With Supernatural going into Season 8 this fall, I recently had the chance to talk to castmember Misha Collins, as he once more dons the trenchcoat of the angel Castiel.

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Collins had to be tightlipped on the specifics of what’s to come this season, on the heels of a cliffhanger that found Dean and Castiel both sent to Purgatory, only for Cas to up and vanish on Dean. But we did discuss topics like Castiel's state of mind in Season 8, returning Supernatural writer Jeremy Carver becoming the new showrunner, the evolution of Castiel through the years and the fanbase Collins has amassed as a result.Yeah, it’s funny for a character like mine. The show cannot go on without Sam and Dean, but we have seen that the show had started without me and can go on without me. So, yes, whenever there’s a changing of the guard, I have been nervous, not always without cause. But if funny because every time I think I know what’s going to happen in the show, something different happens. I thought at the end of last season, “Hey, thank God they left me in Purgatory with Dean. I’m definitely going to be significant next season.” Then there was a little back and forth where it wasn’t really clear whether I was going to come back at all -- and the way in which I do come back is not at all what I expected. I’ll be back much more significantly this season than last.I have. Although to be perfectly frank with you, I’ve only been given hints. I’m not exactly sure how it does play out. But yeah, that lingering question that was a significant part of the cliffhanger -- where the f**k did Castiel go? -- is answered very directly in the second episode. That won’t be a hanging chad. We’ll know what was going on with that.Yes, it is. It’s funny, for whatever reason, I’m always a little bit surprised by it because I somehow don’t see it that way myself. My vantage point is skewed. And it’s not because I’m humbled, because I’m not. [Laughs] It’s just that I don’t really have another basis of comparison or something like that, so I think, “Oh, maybe this is what it’s like for everybody on the show.” But anyway, I have seen that there has been a big fan reaction to my character, and it’s grown with time. I’m super grateful for that, for a number of reasons. One, it was possibly a contributing factor to me lasting as long as I did on the show. I don’t know whether that was purely creative interest on the writers’ part or if there were other factors. But it’s also been really fun to interact with the fanbase and play with that dynamic and be able to utter the words, “I have fans.” Just waking up in the morning and saying that to yourself really gives you a boost. I don’t really know what I’m saying. I’m just rambling in weird spirals!You know, at least empirically, one fan.

Continue to Page 2 as Collins discusses Castiel's state of mind in Season 8, fan encounters and more.