When The CW’s popular long-running series, Supernatural, returns for season 13, it will be with Sam (Jared Padalecki) dealing with Jack and Dean (Jensen Ackles) wanting nothing to do with Lucifer’s son. The Winchester brothers will also be coming to terms with the aftermath of season 12’s heartbreaking finale. During our roundtable interview at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con, Padalecki discussed what’s going on with the brothers and how he’ll feel when Supernatural ultimately comes to an end.
At the end of last season, Dean said he had to be Sam’s mother and father as well as his brother. Does Sam realize this and how does he feel about it?
Jared Padalecki: “Sam does realize it. Sam and Dean love each other as much as two human beings can love each other, truly. That also means they’re going to hate each other sometimes and piss each other off. It’s forgiven, right, between Sam and Dean. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things that Sam wouldn’t say, ‘Man, that was not okay. That wasn’t cool.’ But I don’t think Dean would pull a card, like, ‘But I used to be your dad!’ It’s not really that relationship. It’s like, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ And I think to a large degree, Sam’s done similar things for Dean, being there for Dean when Dean needed him. He might not have been Dean’s dad, but he’s certainly been his brother. He’s certainly been his friend. He’s certainly been honest sometimes when Dean wasn’t being honest with himself or was acting out. So, they are there for each other as they can be.
I know Sam realizes it; I know Dean realizes it. They’re the kind of guys that are probably more concerned with the task at hand – unfortunately they always have a big task at hand it seems like these days – than chatting about it. But I don’t think Sam or Dean doubt how much the other one loves him.”
How is Sam handling all the deaths at the end of the last season?
Jared Padalecki: “It’s a funny role reversal. Where Sam is usually the one who wants to talk it out or verbalize, this year I think Sam is sort of overwhelmed with Jack or what Jack might mean. I think Dean’s resigned on Jack. He’s like, ‘Jack’s evil. Jack’s going to be evil and it’s only a matter of time before I put a bullet in his head.’ Where Sam is like, ‘No, we have to nurture him.’ I think Sam sees a lot of himself in Jack. Sam was meant to do evil things as well. He had demon blood in him before he was one-year-old. So, I think Sam might wonder a little bit if that’s the way Dean feels about him still, you know? And so Sam is sitting here and Sam really hasn’t dealt with mom, Cas, even Crowley, and we’re not real sure about Rowena, obviously, but it seems like we’ve got to figure out what to do about Jack and Dean’s like, ‘No, we don’t. We need to kill him and figure out about mom, whatever.’ But you kind of see Sam pushing his feelings down a little bit and we’ll see it all blow up eventually.”
It sounds like Sam is sort of the optimist this season. Does it feel good to play him that way?
Jared Padalecki: (Laughing) “It does. Yes…yes. But I also think, and I’m sure you know this as well, that he’s hiding some things in his optimism. I think he’s really making the decision – and good on him – but I think he’s not dealing with some things that he needs to deal with.”
It’s a little bit of a defense?
Jared Padalecki: “Yes, I think so. And, we’ll see. I know there are some things he needs to deal with which if there wasn’t anything he needed to deal with he’d be a weirdo, because he’s done a lot in 13 years. But, yeah, it is fun to see him as an optimist.”
What will you eventually miss the most after Supernatural’s over?
Jared Padalecki: “It’s going to be like a season of waterworks. Like when you walk into Comic Con and they say, ‘Presenting our blah blah blah and final season,’ and looking out there – man, I get kind of choked up. Jensen did mention, we did an interview for something on Friday, and he mentioned he had a dream about how the show ends and he told the dream. I remember the day he came to set and he kind of seemed shook up. I was like, ‘Something with the kids?’ and I left him alone for a second. Finally, when we had time to talk about it, I was like, ‘Dude, are you all right?’ He was like, ‘Man, I had this dream.’ I was like, ‘Do you want to tell me about it?’ and he told me the dream. He was kind of shaking it off, it really affected him.
But, it’s going to be really difficult. It’s going to be really, really difficult. I love these guys. I feel very close to Sam. I still make sacrifices for Sam. It’s no longer – not that it ever was – but it’s not a situation where I better keep turning the money wheel as long as it’s there. I’ve worked my ass off for 18 years and been successful enough I don’t need to work anymore if I don’t want to. I love these characters. I don’t love being away from my family. I don’t love saying bye to Gen and Tom. ‘Hey, I’ll see you in a couple weeks, guys.’ I don’t love that. I love this (the Supernatural) family. I love the Supernatural cast and crew. I love Sam Winchester. I love Dean Winchester. And, it’s going to be hard to lose those. Luckily, in our Supernatural universe we’ve all created together, things can always happen. I don’t think it will ever be, ‘Good-bye.’ I think I’ll say, ‘See you later,’ even if it is good-bye.”
Watch the full Jared Padalecki Supernatural interview:
