Supernatural Boss Talks Winchesters as Generals, Cas' Return and

After a brief break, Supernatural continues this Thursday (The CW, 8/7c) with a new episode — but for some of Dean and Sam’s pals, it may soon be the end of the road.

When the battle between the hunters and the British Men of Letters starts to cost lives, the brothers must step up as leaders in order to protect their loved ones, executive producer Andrew Dabb previews below.

The EP also teases Mary’s response to being betrayed by Mr. Ketch & Co., Cas’ fight to protect the Winchesters and more.

TVLINE | Mick is dead, and the Brits want all the American hunters killed. So what do the upcoming episodes have in store for the Winchesters and their tentative partnership with the Men of Letters?
It’s obviously a little strained. [The British Men of Letters] want everybody dead. But as they are a massive organization and very corporate in their own way, they’re going about it in a very organizational, methodical way. In Episode 20 [and] 21 into our end run, they start to make those moves and, to be a little vague, people that Sam and Dean know and love pay the price. It’s a way to take this organization and bring the fight home for Sam and Dean and force them to take a role, which they haven’t done that much. Outside of a few friends, they don’t have a lot of contact with the wider hunter community. So it forces our guys into a leadership role. They’ve been soldiers for a long time — and not that they don’t do their fair share of fighting — but toward the end of the season, they’re becoming generals. They’re taking a much stronger role in the wider hunter community as the Brits take the fight to them.

TVLINE | As this fight is going on between the two sides, where does Mary fall, especially considering what recently transpired between her and Mr. Ketch?
Once things go bad, she feels deeply responsible. She got her kids into this. She brought them in. Once the weight of what happened hits her in a couple weeks, she has all her illusions shattered. We’re not creating a scenario where Mary is bending over backwards to defend the British Men of Letters [or] what they’re doing. But all three of our Winchesters realize the mistake they’ve made, and as soon as they realize it, they start to take action to basically get the hell out of there, to varying degrees of success. Mary, more than Sam and Dean, is on the inside, so her journey out may be a little bit more complicated.

TVLINE | Cas has been in Heaven for a little while now. How will he re-enter the action? And is he any different?
When Cas comes back [in this Thursday’s episode], we’re going to get a lot of clarity in terms of not only why he’s been in Heaven for so long, but his own point of view on why he went. Some people are looking at it like, “He went to Heaven because he’s choosing angels over Sam and Dean,” and things like that. What’s going to come out very strongly when he comes back is that what he’s doing, he views as doing for our guys. That’s been a big part of the season overall: Sam and Dean have proven themselves as heroes, certainly to everyone around them. So whether it’s Cas or Crowley or Mary or Mick until his unfortunate demise or anyone else in our story, these are people who realize Sam and Dean’s importance. Sam and Dean have always been willing to sacrifice for each other. Now we’re seeing a lot of people around them that are willing to sacrifice for Sam and Dean, and it’s really about building a sense of community.

So from Cas’ point of view, everything he’s been doing has been for Sam and Dean. When he comes back in, that will be made pretty clear, and then the question is: Where does he go from there? Once he comes back in, he’s going after Kelly. Once he comes into contact with her [and] her kid, a lot of his misconceptions may fall away. A big part of his time in Heaven has been gathering information, but not reorienting his thinking to the point where he’s against Sam and Dean or anything like that. It’s more like having moments of clarity in terms of why he’s doing this and the price he, personally, is willing to pay to keep Sam and Dean alive or to keep them from experiencing pain.

TVLINE | Kelly has escaped again. Meanwhile in Hell, Lucifer and Crowley’s sparring has been building and building. How will that storyline intensify as you head into the end of the season?
The ticking clock over our final run is the birth of [Lucifer’s] kid. We’ve pinpointed it to late May, coincidentally when our episode airs. As that gets closer and closer, everyone is going to activate more and more. A lot of the moves [the British Men of Letters are] making right now are because they know that something big is coming, the Nephilim is coming. So the reverberations of it are starting to be felt. As we dive deeper into the season, it’s going to be felt more and more and more by all of our different players.