Jared Padalecki talks about his character's new relationship in Supernatural Season 8

Today, KSiteTV visited the set of Supernatural, which is currently filming what looks to be a fun episode by the name of “Hunteri Heroici.” While here, we and other journalists were able to speak with Jared Padalecki (Sam), Jensen Ackles (Dean), and Misha Collins (Castiel).

Look for all of those interviews (and video!) in the coming days, but first… we thought you might like to hear what Jared had to say about Sam’s new relationship. Whenever a girl is brought on to Supernatural, it’s usually controversial. Will this one be any different? It very well might be, since the relationship starts while Dean and Cas are thought to be long gone.

“The relationship between Sam and Amelia, which I really enjoy, is done in retrospect,” he tells us. “It’s sone mostly in flashbacks. We will get into it in the season, a real-time relationship; but I’ve kind of been not petitioning in the literal sense of the word, but vocal about ‘guys. I love when shows will go back and show what’s happened,’ and I’ve loved the episodes of Supernatural that have done it, like ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer.’ I’ve loved episodes that have gone back in time and told a cool story that you can’t tell in the present tense as well as you can tell in reflection,” he says.

“So we see a lot of Sam and Amelia in flashbacks, which is nice, because we all see Dean and what he kind of did in his flashbacks,” Jared continues. “They’re very opposite sides of the coin, where one guy is happy and content and living a quote ‘Supernatural Winchester normal life,’ and the other is in Purgatory, fighting for his life. So we see Sam and Amelia develop this relationship; they’re both misfits, they’re both going through a loss, and they’re both not outcasts so much, but they’re brought together by a bizarre set of extenuating circumstances, and they find each other in each other’s arms, in each other’s minds, and say ‘this is good, what we’ve got. Why look a gift horse in the mouth? Let’s just kind of go with it’.”

Jared wasn’t sure that this new storyline would work when he initially heard about it. “At first, maybe I’ve become like a fangirl of the show, but I was like ‘A GIRL? FOR SAM? WHAT’S HE DOING?’ But as I’ve learned about the relationship, I was so happy to explore that role, and that character. Sam, from the get, has been hoping to reinvent himself as the person that he always thought he was, which is kind of backwards-speak. But he was the one who, in the pilot, wanted to stay in the college. He was at Stanford, hoping for his test scores to come back. He’s always fought for the normal life, and he’s always fought for the relationship, not always to his credit. He’s made some wrong turns. But we basically find out, in retrospect, what’s happened. As the show opens, the relationship’s in the past, but it’s still on Sam’s mind,” he says.

The return of Dean will bring an end to Sam’s new life, and going back to a hunter’s life might not be the top thing on Sam’s mind. “He’s not willing,” Jared says. “I think Sam, in this season, is different than Sam in other seasons where Dean was in Hell, or when Sam was in Hell. Usually when they’ve been split up, there’s been the impetus of ‘my brother’s in trouble. I’ve got to save him. I’ve got to help him. He’s got to help me. He’s got to save me.’ But here, Sam is like ‘you know what? [Everyone’s gone]. I’m going to take off the hunter garb, and just live a normal life, because I have nothing tying me back’,” he says.

Amelia is in flashback for most of the first third of Season 8, though Jared does tell us we will see her in the present day as well. “Sam certainly hasn’t written her off. Sam’s not BS-ing when he says to Dean and Cas ‘I want out. I’ve been out, and my heart is not here. I’m doing this to make good on my commitments, but my heart’s elsewhere.’ So we do see Amelia in the present tense, but we do kind of play with present tense and past tense, which I’m really excited about,” he says.

Supernatural Season 8 begins Wednesday, October 3 on The CW.

Disclaimer: Travel and hotel arrangements for our Supernatural set visit were provided by Warner Bros. Television.