do with why Sam’s still alive. So Dean is continuing to lie to Sam and he’s hating it every step of the way. Sam’s like, “Well, I remember our conversation about teamwork and I’m going to take you at your word.†When Sam finds out shit’s going to hit the fan.
Is it going to be different this time in terms of conflict? It seems that prior to this it was a lot more of the I’m the little brother/I’m the big brother kind of conflict that grew into hatred. Now you guys have come back together and you’re choosing each other. How is this new wrench going to affect the level of conflict?
I hope Sam will understand. I’m sure there will be a time when he does not, when he’s upset, just because Dean begged him to stop something and offered honesty and partnership and then right off the bat is keeping a secret. So Sam’s inevitably going to be like, ‘Well you begged me to do something and I could have closed the gates of Hell, you told me that I could trust and this is the first thing that happens?’ Certainly Sam will be upset, but I like Sam being alive.
(Table laughs) We all do.
We’ve had a chance as writers and actors with the story to see what’s worked for the show with the fans and what hasn’t worked and we’ve done many episodes of both. I hope we can steer more toward what’s working which is always the brothers.
I’ll be at your Nerd HQ conversation later.
Awesome, very cool. You know Jensen is going to be there. We wanted to do two separate ones, but…
You know that it sold out in less than 45 seconds?
I heard. I was like, “Hey if you need me to tweet more about it to make sure we raise enough money,†and she’s like, “It sold out in like 3 seconds.†Okay, cool.
Misha Collins
So, no more angel juice for Cas.
I know, it’s kind of a bummer, but it’s also a lot of fun. It’s what I’ve been hoping to do as the actor playing Castiel for a long time. See what it’s like for him to really become human. We’re really diving deep into that terrain and it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Does he get a new change of clothes?
I certainly hope that at the very least Cas is going to change his underwear now that he’s human. I will tease for you, this is kind of juicy stuff since we’re getting into the wardrobe, there is a laundromat scene in episode 1. This very question has been in the forefront of the writers’ minds.
Is he going to make all his clothes pink?
There is going to be one red sock in the laundry.
You as Misha are a very humorous person, so this must give you a lot of opportunity to explore a lot more humorous situations for Castiel.
Thank you for calling me humorous, that’s very charming of you. There is going to be a lot of opportunity for comedy but I actually think it’s being done better in this season than it has been in the past. There were times in the last six years where there have been slightly out of character, fish out of water comic relief moments for Cas that weren’t for my favorite for the character. The comedy that’s coming out of this season so far is totally consistent with the character and really grounded in the very real situations that someone confronted with being a human for the first time faces. It’s good, true comedy and not slapstick.
Is there anything you’re going to find more common now that you are human with Crowley since he’s more restricted this season. Obviously he’s still a demon but…
That so far is not a big part of the storyline. I don’t know, yet.
What’s Cas’ interaction going to be like with all these fallen angels?
The fallen angels are all going to blame Castiel for having fallen, and they’re all angry at him and out for blood. So, shitty.
So the fallen angels are very angry. What kind of threats will they pose? Do they have power?
They have power, yes, they are still formidable foes. They’re still angels but they are just trapped on earth. They are not good enemies to have.
Are we going to meet any additional angels that people might know from Christian canon?
Yes, I think so. Some new names will appear.
So I take it that Castiel will be hanging out a lot in the Men of Letter’s Bunker?
I will tell you that he certainly makes an appearance in the Men of Letter’s bunker, but he has a host of his own issues to deal with in season nine. Part of the problem is all these angels are pursuing him and so he’s attracting a lot of bad mojo so he’s not really great for the Winchesters to have around. It’s not like it used to be when he could solve their problems. He’s actually causing problems by simply being around.
We spoke with Jensen who said that instead of having an angel in the backseat, now we have a back seat driver.
Yeah, who doesn’t know how to drive. He’s not really a great thing to have around at this point.
But that would be fun!
It will be. We will have a lot of fun with it, but it will definitely change the dynamic.
Can we expect to have you in the entire season?
You can expect to have me the entire season but I’m not in every episode. I think I’m slated for 13 or 14 episodes.
So it’s not a light season.
No, not a light season.
Obviously we were told there’s an episode that you will be directing. Is there anything you hope they give you to do?
Yes, I hope very much that in the episode I direct they have the character Sam played by a woman, or it’s an animated character, or anything other than Jared Padalecki on the set while I’m directing would be great.
Will there be any more Cosplay incidents in the future? I heard there was an incident with GISHWHES.
Oh yeah, I was doing a thing for my scavenger hunt (laughs), a costume contest for my scavenger hunt which turned into a bit of a mob scene and security came and we all got in trouble. It was quite a bit of mayhem which was good, but funny. If anybody wants to pass along there’s registration for The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt The World Have Ever Seen, GISHWHES.com, and we’re going to break yet another world record or two this year.
When does it begin?
It begins August 11th so people have two weeks to sign up for it. It’s a lot of fun
And it all started with a puzzle piece.
It started with a puzzle piece on a lark and now it’s evolved to a Guinness World Record breaking thing and last year we broke a Guinness Book World Record for the largest number of charitable pledges ever collected in a single campaign, which is awesome.
What are looking forward to seeing in terms of fan reactions?
Fan reactions to?
Anything happening this season.
I hope that the fans really like the sex scenes.

Alice Jester is the founder, editor-in-chief, head writer, programmer, web designer, site administrator, marketer, and moderator for The Winchester Family Business. She is a 30 year IT applications and database expert with a penchant for creative and freelance writing in her spare (ha!!) time. That’s on top of being a wife, mother of two active kids, and four loving (aka needy) pets.
Thanks a lot! Being a foreigner I had to rewatch (not that it wasn’t a pleasure really) the interviews over and over again in order to understand, but now I can see that I got maybe 60% of what was said. Shame on me and thanks to you!