“The joke we make is that every year we end with an apocalypse, and this year we’re starting with one.”

Supernatural co-showrunner Andrew Dabb is talking about the series’ final season, which launched last week with an action-packed episode that saw Sam (Jared Padalecki), Dean (Jensen Ackles), and Castiel (Misha Collins) work to contain the many spirits that God (Rob Benedict) freed from hell in the season 14 finale. And although they successfully completed a salt circle spell to protect the residents of Harlan, Kansas, that’s only the first step in their plan.

“It was written as a three-part premiere,” Dabb says. “This is a big problem that’s going to take a while to deal with. Step 2 is: How do you stuff the candy back into the piñata? How do you get all these ghosts down to hell, or failing that, how do you take them out in a different way? Episode 2 really revolves around our guys, with an able assist from Rowena [Ruth Connell], coming in and basically being like, ‘Okay, we can’t close up this gap that God tore in the earth, what other options do we have?’ They come across a solution in episode 2 that may not work totally but may get them a step of the way there.”

And the guys will do that with Belphagor by their side, otherwise known as the demon currently inhabiting Jack’s vessel. As Dabb puts it, “The character evolves over a number of episodes.” But Belphagor isn’t the only thing carrying over from the premiere. Much in the way that the premiere called back to the series’ pilot with a final shot that would make any Supernatural fan cry, Dabb says, “There are things in [the season] that are designed to tickle that nostalgia, if you will, much like the final shot of episode 1.” (Dabb credits the final shot in the premiere to episode director John Showalter.)

Speaking of nostalgia, episode 2 will also feature a very familiar face for Supernatural fans, because beloved prophet Kevin Tran is back (played by Osric Chau)! And this time, he’s not from an alternate universe. It’s OUR Kevin. “The last time we saw our Kevin, God was sending him to heaven,” Dabb says. “But as it turns out, God may not have been 100 percent honest about that. There’s a reason Kevin was in hell, and that will come out, to a degree at least, in the second episode.”

So it’s our Kevin, but that doesn’t mean we’re done with alternate universes. After a new trailer for the show’s final season got fans talking, Dabb says, “We are not done with alternate universes. Alternate universes are alive and well in Supernatural in season 15.”

Long story short, there’s a lot going on in Supernatural’s final season. “We’re certainly not slowing down,” Dabb says. “There are a lot of challenges coming our guys’ way. For both of our guys, there are some really hard choices to make.”

Supernatural airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on the CW.