Top 10 Clues to Supernatural Season 13 and Beyond

As the Supernatural fandom eagerly awaits (and simultaneously dreads) the final chapters in season 12’s story, we have a one week break to consider what heartbreak might be in store for our heroes this year. A recent Supernatural convention participant reported that Jensen said this finale will be the hardest he and Jared have ever had to film. I don’t know about you, but my heart gets tied up in knots just thinking what that could mean!

What is going to happen in episodes 19 through 23 and what are the writers setting up for season 13? Fans on Twitter know that showrunner Andrew Dabb likes to tease riddles each Thursday morning before a new episode airs to both excite and taunt viewers. What if he has also been slipping clues to Supernatural’s future into the most recent season 12 scripts? Bob Singer openly acknowledged in the “Ladies Drink Free” Producer’s Preview that something within that episode was a set up for season 13 so I thought it would be fun (you know me and looking for clues!) to try to figure out what they’ve been trying to tell us about the end of season 12 and the plotlines of season 13!

The question is, how can we separate real clues from unimportant casual dialog? Without the insight of knowing the conclusion of myth arcs this season, there have been a few ominous comments made during our heroes’ most recent adventures that seem to have been included in the dialog solely for the purpose of foreshadowing. Some of these comments have simply been casual remarks that made me pause because they seemed slightly out of place. Others were shocking new revelations that were suspiciously underemphasized at the time. Since Mr. Singer admitted “Ladies Drink Free” included a seed for the future, let’s start there, then work through the top ten most ominous foreshadowing quotes from the latter half of season 12. One or more of these may hold the key to Supernatural’s future! Can we tell the difference between real clues and misdirects?

 

1.      “I’ve been hunting. Alone. And I know it’s not what you want to hear. And I know it sounds scary. It scares me, too, sometimes, but… this is something I have to do on my own. Just for a little while. But I’m ready, and I never would’ve been if it wasn’t for you being my mother.” – Claire, 12.16 “Ladies Drink Free”

Negative Interpretation: This foreshadows nothing more than another Claire-gets-in-trouble hunt in season 13. I actually like Claire and suspect that her next appearance may be her graduation from angsty teen to responsible adult hunter-in-training, so I don’t object to her recurring role.

Positive Interpretation: As the original series ages, the writers are slowly building the backstory for a Supernatural spinoff. Claire’s confession and prediction that her rebellious years might soon end might imply that she and Jody will hunt together sometime in the future. Add in the rest of the wayward clan, notably Donna, and we have a Lady Hunters series!

Anyone want to estimate the odds on this one? Are there other hints that support one or the other of these scenarios?

 

2.      Pulling Garth back into the story – Dean, 12.16 “Ladies Drink Free”

 

SAM: I mean, werewolves aren’t like most monsters. Some can control it. I mean, we — we have a buddy got bit. Nothing but beef hearts ever since.

MICK: And you trust him? Well, killing is a fundamental need for werewolves. And monsters don’t just stop being monsters.

DEAN: Well, Garth did.

Dean’s comment to Mick seemed suspiciously unguarded and out-of-place to me. Dean doesn’t trust Mick or the BMoL yet he blurts out the name of his buddy? (Sam started it by saying there is a cache of monsters hidden away somewhere.)

Positive Interpretation: This was simply a name drop to preview that Garth will be returning either later this season or sometime next season, which would be a fun reprise of his role.

Negative Interpretation: Garth is now a target of the BMoL. If Mick included this new intelligence about the leader of a werewolf pack in a report, Garth’s family is probably already on a kill list from the monster killing society.

Do you think Garth will survive season 12 to remain a friend to the Winchesters or do you think he’ll be killed off like so many of their other past associates?

 

3.       “The Kendricks School.  It’s where the British Men of Letters train their operatives.” – Mick, 12.16 “The British Invasion”

This was a huge expansion of the MoL canon! Suddenly, monster & spell knowledge isn’t passed down through families who have to achieve increasing levels of indoctrination, as Henry and the American society were previously portrayed. Instead, there is a boarding school in England where children are taught this craft as a way of life. 

Positive Interpretation: This expands one of my theories about the end of the Supernatural series, i.e. Sam will teach the next generation of Men and Women of Letters. In this version, he becomes our own Professor Xavier as he takes over as headmaster of the school, teaching lore and an ethical use of knowledge. The school will be expanded to include hunters and Dean will reprise his role as a teacher (ala “After School Special”) of young minds. Sam and Dean together will bridge the gap between the traditionally hands-off knowledge of the Men of Letters with the lore-starved field work of the hunters.

Negative Interpretation: Judging from the size of the school building, the Winchesters are up against vastly superior numbers of trained, brain-washed operatives. Their “legacy” has possibly turned into a curse of daunting proportions.

Of course we now know that the school is run by disreputable people who enforce a cruel code of conduct. Do you think season 12 will be the end of this school’s storyline? Was it a mere convenience to show Mick’s background or is it a set up for a new multi-year battle for free will… or a UK hunting chapter/spin-off?

 

4.       “[Eileen’s] heading back to Ireland for a while. Just needs some time, I guess.” – Sam, 12.17 “The British Invasion”

Speaking of worrying about Sam and Dean’s friends, we know for sure that Eileen is marked for death for her accidental shooting of a BMoL.

Positive Interpretation: Sam and Dean are going to the United Kingdom! They will warn then help defend Eileen, and possibly investigate or fight against the Kendricks school. Once safe, Eileen will join the Supernatural Lady Hunters spin-off!  

Negative Interpretation: Eileen was simply a plot device. Just as Charlie was killed by the Stynes, who were an overrated, short-lived plot insertion, Eileen is going to be killed off by the BMoL just to hurt Sam and enrage Dean in their war with the BMoLs.

I think it is highly unlikely that Warner Brothers would spring for a filming trip abroad. It’s worth dreaming about, though, no? Pie-in-the-sky scenarios aside, do you think we’ll get to see Eileen again or do you think the brothers will simply learn of her death through a taunting remark from Mr. Ketch, Lady Bevel or Dr. Hess?   Is has to be more than a coincidence that the adversaries this year are from Britain and an Irish hunter is reintroduced to the story for a short time, only to have her return to the Emerald Isle. Maybe she is able to fend off the BMoL assault and she is instrumental in organizing a UK resistance to Kendricks and BMoL corruption.  There has to be a bigger plan at work here. What’s your guess?

 

5.       “Our house. Men of Letters. Did you know that your key opens every Men of Letters chapter house in the world?” – Mick 12.17 “British Invasion”

This revelation was a bit of a surprise since the bunker’s key was given to Sam and Dean for sacred keeping with the implicit understanding that the location or even existence of the bunker was a well-guarded secret.  Granted, there wasn’t much opportunity to question the last known living American Men of Letters when they got the key so their understanding (and the plotline) evolved gradually. Eventually, Sam, Dean and the viewers learned of other American MoL chapters, then from Olivette and Delphine we learned of chapters around the world. Still, the security of the bunker seemed absolute. Nothing implied they were all accessible through a master key.

Positive Interpretation: The brothers can access a vast network of MoL libraries worldwide, if they can find the list of where the “chapter houses” are located.

Negative Interpretation: The bunker is not nearly as secure as the brothers once thought. Now being marked for death by British Men of Letters, the enemy can freely enter their home to ambush them (ref: Lady Bevel and Mr. Ketch tactics). Given the brothers’ talk in “Memory” about the future of the bunker, some fans have even speculated that the brothers may need to abandon their refuge (more on this later).

How might this vast network affect the brothers’ safety (down side) or hunting effectiveness (upside)? Do you think this MoL extended network will extend beyond the end of season 12?  Is their leader the “big bad” for S13, as we’ve speculated in the Threads reviews?

See the Superwiki MoL page for canon history on the MoL chapters around the world.

 

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