The Darkness problem has proved to be one of the more challenging problems the Winchesters have faced on Supernatural. Maybe the most challenging. Amara has grown quickly in the first eight episodes of Season 11, and the brothers haven’t come close to figuring out how to stop her. Sam is getting visions from somewhere, and those visions are showing him the cage. As in, that cage. Sam has been considering next steps, and promos for Wednesday’s midseason finale, “O Brother Where Art Thou,” show the return of Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino). Nerdist was part of a small group of journalists visiting the set of Supernatural as they were just wrapping shooting for the midseason finale, and Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) and Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester) talked to us about Amara and teased some unlikely alliances.
As we watched Amara grow up, we saw her curiosity about the world. She was confused by how her brother–her sibling is God, incidentally–allowed the world to fall into such chaos. She seemed to want to improve upon his work, and it brought up the question of whether she was truly evil. When asked about the Darkness’ intent, Ackles and Padalecki had different opinions. Padalecki didn’t hesitate with his response. “I’m going to say evil.” Ackles wasn’t as sure. He said, “It’s interesting. We know a little bit more about where the background of the character comes from, but I don’t know if I would say it’s inherently evil as opposed to just opposite of what we’ve known in the world–as far as good or as light. so to speak. which is why she’s the Darkness. I don’t think that means she is out to destroy and to be an evildoer; I think it means she’s just really out to bring Darkness, whatever that means. What that means is yet to be determined.”
Padalecki followed up. “I think one of the overarching storylines we play with in Supernatural in general is that everyone is the hero of their own story. Even when Sam and Dean keep secrets from each other, it’s not to cause harm to each other or to piss each other off. And it becomes scary with someone who’s powerful and righteous like the Darkness. She’s not twisting her mustache–she doesn’t have a mustache, but if she had one she wouldn’t be twisting it. She just thinks she’s doing the right thing to bring Darkness. So… I still say she’s evil.”
Amara has interacted with the Winchesters a few times throughout the season–enough to know Amara and Dean have a connection. Ackles said it’s not like a voodoo doll situation where Dean is hurt if Amara’s hurt, but the Mark of Cain is tying them together. Ackles said, “I don’t think he [Dean] knows what to make of it. I don’t think it’s clear to him. I’m not sure he understands the connection and why. Obviously there’s a Mark issue that’s probably the connection, and also that he was the lock and the key type of thing with releasing her. There’s obviously that connection, but what it all means and how it’s all going to tie into his destiny and his future and what that means for the brothers.”
When we talked with Ackles and Padalecki, they were bruised and battered. They weren’t allowed to talk specifics about what they were filming that led to the application of the makeup, but Padalecki did say episodes nine and ten of this season are his favorite episodes of Supernatural in a “long, long time.” He continued, “I love the twists and turns, none of which I can say.” We asked if he could mime it, and this happened:
After everyone stopped laughing, Padalecki said, “We see it [the plot] going forward with the Amara question. We see the brothers going–I wouldn’t expect the brothers to go where they go until at least the season finale but we get right to it. The brothers are very committed and fight alongside each other to get rid of the Darkness and in trying to figure out what it’s going to take and how to do it and going through all allies and channels. We go to a place we probably not would have expected but I love it.”
Ackles added, “Sam starts exploring these visions and he starts trying to figure them out–who’s talking through them and what they mean, and he kind of takes it upon himself to go there without Dean. He leaves me in the dust, and then, of courseDean has to follow. But that that does is make for some interesting alliances, we’ll say.” One of those unique alliances? Dean will meet Billie, the reaper who had an encounter with Sam at the beginning of the season.
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“O Brother Where Art Thou?” airs on Wednesday, December 9 at 9:00pm ET/PT on The CW.
Nerdist visited the Supernatural set courtesy of Warner Bros.
Images: The CW
