‘Supernatural’ Season 14: Everything you need to know Part 2

supernatural misha collins direct look at mttg lynn z comic con

We were also lucky enough to have some quality time with Misha Collins.  We asked if Castiel would be working with Sam in Season 14 to get Dean back and that gave us some cheeky Misha, which is one of my favorite flavors.

Check out Part 1 of Lynn’s Supernatural Season 14 coverage here.

misha collins talking to mttg at comic con interviews 2018

Misha: Yes, we’re teaming up. I think everybody is in hunter mode when we come back – we just want to get Dean back, but of course, we run into obstacles.

Me: Jared has talked about Sam being in a leadership role, so is Cas sort of the…

Misha: (shaking his head) I think that’s sort of a fantasy, I’m not sure how he’s picking up that…

Me: I wondered…

misha collins gets deep in mttg interview at comic con

Misha: Yeah, no, it’s true, Sam is sorta second in command now….right under Cas…

Table: (cracks up)

Misha: In a sense, we have a much bigger cast of characters who are all working as a team, all the AU characters. So now it’s a little bit more coordination and logistics, and it definitely does feel like Sam is grabbing the reins on that. But we’re all focused on the task at hand, which is saving Dean.

supernatural misha collins direct look at mttg lynn z comic con

supernatural misha collins movie tv tech geeks inteview comic con 2018

Check out the rest of our chat with Misha here, including burning practical questions about who the hell is washing the dishes in the bunker, more about Castiel’s relationship with Sam and with Jack in Season 14, and the 8371 things Misha Collins has on his plate right now!

It was great to have a chance to chat with Alex Calvert when the Hall H panel was behind him, after our discussion at the Friday night party about how nervous he was about it.

I asked Alex about Jack’s psychological state at the end of Season 13 – we left him sitting by himself, having just found out that the father he’d hoped to have a relationship with was a horrible person, alone and traumatized while everyone else celebrated around him. It sorta broke my heart. Was that a hard emotional place to be?

At that moment, Misha Collins walked by and stopped to tenderly stroke Alex’s cheek.

Me: I mean, Misha probably helped a lot…

Alex: (laughing) Misha helped with the trauma…when I’m feeling bad I can always count on the guys…to make me feel even more bad…

supernatural alex calvert shrugging at comic con 2018
Alex Calvert

alex calvert smiling for mttg at comic con interview

Table: (laughing)

Alex: That’s interesting you noticed. It was definitely a harder scene. Jack has these moments of like pure aloneness, where only he can really understand, or maybe he and Castiel, having to deal with that level of being by themselves. That was tough with everyone else celebrating, but Jack being very much alone.

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All photos by Lynn Zubernis aka @FangasmSPNCheck out our entire interview with Alex here, including how Jack will deal with being more or less human without powers and how long that will take for him to get those powers back!

We also got to talk to Brad Buckner, executive producer and writing partner with Eugenie Ross-Leming.

Natalie, who was at our table, asked about the episode last season that Brad and Eugenie wrote bringing Charlie back.

Brad: From the moment that Charlie died, we all felt it, that voice was missing.

Me: (silently) I’ll say!

Brad: So if this is a world of doppelgangers, she’s a natural go-to doppelganger. I think what’s interesting about it is that when Sam and Dean meet this person from another world, it triggers all their sense memories, they just can’t help wanting to throw their arms around her and make her that kid sister that they had. And of course, she’s like, do I know you guys? Because there’s no Sam and Dean in that world. And now that they’ve come through the door and their enemy Michael has also, their enemy is here – so she’s gonna be here for the duration and they’ve got a relationship to build. How she fits into the team has got to be worked out, whether she has her own cases. And it not only adds back a wonderful character, but it’s a cool way to open up the storytelling. There are more people than just Sam and Dean on the case.

Someone asked about monster of the week episodes versus mytharc episodes, which is always something I wonder about with a new season – how the Show will negotiate that balance.

Brad: I think this is going to be true of the storytelling, in general, this season, that the mytharc is going to be represented even in the standalones. Especially with the collapsed season, you’ll see that. There are so many things going on at the start of the season, and those have to be kept alive even if there’s a monster [of the week] to deal with.

Someone asked what monsters he enjoyed exploring.

Brad:  I love the angels and demons because I think the politics of heaven and hell are so interesting. Lucifer is one of my favorites because I think he’s so complicated and interesting. I don’t think anyone gets up in the morning and says ‘how can I be evil today’? If he were sit down and explain how he’s misunderstood… who knows what’s gonna happen this year?

(Gotta say, I don’t entirely agree with Mr. Buckner about all that, but that’s just me…)

Of course, there were more questions about Michael and Dean, and if we’d see Dean inside Michael’s head. The answer is a bit complex, and some of it I know a little more about than I can say – suffice it to say, I like it. Like, alot.

Brad: We’re not gonna go too deep into the season with Dean not being Dean. You’ll see him physically on screen, but once Dean is Dean, he may or may not stay Dean, you never know… But we won’t go too long. There will absolutely be episodes where we don’t see Dean; we just see Michael. But we find out later that Dean was witness to what was happening and is traumatized by the flashbacks. That’s a terrible burden, to be helpless inside your own body doing really awful things that you remember fragments of.

[I have to say, I’m both tremendously excited about exploring this aspect of what has happened to Dean, and tremendously proud of the Show for doing more exploration of the characters’ trauma and its aftermath instead of just being like okay they’re fine now, let’s never speak of it again. At the same time, I’m so sad for Dean, because I can’t think of anything worse for a man who lives to protect those he loves and keep them safe than to be trapped inside himself forced to watch people suffer by his own hands. It’s like Dean Winchester’s worst nightmare, and it’s bound to bring back the trauma of being a torturer in Hell too. Ohgod, I’m worried already…]

Brad also told us that Rowena will be an integral part of the story this Season and Jody Mills and more Wayward characters will also be back. Yay!!

Showrunner Andrew Dabbs, who loves to tease almost as much as Jared and Jensen do, sat down at our table next and Natalie immediately started thanking him.

Natalie: Thank you for returning Charlie to us.

Andrew: Sure. But is it Charlie? Is it the same Charlie that we know? Who knows!

Natalie: I just want to know if this Charlie is gay.

Andrew: Yes.

Natalie: Thank god.

Table: Yay!

I couldn’t wait to ask Andrew for more scoop about Michael!Dean.

Me: What’s it like writing for a totally new character who’s played by an actor you’re so used to writing for? Is it weird?

Andrew: It’s weird, yeah. I’m not a fan of Jensen, as I think I’ve made very clear.

Me: Oh yes, very clear…

Andrew: It’s interesting to write a new character. We saw Michael a little bit last season, but the Michael we’re seeing this season is a little bit different. As much as our guys change every season and Michael changed a little by the end of last season as well, you realize that someone who looked like the warlord of apocalypse world in the first episode, you eventually realize he’s quite disappointed with how everything worked out. Now he comes to our world and he has a second chance, and he wants a different result. So it’s the same character, but a little different. And then writing for Jensen, you know whatever you write he’s gonna make it better, and that’s across the board. Obviously there’s a temptation when you’re writing for Dean to put jokes in and things like that and that’s much harder to do with Michael. He’s really not pop culture savvy.

Me: (laughing) No, he doesn’t seem too funny.

Andrew: He’s not a laugh riot, sort of a mean sense of humor, you know what I mean? So it’s been an adjustment, but with Jensen, he knocks it out of the park, so that’s never a concern.

supernatural producer andrew dabb
Andrew Dabb

Our table also asked Andrew about the 300th episode, and his answer just about made me too excited to stay seated.

Andrew: Well, the 100th episode had very few nods, the 200th we went very meta and very much kind of fan-based, so I think for the 300th we want to kinda split the difference. The thing we started with, which was Meredith Glynn’s idea, is that Sam and Dean live in this bunker and they have for a number of years. And this bunker is in a place called Lebanon, Kansas. We’ve never seen what the people of Lebanon think of Sam and Dean. These two guys like come to the bar or drive the car through or they go to the laundromat, but their shirts are covered in blood, know what I mean?

[audible moans of ecstasy at the table]

Andrew: So it’s not all rosy, and that’s kinda our idea, to look at their world. So it’s a story about Sam and Dean and starring Sam and Dean, but it allows us to make it a love letter to the show and a love letter to them.

Natalie and Lynn especially: OMG OMG OMG so awesome!!!

Andrew: Yeah, I think it’ll be really cool.

On the season as a whole, Andrew had this to say.

Andrew: It’s always been half standalone or quasi standalone and half myth episodes. I would imagine that ratio will stay about the same. We’ve got a lot of balls in the air in terms of the mytharc but also in terms of the characters. Not just Sam and Dean, but Castiel and Jack and Mary and Bobby and Charlie. And we don’t want to bring them back for no reason. We’re more confident that we can spend half an episode with Charlie or half an episode with Mary and Bobby, while keeping the story myth focused.

Lastly, we got to speak to executive producer and writer Eugenie Ross-Leming, who also happens to be married to the real Bob Singer.

Eugenie: So the season starts out with a lot of tension and anxiety, they’re trying to rebuild. And a lot of uncertainty….

Me: That tends to happen when someone’s possessed…

Eugenie: lol

Eugenie Ross-Leming

Me: How much focus will there be on the psychological aftermath of being possessed and the trauma that it brings for Dean?

Eugenie: It will be given some focus. Again, the way we’re handling the aftermath, I can’t tell you. There’s a twist to it, I can tell you that.

Me: Mm hmm. I love when the show gets psychological.

Eugenie: And that’s more fun to write anyway.

She also talked about the process of bringing Gabriel back to the Show.

Eugenie: We wanted him back, we love him, so we made it happen! You can always bring back someone you love. We’re all going up tonight on the plane together, Richard is directing an episode that Brad and I wrote.

Us: Can you tease that?

Eugenie: (laughing) No. But I think he’s doing a great job!

Of that I have no doubt.

And with that, the press room – and for me, the convention – was over. With Comic-Con in its final hours, I made a few last ditch efforts to snag a Supernatural bag, but ultimately failed. Every other year, I’ve managed to trade whatever bag I got for a Supernatural one, but this year the Supernatural bags were few and far between, and not one person who I asked to trade was interested. I guess I’m glad there are so many Supernatural fans out there, but damn. I wanted that bag – it’s gorgeous!

Sunday night was for frantically uploading videos and photos and trying typing up notes and then collapsing in utter exhaustion, but it was a happy exhaustion. Monday I was able to spend some time with friends reminding ourselves that we were in California by doing some sightseeing of beautiful San Diego and then cavorting in the Pacific. It was the perfect way to end another Comic-Con – here’s to next year!

And the countdown to Supernatural Season 14 begins…