Jack Rowand/The CWEight seasons. Two Brothers. One Car.
Sure, it's simple, but really, isn't that statement at the heart of the CW's Supernatural and its demon-hunting brother duo Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles)? The brothers' relationship has taken a lot of turns and twists in those eight years and fans can expect to see a new dynamic between the Winchesters at the start of the new season.
We chatted with Jared, Jensen and new showrunner Jeremy Carver at Comic-Con in San Diego to get all the scoop on the brothers' relationship, Sam's new love interest and more...
Season eight will pick up one year after the finale, which saw Dean and Castiel (Misha Collins) stuck in purgatory. So what's Dean mindset post-purgatory?
"Dean has now come out of purgatory with a sense of clarity. He understands that this is his job in life, this is what he does. He just went face-to-face with all the things that he battles up top and he understands that there is a reason, a purpose, to what he does in his life and this is what it is," Jensen explains. "It's behind the wheel of that car, sitting next to his brother cruising down the road. In fact, I think I even say that in this episode that I'm directing right now."
However, Sam might have some different ideas about his path in life. "Sam kind of took some time to smell the roses and he's and he's not so sure he wants to do this anymore. He wants to enjoy life, because it's a short life," Jensen says. "So it's reeling him back him and getting him to understand that this is what we do and this is what we're best at. This is our destiny."
Reeling Sam back into the life of a hunter might not be so easy, as Sam' was able to build a pretty nice life for himself after losing everyone close to him, Jared says.
"He was able, finally for the first time, to walk away unencumbered by feeling guilty about leaving his family. Because even when he was with Jess in college, he still had his family that was out there somewhere hunting that could show up at any time or could kill whatever it was. He wasn't able to really walk away yet. But this time he did walk away and he was happy. From what I've seen in the flashbacks he was happy," Jared tells us. "Sam's been through a lot from demon blood to apocalypse to everything. He's been through so much that he's weathered, but not damaged. He's come out the other side and he's happy. And I think we're going to explore that a lot in flashbacks, but as I understand it we're also going to re-explore Sam and Amelia. "
Yes, Sam does have a major love interest this season, his girlfriend Amelia (Liane Balaban), who Jared says, "a lost soul and also just gone through a loss of her own.
"He's been through a lot of loss and I think that led him to a place where he could meet Amelia," Jared explains. "I mean Sam's not the kind of guy to just hookup with whoever, so there's something special about her and the fact that they're kind of kindred souls going through a loss along side each other and could be there for each other when it was easy and when it was hard really helped him fall for this girl."
Still, at the end of the day, Supernatural is all about the brothers, who will have a complicated dynamic this season, according to Jeremy.
"For the first time in a long time, the boys are gonna come together united on a quest of sorts and it feels like number one, they're playing offense for the first time as opposed to just reacting to something in the universe as it were," he says. "And I think despite the fact that they jumped together in that car, they are each burdensome somewhat by the events and happenings of their time apart from each other. I think that is something they are going to have to come to terms with. I think, I don't know if necessarily in a more mature way then past seasons, but it's the difference of how you relate to your brother when you're 22 and how you relate to your brother when you're 30."