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Sera Gamble talks about the future of Castiel, Misha and some other juicy snippets. with TV Line
and more from Sera including comments on Dean's state of mind with Zap2it
INTERVIEW ONE
VLINE | What exactly happened to Castiel in that water? Did his body just dissolve into nothingness?
All of those Leviathans inside of Cas were too much for the vessel, so they stewed him into the water. These are things we have to be somewhat cagey about, but it was too much certainly and it disintegrated under all of these monsters, if you will.
TVLINE | Is it safe to label him as dead? Or did you purposely leave it ambiguous?
Both things are true, actually. We purposely left it ambiguous. In the life of the show, [Sam and Dean] just suffered the death of one of their best friends, something that they are dealing with in a serious and substantial way.
TVLINE | So it’s definitely something that will carry on?
Certainly. Death is a funny thing on Supernatural because we’re a show about life beyond the grave, but this is one of most serious losses that Sam and Dean have had to face in the life of the series.
TVLINE | Is there a chance that Misha could come back not as Cas, but in some other incarnation?
Oh definitely. It has always been our intention to bring back Misha in some form. When we called Misha to let him know that we had this plan for the character, we talked about this on a longer schedule than in these first two episodes. We certainly can’t say too much about where the story is going to go, but we love Misha and want to continue to work with him.
TVLINE | Cas’ exit came pretty early in the episode and was somewhat subdued. Can you talk about the thinking behind that scene?
This is all part of the story that launches the season. So, we didn’t think of [his death] as having more or less impact; we think of all of this as the big kickoff.
TVLINE | This was a pretty intense and cliffhanger-heavy episode for so early in the season. Is this a sign of things to come?
We won’t be doing that to you with mythology every week. [Laughs] On some level that would be fun, but Supernatural is a show that has a mix of mythology and close-ended episodes. We have the same formula that we’ve always had for that. The episode coming up this week is a little bit of both. We keep the mythology threat alive, but there’s also a monster that they’re following that is wrapped up by the end of the episode.
TVLINE | What does Cas’ disappearance mean for Crowley and their deal?
Crowley is a little bit relieved. [Laughs] But just because that player is off the board doesn’t mean that there’s not a board for Crowley to be looking at. He is constantly strategizing and when we see him next, he’s just jumping back into the game and figuring out who he can align himself with and what the best move will be for him.
TVLINE | Does the world of angels still factor into the season, or is that chapter closed?
The epic War in Heaven storyline has pretty much come to an end - at least for now - but individual stories that include angels that are more character-based or more about the impact that the previous wars have had, we have plans for those.
TVLINE | Anticipation is high for Episode 3. What can you tease? Will we learn more about the Leviathan boss?
You will not meet the Leviathan boss yet, but you will get to know these creatures a little bit better. There are several scenes with them. Jensen [Ackles] directed the episode and did a fantastic job again - it was a pretty quick learning curve. We gave him a pretty complicated episode that had a lot of flashbacks and a lot of tiny pieces to tie together and he did it really creatively and really well. And he had to do it out of order, by the way. We handed him a script that had all the information you saw in last week’s episode - except he received that script before shooting that! [Laughs]
INTERVIEW TWO
'"As of now, we hope to continue to work with Misha," she says. "We have some ideas."
Go ahead, breathe your sigh of relief -- but don't expect to see Castiel back on your screen any time in the near future. "Right now, a huge part of the story on the show is Sam and Dean dealing with Castiel's death and the loss of Castiel."
spn-dean-season-7.jpgWe will see some degree of on-screen mourning from the Winchesters. "We had that little moment with the trenchcoat, and I think that's sort of their eulogizing of him, in a way," she says. "The repercussions of that loss are felt long beyond Episode 2. There's so many aspects of this that they have to deal with, in terms of losing their friend and someone that was helpful to them. It's about seeing the impact that had on our characters."
Given how close he was to Castiel, it's no surprise that the loss has the most profound impact on Dean. Fans have written in to Zap2it with concerns about whether Dean's storyline in Season 7 will focus solely on Sam, but Gamble tells us that Friday's episode, "The Girl Next Door," will plant the seeds for Dean's journey this year.
"What happened with Cas takes a toll on Dean in terms of his ability to trust people and assess situations," Gamble tells us. "His core instincts as a hunter are called into question. He's been rocked on a pretty deep level. You pair that with his really grave concerns about his brother's mental health, which I think are warranted given that he had a gun waved in his face like fifteen seconds ago, and he's got a long road. A situation will come up on Friday that will test him in what kind of choices that he's going to make, given the circumstances. It'll set the ball rolling for his story this season."
The writers' decision to remove Castiel from the story -- whether as a friendly angel or as a god -- has certainly been a controversial one among fans. It wasn't something that they took lightly in the writers' room, either. "We talked about the angel storyline as a whole, which was a huge part of Season 4 and 5 and, more off-screen, Season 6," Gamble says. "Any time we could showcase Castiel was good, and we were really interested in giving that character his turn and evolving that character, because the story that he had been brought in for was finished. On our show, a lot of times, the only way to take a character to the next level is to kill him, frankly."
With Bobby's house burned to a crisp, the Winchesters and Bobby find themselves adrift over the first half of the season. "It's about taking away home base and the feeling that they have of a place they can return to," Gamble says. "The stuff they've relied on they can't rely on anymore, starting with Castiel. Now the only place they have that's felt anything like home for most of their lives is gone. Things are getting difficult in new ways for them. It really takes a toll on the three of them."
and more from Sera including comments on Dean's state of mind with Zap2it
INTERVIEW ONE
VLINE | What exactly happened to Castiel in that water? Did his body just dissolve into nothingness?
All of those Leviathans inside of Cas were too much for the vessel, so they stewed him into the water. These are things we have to be somewhat cagey about, but it was too much certainly and it disintegrated under all of these monsters, if you will.
TVLINE | Is it safe to label him as dead? Or did you purposely leave it ambiguous?
Both things are true, actually. We purposely left it ambiguous. In the life of the show, [Sam and Dean] just suffered the death of one of their best friends, something that they are dealing with in a serious and substantial way.
TVLINE | So it’s definitely something that will carry on?
Certainly. Death is a funny thing on Supernatural because we’re a show about life beyond the grave, but this is one of most serious losses that Sam and Dean have had to face in the life of the series.
TVLINE | Is there a chance that Misha could come back not as Cas, but in some other incarnation?
Oh definitely. It has always been our intention to bring back Misha in some form. When we called Misha to let him know that we had this plan for the character, we talked about this on a longer schedule than in these first two episodes. We certainly can’t say too much about where the story is going to go, but we love Misha and want to continue to work with him.
TVLINE | Cas’ exit came pretty early in the episode and was somewhat subdued. Can you talk about the thinking behind that scene?
This is all part of the story that launches the season. So, we didn’t think of [his death] as having more or less impact; we think of all of this as the big kickoff.
TVLINE | This was a pretty intense and cliffhanger-heavy episode for so early in the season. Is this a sign of things to come?
We won’t be doing that to you with mythology every week. [Laughs] On some level that would be fun, but Supernatural is a show that has a mix of mythology and close-ended episodes. We have the same formula that we’ve always had for that. The episode coming up this week is a little bit of both. We keep the mythology threat alive, but there’s also a monster that they’re following that is wrapped up by the end of the episode.
TVLINE | What does Cas’ disappearance mean for Crowley and their deal?
Crowley is a little bit relieved. [Laughs] But just because that player is off the board doesn’t mean that there’s not a board for Crowley to be looking at. He is constantly strategizing and when we see him next, he’s just jumping back into the game and figuring out who he can align himself with and what the best move will be for him.
TVLINE | Does the world of angels still factor into the season, or is that chapter closed?
The epic War in Heaven storyline has pretty much come to an end - at least for now - but individual stories that include angels that are more character-based or more about the impact that the previous wars have had, we have plans for those.
TVLINE | Anticipation is high for Episode 3. What can you tease? Will we learn more about the Leviathan boss?
You will not meet the Leviathan boss yet, but you will get to know these creatures a little bit better. There are several scenes with them. Jensen [Ackles] directed the episode and did a fantastic job again - it was a pretty quick learning curve. We gave him a pretty complicated episode that had a lot of flashbacks and a lot of tiny pieces to tie together and he did it really creatively and really well. And he had to do it out of order, by the way. We handed him a script that had all the information you saw in last week’s episode - except he received that script before shooting that! [Laughs]
INTERVIEW TWO
'"As of now, we hope to continue to work with Misha," she says. "We have some ideas."
Go ahead, breathe your sigh of relief -- but don't expect to see Castiel back on your screen any time in the near future. "Right now, a huge part of the story on the show is Sam and Dean dealing with Castiel's death and the loss of Castiel."
spn-dean-season-7.jpgWe will see some degree of on-screen mourning from the Winchesters. "We had that little moment with the trenchcoat, and I think that's sort of their eulogizing of him, in a way," she says. "The repercussions of that loss are felt long beyond Episode 2. There's so many aspects of this that they have to deal with, in terms of losing their friend and someone that was helpful to them. It's about seeing the impact that had on our characters."
Given how close he was to Castiel, it's no surprise that the loss has the most profound impact on Dean. Fans have written in to Zap2it with concerns about whether Dean's storyline in Season 7 will focus solely on Sam, but Gamble tells us that Friday's episode, "The Girl Next Door," will plant the seeds for Dean's journey this year.
"What happened with Cas takes a toll on Dean in terms of his ability to trust people and assess situations," Gamble tells us. "His core instincts as a hunter are called into question. He's been rocked on a pretty deep level. You pair that with his really grave concerns about his brother's mental health, which I think are warranted given that he had a gun waved in his face like fifteen seconds ago, and he's got a long road. A situation will come up on Friday that will test him in what kind of choices that he's going to make, given the circumstances. It'll set the ball rolling for his story this season."
The writers' decision to remove Castiel from the story -- whether as a friendly angel or as a god -- has certainly been a controversial one among fans. It wasn't something that they took lightly in the writers' room, either. "We talked about the angel storyline as a whole, which was a huge part of Season 4 and 5 and, more off-screen, Season 6," Gamble says. "Any time we could showcase Castiel was good, and we were really interested in giving that character his turn and evolving that character, because the story that he had been brought in for was finished. On our show, a lot of times, the only way to take a character to the next level is to kill him, frankly."
With Bobby's house burned to a crisp, the Winchesters and Bobby find themselves adrift over the first half of the season. "It's about taking away home base and the feeling that they have of a place they can return to," Gamble says. "The stuff they've relied on they can't rely on anymore, starting with Castiel. Now the only place they have that's felt anything like home for most of their lives is gone. Things are getting difficult in new ways for them. It really takes a toll on the three of them."