Supernatural Season 6 Premieres on Friday, September 24 at 9:00 p.m. on the CW
Despite series creator Eric Kripke stating that he had always planned a five year arc for Supernatural, the show will be returning for its sixth season on Friday, with a new showrunner in producer/writer Sera Gamble, and a new focus for the show to explore.
What You Should Know
The End of the Five Year Arc – Kripke said the finale was the natural ending to the storyline he had spent five years building. Throughout season 5 we thought there would be a showdown between the brothers as Michael and Lucifer’s vessels, which would lead to the apocalypse. But things didn’t turn out as the archangel and devil had planned. Sam first managed to convince Dean not to become Michael’s vessel after losing all hope that the brothers could find another way to stop the apocalypse. Instead, the boys found another route to killing the devil – trapping him back inside Hell using the rings of the 4 horsemen.
Sam, likely driven by guilt for breaking the final seal to let Lucifer out of his cage, volunteered to become Lucifer’s vessel in an attempt to trap him back in hell. Of course, things didn’t go as the boys had planned and once Sam had given his body over to Lucifer as a vessel, the devil took off before Dean could put him back in the hole. With Dean refusing to become Michael’s vessel, the archangel turned to the boys’ half-brother, Adam. A rather tame showdown occurred in a cemetery outside the brothers’ hometown, with Sam/Lucifer facing off against Adam/Michael as Dean arrived.
After killing both Castiel and Bobby, Sam/Lucifer looked poised to kill Dean and destroy the world. Instead, Sam managed to break the devil’s hold on his body and opened the portal to hell, jumping in and pulling Adam/Michael in with him at the last minute. Resurrected, Castiel healed Dean and brought Bobby back to life.
Back to Heaven – Castiel had spent the last season as Heaven’s outcast, having rebelled against his fellow angels in order to follow Sam and Dean’s cause. Having lost most of his angelic powers as a result, he still accompanied Dean and Bobby to the final showdown and was killed by Sam/Lucifer for managing to get rid of Adam/Michael momentarily and giving Dean a chance to get through to his brother. After being brought back to life (by God, Cas believes), he told Dean that he planned to return to Heaven, which is now in disarray with the loss of Michael and many other top angels.
Dean in Suburbia – After Sam went to Hell, Dean accompanied Bobby back to his house, only to say goodbye to him and, presumably, not see him again for a long time. Despite wanting to find a way to get Sam back, Dean decided to honor his brother’s last wish for him and returned to his old flame (well, weekend flame), Lisa, and her son Ben. When we last saw Dean in the season finale, he’s morose, staring off into space, until Lisa seemed to shake him out of out and he, Lisa and Ben sat down for a nice family dinner.
Bobby’s Vertical Again – After choosing to hurt himself instead of stabbing Dean in the season 5 premiere, Bobby spent most of the fifth season confined to a wheelchair. Until the final episodes, when Crowley healed his injury, allowing him to walk again and help the brothers’in the final apocalypse showdown. Before all that happened, though, Bobby choose to offer up his soul in exchange for the location of one of the horsemen. When Dean became angry at Bobby’s sacrifice, Crowley informed the boys that he planned on giving Bobby his soul back, but we ended season 5 without Crowley fulfilling his promise. After Dean and Bobby parted ways in the finale, Bobby continued to live the life of a hunter.
Sammy’s…Back? – Despite having gone through a lot of changes since the series premiere – including becoming addicted to demon blood and going off on some pretty crazy benders – Sam found the strength, and the love, to sacrifice himself for the world and for his brother. Thinking that his brother was lost to him forever, Dean decided to set up shop with a new family. In the final moments of the season 5 finale, we see Sam has somehow returned from Hell. As the streetlight flickers (indicating something supernatural?), Sam stands outside of Lisa’s house, looking in on Dean with his girlfriend and her son.
The God Question – We may never know the answer to this, but what had fans in a tizzy after the season 5 finale was the question of whether the prophet Chuck, who we first met in season 4 was actually God. Chuck narrated and wrote the story of the apocalyptic showdown in the finale, and provided a key bit of information to Dean, allowing him to get through to his brother before he let Lucifer destroy the world. At the end of the finale Chuck disappeared, prompting fans to question whether he was God all along. Despite arguments concerning Dean’s God-finding amulet, I believe Chuck was God. There’s no word whether we’ll ever see Chuck – or God – in season 6.
With the apocalypse now over, Gamble and the others say that the show will be returning to its roots, with more focus on monster-of-the-week type episodes, but still with a season-long arc. Season 6 picks up a year after the events of the fifth season finale. Read on to find out what we want to see in the sixth season, as well as a few spoilers about what’s in store for the Winchesters and their friends.
What to Look Out For
A New Focus – While the show focuses more on the good old-fashioned monsters that populated the earlier seasons, we should also expect to learn more about the origins of the creates in the Supernatural universe. With both Heaven and Hell in disarray after the botched apocalypse, the creatures will be acting strangely. It’s up to Dean and Sam to figure out why.
The Campbells – We learned a bit more about the Campbells (Mary Winchester’s family) in seasons 4 and 5, when the brothers took trips back in the past. Despite the fact that the boys’maternal grandfather – Samuel Campbell – was killed by Azazel in season 4, Mitch Pileggi will be reprising his role as Grandpa Samuel. Season 6 will tell us more about the history of this family of hunters and we’ll learn that Samuel and Sam managed to meet up in the past year while Dean was off living with Lisa and Ben. We should also expect to see a few other Campbell characters, including, I believe, a cousin of the brothers.
The Quest for Bobby’s Soul – We don’t know very much about what Bobby has been up to in the past year, besides continuing hunting. From footage revealed at Comic Con, we do know that Bobby will be a big focus in episode 6.04, where we see him attempt to get Crowley to give him back his soul. Will he be successful? We sure hope so. We also know that Bobby will return in the season premiere and will reunite with the brothers, as well as appear in a few other episodes in the first half of the season.
The New Man in Charge? – Castiel has returned to Heaven and is, presumably, trying to restore order after the loss of Michael and other key angels in the heirarchy. We shouldn’t expect to see Cas until episode 6.03. The question is how successful Castiel will have been in Heaven over the past year and how he will fit into the storyline with the brothers now that their focus on Heaven and Hell has pretty much come to an end.
The Family Man – Dean has spent the last year becoming a ‘husband’and father to Lisa and Ben. Now working in construction, Dean has the Impala under a tarp and has learned to move on to a normal life. Of course, that’s not really in the cards. From various reports we can surmise that Dean comes across something supernatural in the season 6 premiere, prompting him to bring Lisa and Ben to Bobby’s for safekeeping. At some point during the episode he also runs across Sam and Grandpa Samuel. The real question is how Dean will reconcile these two biggest parts of his life – Sam and the hunting with Lisa, Ben and his family man persona. We know that Dean doesn’t leave Lisa and Ben permanently in the season premiere, but we do know that the early episodes will have Dean leaving to go join Sam for one-off cases. How long can he keep that up before he joins Sam back on the hunting road full-time? Despite liking Lisa and Ben’s characters, I do hope the brothers will be back off together soon.
The Question of Sam – We don’t know how Sam got out of Hell, or even how long he was trapped down there. We will apparently learn more about this as the season progresses. The question, of course, is whether Sam has changed. Despite Jared telling us that Sam was definitely still Sam at Comic Con, we do know that Sam will become more like season 1 Dean – impulsive, brash, and a shoot-first-asking-questions-later kind of guy. This new version of Sam will have to deal with a calmer, more collected and concerned version of Dean. We also know that Sam will have kept his return from Dean over the past year because he believes that his brother earned the right to a normal life. A lot of the promos are making it seem like Sam is different – that he’s changed. We don’t know how this fits in with what Jared told us, but the question of who or what Sam is will likely be an ongoing concern in the sixth season.
The new season looks darker, and I’ve got high hopes that the brothers will finally be able to heal their relationship, which has been stretched to the breaking point over the last five years. Are you anxious to learn how Sam got out of Hell? Do you want to see Dean playing dad to Ben or would you prefer to see him back in crappy motels with his brother? And are you excited to learn how Mitch Pileggi will be returning since his character died?
Supernatural Season 6 Premieres on Friday, September 24 at 9:00 p.m. on the CW
Until then, go look at some of the season 6 promotional material we’ve posted, including:
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there was a hint in season finale that suggested Chuck was God. when Dean was talking with Chuck on the phone, he asked about Chuck's girlfriend. Chuck said that they broke up, made some comments about her and another girl. And then Dean said something about Chuck having a "virgin-hooker" thing. this is a clear reference to mary magdalene, who was Christ's companion.