Samantha Smith Interview: ‘Supernatural’ Season 12 and Mary Winchester

Supernatural star Samantha Smith
Samantha Smith from ‘Supernatural’ at Comic Con 2016 (Photo © Richard Chavez / Showbiz Junkies)

When The CW’s Supernatural returns for season 12 it will be with Samantha Smith rejoining the cast as Sam (Jensen Ackles) and Dean’s (Jared Padalecki) mom, Mary Winchester. Smith was part of the Supernatural gang that made it to this year’s San Diego Comic Con and during our roundtable interview, she said that Mary won’t have an easy time accepting this new world she finds herself in right away. Smith also confirmed Mary will be returning to her life as a hunter, a life she never wanted for her sons. “She is going back to where she felt grounded and using her knowledge. They may have different hunting styles…we’ll see,” said Smith.

Supernatural season 12 will premiere on October 10, 2016.

Samantha Smith Interview:

How is it going to be to play the mother returning from the dead dynamic?

Samantha Smith: “Well, just as an actress it’s been incredibly interesting and completely overwhelming going from having been Mary who was one thing to Mary who is now a fully developed human, not just the really sweet mom or the evil Eve or whatever but everything – anger, fear, sadness, happiness, everything. Coming into a world that is a completely different reality than when she left, including the fact that she has two grown children who were tiny when she left them and now they have been raised completely without her influence in a way that she may not really want. And Mary will find her footing by going back to what she knew which is hunting.”

Will it be difficult for her to accept the world as it is now?

Samantha Smith: “I think so. I think it will be challenging. I keep saying it’s like drinking from a firehose. You’re like, ‘Oh my god!’ Everything is changing and she’s in it and she doesn’t have time to sort of sit and learn about it. It’s just, ‘Go!’ and just deal, and that’s really hard.”

What will this new relationship look like between Sam, Dean, and Mary?

Samantha Smith: “Well, I think as weird and difficult and challenging as it will be for Mary to suddenly be a parent to grown up children, their mother didn’t leave them when they were little. She died. She was gone for good and now she’s back. And so having to not only accept that and be happy about, but who is she? Is she who they thought she was? Does she have to be a certain kind of person? Is it disappointing in any way? There’s all that conflict and guilt and any resentment they have. It wasn’t my choice but I still left. So, there’s a lot to explore.

It’s going to take a minute, I think. (Laughing) I don’t think they’re going to wrap it up in the first episode.”

Did you think you’d be back on Supernatural?

Samantha Smith: “I did. I thought I would be back in the series finale. I thought they would call me and Mary and John (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) would be brought back to life. My expectation was that they wouldn’t know who the boys were, just to make it tragic. So when they called me for the season finale I thought the show was over. I was like, ‘Oh, it’s over,’ and then they’re like, ‘Oh, no. No, not over.’ ‘Good! Let’s go – keep going!’ So I really had no idea how they’d bring me back. We’ve run out of options. I’ve been a ghost, I’ve been a hallucination. I’ve been Eve. I’ve been in Heaven and I’ve been in fake Heaven. All these things! I’ve been a fake older mom. There’s not really much else to do there.”

Have you kept up with the series over the years?

Samantha Smith: “Yes. I’ve kept apprised of everything that’s going on. I’ve watched it quite a bit. I feel part of it, even though I haven’t been there in several years. I just feel present, and I liked the feeling. I get it. I get why the fans like it so much.”

What do you think is going through her mind in the first meeting with Dean?

Samantha Smith: “Well, I don’t think she knows where she is or what’s happening. ‘Why am I here? I was on fire a minute ago. What is going on?’ And in much the same way I don’t think Dean is positive she is who she looks like she is, she may not know who he is at all or if he’s really who he says he is. I think as a hunter your first instinct is doubt, always.”

Does she remember her time in Heaven or is it that she’s picking up immediately after she died?

Samantha Smith: (Laughing) “I think it’s both, but I can’t explain that exactly.”