‘Supernatural’ At 13 Seasons: What’s Next?

After 13 seasons and over 250 episodes, one might wonder how much gas is in the tank for The CW’s Supernatural. Fortunately, at a screening and Q&A held at The CW this afternoon, the show’s producers confirmed that the new season has opened all kinds of possibilities for the show.

“There’s the alternate world sitting out there,” executive producer Brad Buckner said. “We’ve played with going places before, but it’s sometimes been a state of mind or a spell. This is actually a place, and it doesn’t go away for a long time. It’s a place that we can go to where people that we know on Earth or people who we may have even lost on Earth can suddenly appear maybe in a slightly different form, but nevertheless, a parallel version. And ultimately, this world becomes yet another threat that gets built to in the course of the season. So that’s been a lot of fun,” he enthused.

“Obviously, the son of Satan has never been done before. A child figure for Sam and Dean we haven’t really done before,” Buckner continued. “So I think this season has a real different feel. I think the feeling of the first episode was a little different from our usual whiz-bang storytelling and lots of effects and things. There’s a lot the feeling of sadness to overcome, a feeling of loss this episode. And that doesn’t go away. They don’t bounce back from it right away, so just to kind of take our time and explore how you work your way out of that I think is an interesting thing for us.”

Fellow EP Eugenie Ross-Leming added that there’s a wide range of emotion you can find in a Supernatural episode, including tonight’s season premiere.

“I think this episode, although it did have action, there was a reflective quality to it,” Ross-Leming said. “So I think a lot of the episodes this year – I mean, they’re not morose. There’s still passion and fire and regret and revenge and all of those matinee qualities you need in an adventure, but I think there’s a deepening a little of these guys and the trip that they’ve been on.”

One of the show’s series leads, Jared Padalecki (Sam), is very excited to see who might be able to come back via the alternate world.

“With [Supernatural], we famously say on set to all the people who die, ‘Don’t worry, you’re dead. That means we’ll see you again’,” Padalecki joked. And looking forward, the actor seems enthusiastic to see what his character can learn from the show’s latest addition, Jack (Alexander Calvert).

“I feel like Sam believes he is good,” Padalecki said. “With all the shit that’s happened, all the wrong roads he’s taken, I think Sam still has this optimism and this hope. He believes he’s good, and maybe he’s trying to manifest that on to Jack, whereas Dean, especially in this episode, I feel like he is maybe concerned that he’s not. Everything’s going wrong. I feel like Sam sort of takes the optimistic route. It’s neat to see that play out, and to see both brothers sort of transposing the way they feel about themselves onto this being. Dean going like ‘it’s going to end up f–king things up’ and Sam going like ‘hey, you know… maybe there’s redemption. Maybe there’s a guidance.’ It’s fun to play with.”

Supernatural airs Thursday nights at 8PM ET/PT on The CW.