Comic-Con 2012 'Supernatural' panel
Kevin Winter, Getty Images

It’s ‘Supernatural’ just how much we love this show and we wouldn’t be anywhere else but Hall H for the Comic-Con 2012 panel.  So, onto the big questions!  Will Dean get out of Purgatory, after season 7 finale “Survival of the Fittest” saw him stranded there with Castiel?  What’s up with the new lady in Sam’s life?  Will Jim Beaver’s Bobby be back?

All these and more answers await you, so check out what we learned from the ‘Supernatural’ season 8 panel at Comic-Con 2012!

  • No new footage to show like last year, but we did get a sizzle reel, and of course the blopers from season 7!  Lucky for fans, the gag reel will be present on the DVD.
  • New showrunner Jeremy Carver, Mark Sheppard, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Jim Beaver, and consulting producer Ben Edlund were all present.  Say, didn’t Bobby die last season?
  • While Ben Edlund wouldn’t say exactly how Dean escapes from Purgatory (which Jensen mockingly calls “Diet Hell”) you can expect that Dean will be out fairly quickly.  Some time will have passed, and Dean’s time in Purgatory will be explored via flashback throughout the season.
  • Says showrunner Jeremy Carver of purgatory itself, “There’s a whole body of events that take place there.  There are meetings and conflicts.  A whole kind of subterranean storyline.  They’re going to meet some bad-asses down there.  There will be some big problems. Purgatory makes strange bedfellows,”
  • Not much more information about Sam’s new love interest Amelia was revealed, but Jeremy Carver joked that he just loves seeing Jared Padalecki with his shirt off.  Jensen maintains that the only real love interest in Dean’s life is the Impala.
  • Carver says, “When they were separated at the end of last season, it had a profound effect on each of them.  Each has gone a very separate way that they will each carry with them.  The relationships that they made in their time off from each other will carry forward and will be very important in each one of their lives.  They’re going to have to come to terms with dealing with the other relationship in their lives.”  Edlund further elaborated that the Winchesters are “shut-ins” who spend most of their time with only each other, so it will be tough to learn to deal with other people in their lives
  • Typically, Misha Collins played coy about whether or not Castiel will return next season, but interestingly, Jim Beaver believes that anything is possible on ‘Supernatural,’ so he could return as well!  As to where Castiel disappeared in the finale, Misha Collins says “He went out for beer, and he’ll be back shortly.”
  • Confirming that he wants this season to have a ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ feel, Carver explains,“I can’t go into it too much but suffice to say that in a lot of season’s past the boys have been reacting to something, but this year, they’re staring on offense.” He says they’re chasing “something near and dear to their hearts,” while Edlund explains the boys are on a “chase for a power source that we’ve already seen hints of.”
  • As for how Mark Sheppard’s Crowley will tie into the mix, Sheppard says of the much more antagonistic relationship “we might be in a situation this year where we’re kind of chasing after the same thing.  This could be a problem.”
  • Jensen, as reported is making his second directorial effort with the season’s third episode, saying "the episode we're shooting right now is kind of a one-off.  They kill the bad guy and save the family kind of thing.”  "It's pretty bloody," Edlund adds.

Be sure to tune in for ‘Supernatural’ season 8 this fall, and keep it here for all the latest developments from Comic-Con 2012!

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