#*bog

(...) (...)In response to Den of Geek pointing out that some fans would like a “human” Cas for the end, Misha Collins said, “I would almost go in the opposite direction and see Castiel become some sort of purely ethereal, metaphysical, invisible being or something like that.”

Collins described a purely human Cas as “strangely unsatisfying.”

“So yeah, I hope for death or something transcendental.” Collins said.

Supernatural has built up such steam through a strong run on the CW that each season’s ending was simply a chance to do another big cliffhanger to lead into the next. Executive producer Robert Singer cites “tremendous support” from the CW for their longevity and security in coming up with season after season.(...) (...) Singer described having chats with Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Andrew Dabb since the end of season 14 about the end. (...) “I think we’re all really happy with the way this thing is going to go,” Singer said. Singer teased certain guest stars and characters coming back, but didn’t want to ruin the surprise. He stated that he was excited for fans to see the end, hopes they like and said they were working towards something special, but stresses the end won’t be enigmatic like the infamous cut-to-black on the finale of The Sopranos.

“I think the end will be bittersweet for us but I think it will also be bittersweet for the fans, but that’s okay,” Singer said. “Tears of joy mixed in with tears of sadness, I don’t think you can beat that.” (...)

(...) In the past, when asked how he’d like Sam and Dean to go out, “I always said I wanted them both to die,” star Jared Padalecki shared at San Diego Comic-Con. “I always said [like] Butch and Sundance, and people would yell at me and throw stuff.”

It’s not that Padalecki wanted the characters to suffer or have an unhappy ending after years and years of struggle. “I think that was my way of saying I want them to achieve peace,” he explained. Having been looped in on what the series finale holds, “I feel like Sam and Dean find some version of peace. Whether or not that’s alive or dead, or if Amara possesses me or whatever the situation is, I feel like they find more peace than when the season starts.”

The end of Dean and Sam’s story was a little more difficult to come to terms with for Padalecki’s TV brother. “When we were in the room and the idea came down the pipe, everybody was kind of signed off on it,” Jensen Ackles recounted. “My reaction was more like, ‘OK, OK.’ I struggled with it for about a week or so, and then I realized I’m too invested, I’m too emotional. I’m too close to this character. To see anything with finality on it, it’s just hard to digest. I talked to a few people about it and got some clarity on it and have tried to look at it from a different perspective. I, now, have come around to being like, ‘This is a really good ending. This is satisfying.'”

Also giving the final hour their seal of approval: creator Eric Kripke. “He actually has been told the ending, and he kind of likes it,” executive producer Robert Singer said, noting that he and co-showrunner Andrew Dabb were set to have dinner with Kripke the following week.

But perhaps the most important reaction will be that of the #SPNFamily that has kept the CW drama on the air for fifteen seasons. At the end of the series, Dabb hopes that the fans feel like the hundreds of hours they put into watching the show were worth it. “You don’t want to leave people feeling hollow. You don’t want to leave people feeling cynical,” Dabb said. “That doesn’t mean the ending is always happy and everybody high-fiving, but it means that the journey was worth something and came to a place that makes everyone feel it was, again, worth kind of taking that trip.”

As “Supernatural” prepares to sign off this year, the men behind the show are trying not to let “the weight of what this season is creep into” their daily work on-set, series star Jensen Ackles said at the farewell panel for the CW demon-hunting drama at the Television Critics Assn. press tour Sunday.

Instead, they want to focus on the work, doing what they have done for 14 seasons, rather than try to “reinvent the wheel,” added Ackles.

“I want it to do justice to what we’ve built for the past 14 and a half years, and right now I think the game plan we have is going to do just that. You’re not going to please everybody — you just can’t — but for the majority of the fans that have been with us on this journey, it’s going to feel right and it’s going to feel good. I know that’s how I feel and I’m still excited to tell that story,” he said.

In the show’s earliest days, “Supernatural’s” future was not so certain. Series star Jared Padalecki admitted that he originally thought the show would simply end when they closed the trunk and said, “We have to work to do” in the pilot. The show had not been picked up to series yet, and the pilot process is “such a bizarre thing,” he said.

The show did get picked up, but in its earlier years it was very much a bubble show, filming (and often airing) a finale without knowing if it would see more life. In the later half of the show’s life, that began to shift, with the CW granting the series early renewals.

“One of the blessings, I feel, has been that we’ve known that we’re carrying on so we don’t have to create a false ending every season,” Padalecki said.

Over the seasons, a couple of spinoff ideas were attempted at the network, as well, but they did not go. Earlier in the CW’s TCA tour Sunday, network president Mark Pedowitz admitted he was not looking at other ways to continue the world without Ackles and Padalecki right now.

“There is something very, very humbling about the fact that this show keeps going. We do see a lot of spinoffs on our networks and other networks and in movies, and it’s humbling to think still want us to be a part of it,” Padalecki said.

Added Ackles: “When you have a show that is so anchored, not in a world but around two characters, it makes it difficult to tell the story without those two characters.”

(...)

The boys and Castiel (Misha Collins) are stuck in this temporary shelter, and although “it’s a triage situation first,” Padalecki told Variety to first stay alive, “there are undercurrents of anger, of tension, resentment [that] we’ll get to when we get to.”

Added Collins: “At the outset of the season [Castiel] is working with the boys but also not feeling emotionally integrated, if that makes sense. We have a fight to fight here, but I think there’s a detachment there, too. And that’s hard, and that plays out later in the season.”

The reason for this, he continued, is that “This is an instance in which Jack’s death is so hard on him, but he’s also dealing with Dean being mad at him about Mary’s death, and I think that Cas doesn’t really feel responsible for that: I think he feels he did his best — he was trying — so it’s a rare instance of him not taking the full burden of something.”

Those pieces of the story come in the second episode, although all three men (Ackles, Padalecki and Collins) admitted they hadn’t thought about how much animosity might have been caused by the fact that Chuck aka God answered Castiel’s prayer in the Season 14 finale, after he had failed to answer the brothers’ prayers for so many years.

“I don’t think they’re there yet, to complain about that,” Padalecki said. “I think Sam and Dean, certainly Sam, is more like, ‘Have we been hamsters on a wheel the whole time? Rats in a maze? What have we done?’ I think we then start dealing with questions of, ‘What is free will? Is it all predetermined? Why try hard if it’s all going to turn out the way Chuck decided it’s going to turn out?'”

Added Ackles: “Basically, is everything we’ve done our whole lives now erased — eradicated — because these things are back? All of that work is essentially gone.” This will lead the brothers — and the show — to “tackle” why one should keep fighting if nothing they do matters, to which, Ackles said the ultimate answer is, “This is what they do. Any excuse to give up is not an excuse good enough for them. This is who they are.”

Although Dean and Sam would be willing to spend “years and years and years” fighting all of these things again, as Ackles put it, maybe the bigger question is how to handle Chuck. After all, if they can get rid of the big bad that brought back all of these foes, wouldn’t that ensure the little bads stop coming?

“The season hasn’t been written yet,” Padalecki admitted, “but I feel like we’re after Chuck. We’re trying to get answers. We’re trying to earn our free will, so to speak. So I feel like what’s been really important to Sam and Dean for many, many years was, ‘Hey, we’re making decisions to make the world a better place — to help the people who can’t help themselves.’ And now we’ve been told, ‘You’re just a story I like to watch,’ and now we’re trying to fight for the privilege and responsibility of actually having free will.”

Executive producer Robert Singer noted that in previous seasons, they would always end on a cliffhanger, but in developing the final season, “it’s a different experience.”

“It’s a true ending,” Dabb added. And “in a true ending, people can’t keep coming back over and over again. They’re going to be facing life or death — this time it’s for real.”

Collins was one actor who admitted that he didn’t feel his character needed to survive the series. “It’s funny, but from the very beginning I’ve always imagined that Cas would die right before the end, because I feel like the show somehow needs to end with Sam and Dean alone,” he told Variety. “But I don’t see a lot of people living at the end of ‘Supernatural’ because I think it needs a kind of closure that only definitive death can bring. That’s very morose, but true. I don’t think we want a ‘Game of Thrones’ ending on ‘Supernatural.'”

One thing Collins did say he wanted before the series ended, though, was to see Castiel truly express his loyalty to the Winchesters. “I would love to see him just be able to say, ‘You’re my people. You’re who I care about that.’ I’d love to see him make a sacrifice,” he shared.

The reason they wanted to go out now, Padalecki shared because they didn’t want to be “the last guy at the party.

“This show is going so strong. It’s going so well right now,” he explained. “We’re such a well-oiled machine, we thought it would be almost poetic and indicative of what ‘Supernatural’ is about to say goodbye too soon.”

However, while “Supernatural” as a long-running drama will definitely end in 2020 after the 20-episode 15th season, Ackles said he felt the culture the show has created and the experience of the show is “a long journey that I don’t think is ever going to be over. I just think we’re going to go away for awhile.”

Does this mean the “Supernatural” cast and crew would be open to a limited series revival in a few years or some kind of movie?

“I’m never ever ready to close doors or burn bridges, I think that’s foolish. Am I saying there’s conversations? No. Am I saying I’d be open to conversations in the future? What’s the harm in that?” Ackles said.

do not perceive me accurately

/lh

(...) With only four episodes left, there's always the question of how Castiel's story will end. "For years, fans would ask, 'How do you see Cas ending on the show?' And I've always said in some heroic sacrifice," says Collins. "First of all, the phrase has heroic baked into it, which I like. But also I think that that's just integral to his character. He's always been willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, and ultimately if he can sacrifice himself for the greater good and for his little cabal of humans who have become his family, I think that Cas will have served his purpose as far as he's concerned."

Whether Castiel gets his "heroic sacrifice" in the show's final season is yet to be known, but Collins teases that "sacrifice is sort of part of the equation for Cas." It's unclear what exactly that means or how it will play out — let's not forget he's already sort of sacrificed himself to the Empty — but all Cas knows at this point is that he doesn't want his son to die. As Collins puts it, hearing Jack's fate was "the worst thing imaginable" for Castiel. (...)

(...) “If the season ends the way we’ve discussed, I’ll be pleased as pie,” said Jared Padalecki on Sunday, July 21, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel adjacent to the San Diego Convention Center where the massive four-day conference is held.

While the entire season hasn’t been fully written, executive producer Eugenie Ross-Leming says that they know where it begins and where it will end but they haven’t settled quite yet on what will happen in between.

“There is a big surprise that I don’t think anyone will expect further down,” Ross-Leming teased. However, she was unwilling to confirm a possible romance that executive producer Brad Buckner said may pop up in the 20-episode season.

Showrunners did confirm that fans will see several familiar faces of friends and enemies alike when the season premieres on Oct. 10. Characters that will be back include Jack, Billy/Death, Rowena, Ketch, Chuck/God, Adam, Amara and the Empty, besides, of course, the Winchester Brothers Sam and Dean along with angel Castiel. Buckner warned that returning characters from the past may not be what fans are used to, hinting that they may be coming back in different capacities.

Fate and faith will play a major role in the upcoming season as the brothers portrayed by Jensen Ackles and Padalecki try to come to terms with everything that happened in the jam-packed season 14 finale. Showrunners were hesitant to call Chuck/God the big bad of the upcoming season, but did say he wouldn’t be of help during season 15. Ross-Leming said that the character would try to manipulate everything he can behind the scenes.

“The question of faith and free will is the biggest twist going into this season,” Misha Collins, who plays Castiel, said. “They’re also discovering that God is the nemesis and he’s been scripting their path and that’s a really tough pill to swallow … So, breaking out of that is going to be hard.”

Executive producer Bob Berens said that when the 15th season begins, Sam and Dean will be drawing the darkest possible conclusions after learning that Chuck/God has been pulling the strings to their storyline the whole time.

“They’ll be asking themselves ‘What if everything we’ve done doesn’t really matter?’” Berens said. That question really affects both Sam and Dean in different ways that will make them question how or if they should move forward and what they should do, Buckner said.

While Buckner said that the revelations from season 14 have shaken Castiel to his core, Ross-Leming said that the angel will eventually talk the brothers off a ledge of doubting everything that they do. Andrew Dabb, another executive producer, said they’ll be trying to reclaim their lives.

Several of the executive producers also talked about the pressure of the final season and the want to please fans, especially after some of the backlash “Game of Thrones” received when it ended.

“You can never please everybody. You have to do the ending that makes the most sense and I think we have an end point that works for us,” Dabb said. “I hope everyone likes it, but I’d be kidding myself to think that we can please everyone.”

Dabb confirmed that there’s been a conversation about the possible end of the series for the past two years. He said that it really came down to what Ackles and Padalecki wanted to do, saying that it was something they had to decide together.

“I think we were all on board to call it before the quality of the show deteriorated,” Ackles said. “Not to say it would, but I always wanted to go out on top — or at least while we still had gas in the tank.”

Executive producer Bob Singer, who has been with “Supernatural” since the beginning, admitted that he wasn’t sure how much longer he wanted to continue the show. Once Ackles and Padalecki said they were ready, he said that he would see it through until the end and confirmed that he’ll direct the series finale.

Singer refused to talk about if either of the Winchester would die in the upcoming season even though Padalecki had said previously that he can’t see any other end to “Supernatural.”

Padalecki clarified his comments on Sunday though, saying it’s just because he wants the character to “find peace.”

“As of right now there’s no plan for a continuation of ‘Supernatural’” such as a movie or spin-off, Dabb said. “What we intend to offer is a true ending. It’s a real ending.”

Collins called the ending bittersweet, but couldn’t deny that he was looking forward to “having a hole in the calendar,” calling it a silver lining.

“We’ve been doing this a long time,” Ackles said. “Jared and I were sitting backstage (before the panel) and I said ‘Don’t forget to take it in.’ We had that little moment when we walked out to take it in. It was really heavy. A wave of emotion. I was really nervous. My heart was pounding.

It just goes to show how thankful we are for what the fans have given us the past 15 years,” he continued. “It’s been the greatest experience of my professional life and probably my entire life.”

(...) During the show’s press room at Comic-Con 2017, both Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles revealed their ideal endings for Sam and Dean. Turns out, both actors have a very similar vision, and it most definitely ends in death!

“I really think Sam needs to die,” Padalecki stated bluntly. “I’ve felt for many years that the way Sam started was always as the reluctant one. Although he wasn’t dragged into it against his will, Sam has always had this internal struggle of not wanting to be there and then he resigned himself to accepting that this is his life. This is never going to change, and this is who he is. Sam has lost everybody, so I don’t think he would stop hunting unless he dies. I also think it would make for good TV, at the end of day.”

“I go back and forth about how I view the show coming to a close,” said Ackles. “Part of me thinks that it should be with the brothers finally dying and not having a way back, but I also feel like it would be nice to leave it open in case there’s a film down the road. That’s just the more business mind of me,” Ackles joked.

But what if one of the brothers died and the other had to carry on without him? That’s also a potential outcome that Ackles has often mulled over.

“Maybe the other brother tries it out and just can’t do it,” said Ackles when discussing the possible aftermath of one of the Winchester brothers dying. “Maybe he turns a totally different corner and kind of becomes something he never thought he would become. I kind of view it like the movie Where the Red Fern Grows. I think it’s going to be like that. When one brother goes, the other brother is not far behind.” (...)