SUPERNATURAL: Jeremy Carver Teases the Ramifications of Demon Dean, Sam’s Quest to Save His Brother, and More
July 23, 2014 by Marisa Roffman
SUPERNATURAL is no stranger to putting the Winchester brothers in pretty terrible positions to close out the season, and the end of season 9 was no different: Dean, after his apparent death, woke up as a demon.
I sat down with SUPERNATURAL boss Jeremy Carver to talk about the ramifications of Dean’s transformation, the theme of the season, and more…
What can you tease about the ramifications of Demon Dean?
Jeremy Carver: I think one of the big things is Demon Dean is not being possessed by another demon: Demon Dean is Dean. So, that’s something that gives a certain weight to his actions as a demon. So that’s certainly one thing.
Sam, at the beginning of the season, does not know what happened to his brother. There’s a little bit of time passing, where Sam doesn’t know; Sam has suspicions, but he isn’t fully able to untangle what happened to Dean. And I think we’ll see the ramifications even after Dean comes back from being Demon Dean, in that the way the brothers deal with each other, what they decide to do after that, how they decide to direct themselves in the episodes immediately after.
How long will the arc of Dean being a demon play out?
JC: It’s a little multi-layered in that the demon part of Dean will be there for the majority of the first half of the season — not the entire thing. But, I think one complication they’ll realize is even though Dean has been a demon, he still has the Mark of Cain. So he’s not out of the woods by a long shot.
At what point in crafting last season did you actually realize you were going to pull the trigger on this storyline?
JC: Probably — we always have a direction for where we wanted it to go, we have an idea of where that arc is going to end, but we always leave ourselves room for exactly how we’re going to end it. That allows us to act on where certain characters are going and the storylines. I would say after Robbie [Thompson] wrote the Cain episode (“First Born”] — and Robbie knew the far-reaching implications [of the hour], and so did we — that we realized how much mileage we could get out of that. That’s where the idea started to germinate. But we didn’t pull the trigger on it for a while after that; we had a couple of different ways we were going and then we decided on that.
As you’re trying to craft a cohesive mythology arc, what’s the most difficult aspect of really having no idea when the show is going to end?
JC: I think the toughest thing is, for lack of a better term, not to blow it out. There’s plenty of times in a year when a writer walks into my office, and he or she says, “We need to burn this place down.”
Our job is to tell the best story possible, with the added blind spot of not knowing when it’s going to end. It’s tricky, but the trick is not to — when I came back, one of my things to do was simplify the mythology. Because when I tried to catch up on seasons 6 and 7, I just found myself a little overwhelmed by all the stuff that was going on. And I’m not going to say there’s not a lot of mythology, but I think our episodes are — to me, what we’re shooting for is a character, relationship-based [show]. And I think this year, more than ever, you’re going to see that. Sometimes we announce the mythology at the beginning of episode one: it’s going to be a race for the tablets! This one sneaks up on you.
Is there anything you can tease what the theme of the season will be?
JC: Well, last year, a lot of our characters were challenged with what kind of person or angel or demon am I going to be? There was a lot of Cas as a human for a little while, Sam had an angel inside of him, Dean with the Mark of Cain. Who am I going to be? This season, I think our characters are going to be essentially forced into a corner a little bit with, this is who you are, be it. And certain things that were grey are going to be a little more black and white. Certain characters will find themselves almost forced into a situation of having to face-off once again. If we do it right, it will be good!
What can you say about how Sam will try to save his brother, and how Castiel might fit into that?
JC: We’ll start with Crowley, at the end of last season had this image of him and Dean [as demons]. And we’ll pick up with Crowley and Dean on that path — pain, lots of beer, and a devil may care [attitude]. I think we’ll learn very quickly Crowley has a slightly different plan in mind, however, and the question for Dean is, what is he going to do about it? It’s a question that consumes Dean for a number of episodes. As I mentioned, it’s not another demon inside of Dean. As dark as Dean may be, or as some people may want him to be, it’s still Dean. He has memories. So we’ll see a real interesting dynamic play out.
Castiel is entering the season in a bit of a dilemma himself in that he’s in the same place: he’s dying. To survive, he’s got to get his grace…but to do that, he has to kill another angel, and he doesn’t want to do that. So the question is, what does he do? That’s very much the struggle.
At the beginning, Castiel and Sam are in communication. They’re both looking for Dean, but they’re not together. And there are reasons for that.
Sam is…hellbent on finding his brother. He has no idea what happened to his brother, but he’ll hellbent on finding him. That will drive him to certain steps, morally, that by the time he does track down Dean, it’s going to be the very real question of, “Who’s the monster?” So that’s just a little taste of what’s to come.
Given the potential for tension between the brothers, how important will Dean’s “I’m proud of us” line from the end of last season be for them as they move forward?
JC: I think that moment, for me…he was essentially saying, “I’m proud that we got to the point where you were going to essentially let me walk to my death”…the bond they felt there in that moment, this carries on to the beginning of this season, with the same intensity. It very much influences where Sam starts this season, how Sam treats Dean when he does find him, and how they deal with each other.
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SUPERNATURAL returns October 7th at 9 PM on The CW.
Related:
SUPERNATURAL: Jensen Ackles on Directing His Season 10 Episode
SUPERNATURAL at TCA: Live-Blog
SUPERNATURAL Promotes Mark Sheppard to Series Regular
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Oh, man, Jeremy Carver does not even watch his own seasons, does he? Supernatural has long felt like a show with no center and no one in charge, an asylum run by the inmates. Carver’s greatest distinction as a show runner is to completely destroy Sam and Dean’s characters for EMPTY PLOT WANK. Season 9 didn’t have jack to do with personal choices. Sam was raped by an angel. And when he got mad about that, it was all about woobie Dean. I’m sorry, but NO. Just NO. At the end of Season 10, Carver needs to go, and take Cas and Crowley with him.
I realize Carver is a terrible communicator, so things could be better than what he’s describing, but he’s set a bad track record as a show runner for the past 2 seasons.
If Carver thinks the only thing Sam is good for is being Dean’s Abuse Monkey, then maybe he needs to look up the definition of FAMILY. I hate that all they do over and over again is flip flop the brother’s positions but treat them completely differently – every damn time! If Dean is a demon, let his demonness shine! But no, the coward wants us to shame and hate blame Sam INSTEAD OF AN EVIL VERSION OF DEAN! Have some damn balls, writers! I’m tired of Dean being a crutch for cowards. Just tired of it! Sam is a hero, too. Humans and hunters are not worse than all their stupid pet monster creeps on the show. Sheesh!
Jeremy Carver is the worst thing that’s ever happened to Supernatural, barring the stupid angel invasion of Season 4. He has no concept of show history, Sam and Dean’s REAL characters, that monsters killing people is not crack for emo just because he worked on Being Human on SyFy. God, he’s living in some kind of la la land disconnect from the real SPN.
I loved Supernatural because it was like the X-Files but it was family, not because it was a Buffy knock off, not because it was a Charmed knock off, and not because it was a Being Human knock off. It’s time to knock it off and let Supernatural get back to being itself again.
Sam told Dean that he only sacrificed the others, that Dean did more harm than good, called him selfish for doing everything to save him and disowned Dean, kicked Dean, he ignored Dean for half season and he was only a bit worrying with MoC in the end, when Dean finally pulled away as he wanted and especially when Sam’s emotional blackmail no longer reached Dean as badly as he wanted. Sam completely abandoned Dean, only to hurt him because he was hurt, and then “I’m proud of us” solves everything in between them?
Sam took everything from Dean, his family, his job and everything that keeps Dean going and even blamed only Dean for Kevin’s death and totally exempted his “truly friend” Gadreel.
Dean fell because no one had his back when he needed someone the most. I wish that could be addressed as well … but as always when Sam hurts Dean, he gets carte blanche and whatever he says or has done is forgotten, while Dean got another boo-hoo princess speech to hear.
So “I’m proud that we got to the point where you were going to essentially let me walk to my death” LoL… Like it was the first time Sam let Dean to die, Carver!
Dean doesn’t abuse Sam!Are you kidding me? Dean has given his whole freaking LIFE for Sam! Where were YOU all the times Sam ran out on Dean, told him he was weak, blamed anything wrong he ever did on him,nearly strangled him to death to protect his demon lover, told him his whole life was worthless, etc., not lifting a finger to even try to figure out what happened to him,the lousy way he acted towards him almost all of season 8, I could go on.
And Dean DID NOT rape Sam! He panicked and made a very wrong decision, but he only meant to save him. Was it wrong? Of course it was! Was it a violation of Sam’s free will? Absolutely.But it was NOT rape!
I actually was a victim of rape.So as such it really pisses me of how Dean haters like yourself keep throwing that word so casually around! Rape is a violent act with the deliberate intention of harming someone. This is NOT what Dean did! He did not mean any harm at all to Sam!
I love Sam too, but I’m so sick of Samgirls willfully ignoring all the times HE”S done wrong and hurt Dean while slamming Dean into the ground as this horrible monster of a brother.
This ugly, hateful reaction to Sam is exactly why Jeremy Carver and his writing staff are just terrible, terrible, terrible for the show and the fandom. What planet are they from, because it’s not planet earth.
Dean chose the Mark of Cain all on his own, he never stuck around to even listen to Sam’s side. I’d say the MoC was Dean’s stubborn way of ignoring Sam’s emotional trauma. Given time and understanding, Sam always forgives, always. Dean should know that and just take his lumps and move on, but no. Dean tramps off and takes on the Mark because he wanted to be Crowley’s bitch or something. Seriously. What are these writers on?
Sam never said he’d never save Dean, only that he wouldn’t do exactly what Dean did to Sam, trick him into an angel possession. Well, Dean is now both dead and a demon. Whatever terrible thing Sam is going to do to save Dean now will have to reverse something terrible that was already done to Dean via Crowley, and we all know fan favorite Crowley will walk away from this abuse the same way Castiel walked away from abusing and nearly killing Sam. This show does not know the difference between right and wrong anymore. It’s all about plot and convenience, lazy character writing, and a poor grasp of past episodes and characterization.
I’m so completely baffled by Carver’s description of what Carver intended the “I’m proud of us” line to mean.
It was a line that meant so much to me, & I’m sure other fans, along with – most importantly – the brothers. It was a much needed salve on a gaping, open wound that was the brothers relationship for most of the season.
Sam was never going to let Dean walk to his death. In those final minutes, Sam was talking about a doctor or a spell or something (anything!) to save Dean.
It makes zero context in the situation in which Dean delivered the line. Moments before Dean delivered the line, Sam admits to Dean that he lied & that he isn’t OK with Dean dying.
Carver gives literally the worst interviews. His interviews always make me question his grasp on the characters, & really the show’s core themes.
I was only reacting to YOUR ugly, hateful reaction to Dean! And unlike YOU,I don’t whitewash my favored character’s every mistake and hurtful action.
Dean has done PLENTY wrong. And I won’t whitewash it. Sam has done alot of good and has been a hero. I don’t dislike Sam at all, and I’m not gonna withhold credit from him for all his great qualities.
BUT, Sam has also done a lot of wrong, and has hurt Dean numerous times. And Dean is NOT this abusive monster to Sam that you’re accusing him of being.And he’s a hero every bit as much as Sam! And he didn’t freaking rape him! Again, I am very sensitive to you and all the other Dean haters throwing that word around!
Where in the hell do you see ANYBODY saying that Dean isn’t to blmae for his own actions, like taking the mark?
I hate that Jeremy Carver gave this interview, because immediately the hatred and bashing of Dean started all over the internet, save for ONE site, the ONLY one that’s not dominated by Samgirls like almost every other SPN is. And all this from only a few words!
By the way, it sounds to me like Sam is gonna have a HUGE storyline in season 10!
You started the messages with nothing but a barrage of seething hatred for Dean, yet, complain bitterly if anyone dare say anything less than glowing about Sam. You extreme Samgirls think absolutely nothing about tearing Dean apart and accusing him of being the worst thing that ever breathed, but God help anybody if they point out the fact that(Gasp!) Sam has done some pretty shitty things too and has also hurt Dean terribly. Just saying that somehow means we don’t like Sam but you guys drip nothing but hate for Dean, and THAT”S fine and dandy! Hypocrites!
“At the beginning, Castiel and Sam are in communication.”
GOOD. I really want to see Cas and Sam work together to try and save Dean – I mean, they’re the two people who care about him most in the world. Though part of me wants Dean to save himself.. hmm. Only time will tell. I just hope they solve the grace dilemma, too, because I can’t imagine the show without Dean, Sam, OR Cas. Best trio ever!
Wow. Carver took my favorite line of the Finale and made turned it into something completely out of character. As usual.
Carver, your idea of the brothers relationship is so terribly wrong that I’m infinitely even more glad that the show has Jared and Jensen to try to fix your fuck ups. Thank them for being on the show again. They’re the only reason I’m still watching.
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