Supernatural, the long running CW hit show, has become a staple in the Comic-Con TV line-up. We talked with two of the cast members: Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, as well as executive producers Mark Sheppard and Rob Singer about what fans can expect in season nine.

Jensen Ackles, who drove from LA that morning, set the stage regarding where the characters are: “As we left last year, it’s not a direct pickup but it was a close pickup to where we left off. We now have a world full of fallen angels. Whether or not they’re good or bad, whether or not they’re going to be a friend or foe, it’s really kind of a case-by-case situation at this point. So we’re not quite sure who to trust and who not to trust, which makes for some interesting situations.”

“I don’t know how much I can tease but I’m going to tell you as much as I can,” Ackles stated at the beginning of the interview.

Are the Winchesters being blamed for what happened in the finale? “The blame is being spread around a little bit and in the search for answers, the angels are cutting quite a wake because they can; because they have the power and they want to know how they ended up here, what they’re supposed to be doing,” Ackles explained. “It’s an interesting bunch of lions, tigers and bears.”

Since I’ve witnessed Ackles’ great sense of humor before, I asked if he’s able to inject humor into his character even when the script doesn’t call for it: “I think that’s one of the great things about playing a character this long. You can add things between the lines. We often preach a lot about the nuances of a scene or the nuances of a character and it’s essentially stuff that is not written on a page. It’s strictly stuff that comes out; I use a word that I don’t like to use very often when referring to acting: organic. I don’t know if you saw the sizzle reel for next season but there’s a line in there that Crowley has to say. We’re talking about torture and Crowley says, ‘You’re going to put the S&M into Sam.’ It wasn’t written or anything like that but in the moment. Of course, we’re staring him down and trying to be very intense and I kind of allowed Dean to react to that in a very Dean way. It was kinda like…”

Jensen actually went on to demonstrate the Dean way – he has it down to a science – and then added: “It’s really the nuances like that that enrich the characters.  The writers that write in there, they would write a direction to me: ‘Jensen, do whatever you want in there; Jensen do something funny,’ like that. There’s a lot of trust, I think, between myself and the writers and the producers. I think that freedom allows for a lot of really spontaneous creativity and it’s a really cool thing to have. I think I know the character well enough to be able to take chances and find those funny moments when they may not be there on the page but then all of the sudden, they’re there in the scene to utilize that and go with it.”

Even for someone who has been in the business as long as Singer, he’s impressed with the support of fans.

What can we expect for next season? “Obviously, we know that they [Sam and Dean] chose each other over the trials and the closing of hell. I think that was probably not shocking to most people because it is what the show is about; it’s this brotherly bond that they have. So, the fact that they have willfully chosen each other means that they’re now going to need each other more than ever because they’re now going to have all this other stuff to deal with. It’s going to be a free-for-all basically on earth now with all these fallen angels. They still got the demons now. They’re going to have a way to exist among all of this and fight the good fight. They’re really going to need each other more now than ever. Their mission, although it’s unclear, is still the underlying ‘fight the good fight,’ but they have to figure out what that is exactly. So, it’s going to be some interesting twists and turns this season.”

I continued this discussion with executive producer Robert Singer. With the angels falling from heaven, is that something we’re going to feel the effect of and change the universe? “It changes the world. It’s a main story thread for the year, and I think like Jeremy has said, it’s the first time they [Sam and Dean] have chosen themselves over a mission. The consequences of that is really what this season is about, and the angels are a big part of that. They’re kind of lost here. There are factions that have grouped together; they’re trying to get back into heaven, how do you to do that…”

“It was the quietest time we’ve ever had,” Sheppard revealed referring to last season’s finale.

I spoke next to Mark Sheppard who plays the unforgettable Crowley. Where is his character at the beginning of the season? “The situation in the Church has definitely had a profound effect on him and not necessarily one that Crowley enjoys,” he responded.

My mind goes straight to the finale, during which his performance left me both shocked and grinning. We picked up the conversation from there: “I think the angels having fallen is not necessarily a Crowley issue as much as I’m still kind of contained probably where I don’t want to be. I think the biggest issue for Crowley, where we left off, is that Sam was trying to cure Crowley, for lack of a better phrase, having not happened, they [Sam and Dean] back away. They made the choice to pick each other rather than follow through with the quest, which is the usual way that we’ve done the show over the years. It leaves a lot of unanswered questions about what happens to Crowley as a result. Not being cured yet, I think the experiences had a profound effect on Crowley. It’s certainly not something he’ll enjoy experiencing, to put it that way, so we see the effects of that as we go through the season.”

It appeared shooting that season eight finale scene left a big impression on the actors: “Brilliant set; it’s one of the best designs I’ve ever seen. It’s an amazing place to be. It was dirty and wet on stage. Three days we were there; wish I was joking.”

Sheppard broke down the details: “It was the quietest time we’ve ever had; it was … no joking, very, very intense. It was fabulous; it was a really good ending. We’re used to seeing the brothers, ‘I love you man,’ and I think it was so much more than that for them.”

Jared Padaleki has been enjoying his interaction with fans via social media, particularly during the recent season finale.

He also disclosed he had been particularly impressed by Ackles’ performance during filming: “Jensen was off camera for most of that whole end section because we shot my, I guess, breakdown or revelations or journey first, and then we turned around to film Jared’s portion of that, which was as equally heavy and as equally complex to do, and then we went to Jensen finally. So Jensen was off camera for hours and hours, he was delivering the same exact performance as any of us.”

I inquired next about the emotional state his character was in during that scene: “Crowley has never had to think about what he’s done or reflect on the things he does. He has no interest; it doesn’t have an effect on him. It never seems to have an effect on him.”

Jared Padalecki (Sam) also commented about being impressed with the intensity of the scene, which stayed with him post-filming: “The end scene with Sheppard, that whole build up, it was such an experience. It took me like a whole week to get off from shooting that. It was super intense; it was intense day and night, for day after day after day. It was intense to watch and it was really truly like a painful experience, and so to watch it, it was almost like reliving a pain of sorts. But I think it worked really well and I think it’s awesome that the writers have given us 172 episodes in that we still push ourselves and sink ourselves into it.”

Supernatural returns to the CW Network on Tuesday, October 15 in a new time slot (9:00-10:00 p.m. EST.)

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