Supernatural is now in an astounding 11th season and still going strong for the CW. I recently visited the Vancouver set of the show and sat down with the stars, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, to discuss Season 11’s big storylines, as Sam and Dean continue to face the threat of the Darkness – now revealed to be God’s sister – and we’re seeing glimpses of a very familiar cage in Supernatural lore.

The actors also discussed getting to bring back guest stars from the past, the popularity of the recent episode “Baby” and much more – including pondering the cirumstances they want to see the series end under, whenever that day should come.

Yeah, about as big as you can get!I would say so. In our show, God has been gone for a while. Now we find out that Amara is on Earth and is God’s sister and it makes the boys wonder if she’s back, God presumably knows it. He’s still not coming back? How bad can that be? It’s a whole new level for the fellas.I think at this point, the brothers kind have always relied on themselves and their core group of supporters and God has never really been anywhere in the picture, so to speak. So for them to really rely on the idea that he’s going to come back and help out in this situation is a fleeting idea. Obviously, Sam might have more of a connection than Dean would. Dean’s like, “Listen, he’s not here now. He’s never been here. We’re on our own and we’ll figure it out like we always do.”I think Dean is like, "It’d be nice if he shows up but if we can’t rely on him let’s not count on him.” Whereas Sam is having these visions and he feels very strongly that they’re coming from God so he’s trying to reciprocate that and make that connection. We’re going to see Sam go to some lengths to kind of figure it out.Sure. I think there’s a bit of hesitation and reluctance with Sam, having these visions of the cage. Obviously, he’s been there and he didn’t like it very much. He doesn’t want to go back. But that’s why he’s certain it must be coming from a higher power. So, we will delve more deeply into what’s in that cage and these visions will continue and Sam will go to whatever lengths he needs to go to figure out who is in that cage, what they have to say and why they have to say it.I don’t think it’s a deal about not hurting each other. If you look, Dean actually tries to -- he kind of snaps out of it. It’s almost a mind control, a trance. You see, when Amara throws Sam across the room, he goes to go at her and she flicks him against the wall. There are a couple of moments where Dean has had an opportunity to at least try and facilitate some sort of battle against her and has failed. That will be touched upon as to whether or not that failure is intentional, whether he’s not trying that hard, or whether there’s something literally holding him back.Affection… For lack of a better term, I’d say it’s more of a curiosity. The bond that they both share, with the mark of Cain, is certainly something that they both want to try to figure out; what it is and how that relationship is connected. The attraction, so to speak, is more rooted in curiosity.I think that relationship will play into future dealings. At this point, he’s not entirely an enemy…He’s not openly aggressive, necessarilyYeah. He’s not out to get us and therefor we don’t need to arm ourselves or take him out at this point.It’s almost a Devil’s bargain. We’re not sure if we’re going to need him and he’s not sure if he’s going to need us. We’re keeping each other at arm’s length. “If I knew I didn’t need you, I’d probably kill you” and he’s probably thinking the same thing.Keeping that relationship at least alive is oddly enough, a necessary evil.Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.I think at this point the brothers are “Take a knee. Recuperate. Get back your mojo and we’ll figure out where we can use you and you can help us out.” Obviously he’s not one to want to just sit it out, so he’s going to want to get back into it at soon as he can.I love it. It’s so cool. It gives such depth to the show and to the characters and to our journey and reminds us both as performers and as characters and, I think, the audience, just what we’ve all gone through together. A lot of times, especially with some of the more light-hearted episodes we do, you almost forget the gravitas of what these boys set out to do, almost eleven years ago. But going back and going, "Oh yeah, the cage, that was in Season 5, so that was just a couple years ago...” But it was six years ago! I hadn’t met my wife six years ago! Well, I guess I had. [Laughs] So for me it’s a lot of fun. By and large, I’m really fond of our guest cast that has been on our show. We keep in touch, doing conventions often, and we see each other when we’re in the same city. It’s a lot of fun. It feels like -- to use a sports analogy-- when a quarterback and the team has been playing so long together it just works like this [snaps], as opposed to trying to join a new team or get a whole new cast. There’s a familiarity to it and that familiarity allows us to delve more deeply into the story or deeply into these characters and to learn something else about these characters that you otherwise wouldn’t have known.

Continue to Page 2, as the Supernatural stars discuss the recent episode "Baby", characters from the past they'd like to see and pondering the end of the show one day.