An interview with Robert Singer for Season 9 of Supernatural

10 December 2014

With Season 9 about to air on E4, we catch up with executive producer, Robert Singer, to find out more…

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What can fans expect from Supernatural in Season 9?

I think this is our most character-driven season; especially with Crowley, Castiel and the boys, and all the mixing up that’s going on between them. We’re developing the characters and their relationships, and we’re taking them to another plane. Having said that, there will also be a lot of action. There will be angels on Earth and demons running amok without a leader. There’s going to be a lot going on.

What can you tell us about the first episode of Season 9?

Without giving too much away, there’s something that happens between Sam and Dean that’s really going to take their relationship to a new place. Dean will make a decision regarding Sam that he may have some second thoughts about.

What other challenges will the boys face as we enter the new season?

Last year, they put themselves above their mission. Doing that is going to have a price and it’s going to affect Sam in a certain way. It’s also going to affect Dean in a very emotional and almost guilt-ridden way. I can’t really go much beyond that, but that’s definitely a bit of a spoiler for you.

Can you tell us anything else about the story arc of Season 9?

It’s much more multi-layered than in the past. When we start a season, we try to ask, very loosely, ‘What is the story this year?’ A couple of years ago, we did a seasonal mystery. Last year was an Indiana Jones-style quest movie. This year we don’t really have a movie or story in mind; we just have a lot of balls in the air. There are a lot of stories that are separate from Sam and Dean. They will get integrated into them, but we have the angels falling; we have Crowley being incapacitated and also the stuff with Abaddon. We have demon-on-demon stories and angel-on-angel stories, and the boys are in the middle.

What three words would you use to tease fans about Season 9?

I’d say brothers, fallen angels and angry demons.

Are we going to get more flashbacks and mythology from the Men of Letters?

We certainly are. We’re doing that in episode 4. It’s one that Felicia [Day, who plays Charlie] is going to be in and it really ties the past of the Men of Letters to the present in an interesting way.

What can you tell us about Crowley in Season 9?

We like having him in the cage. We like this idea of Crowley being our Hannibal Lecter. And, like Hannibal Lecter, his goal is to get out. He’s clever and he’s going to try everything he can to achieve his goal. Eventually he will. Where that happens, we don’t know yet – but he’s always scheming and he’s always trying to figure out a way. We’ll play that as long as it takes.

Will there be any new characters or villains in Season 9?

We have so many people established now and their stories are just starting to peak, so we’re concentrating on them at the start of the season. We haven’t really thought about new people yet, but I’m sure we will as the season goes on.

You’ve created a lot of villainous characters on Supernatural. Do you have a favourite?

As far as villains go, Crowley has been amazing. I also love Mark Pellegrino; I thought his Lucifer was fantastic. Wow, there have been so many great characters and actors over the years. Lilith was great and I thought Naomi [played by Amanda Tapping] was a tremendous character, too. We’ve really been fortunate to find good people. The great thing about these parts is when the actors come to do them, they love their characters and they really go for it. That’s always a pleasure to watch.

Would you agree that you’re very open to character discussions with the cast?

Absolutely. And we don’t put any restrictions on the ideas that writers can come up with either. It’s a clean palette. At the beginning of the year, Jeremy and I will spend a week in a room together talking about how we see the season looking, or what the bare bones of the mythology is going to be. Then we bring the writers in and we start filling it up. No idea is too crazy. It’s a totally safe room. We encourage really out-of-the-box thinking and out-of-the-box villains.

What’s it like to have a character named after you?

I was in Vancouver when [Supernatural creator] Eric Kripke did that. I actually saw that script on a plane and I remember calling Eric to say, “What did you do?” He said, “Oh, I thought it was cute.” Now I get emails from friends in New York saying, “How Hollywood are you, naming a character after yourself?” And I’m like, “I didn’t do it, it wasn’t me!” People introduce me now and they say, “And this is the real Bobby Singer!” But it’s fun and if somebody’s going to play me I’m glad it was Jim Beaver.

Supernatural is in its ninth season now. At what point did you realise that the show was going to be successful?

By midway through the second year, we were getting such positive feedback that we realised how loyal and hardcore our fans were – but to last this long is kind of a shock. Eric Kripke and I used to say, “Well, we’ll be done after a five-year plan. The show may run out of steam and the fans may move on to something else.” But I’m not the best at predicting this kind of thing.

The show has changed a great deal over time. Do you think this has helped its longevity?

The changes have been gradual, so you don’t necessarily feel them. It’s only when we look back at an episode from Season 2 or Season 3 that we realise how much the way we tell stories has changed and how much the boys have changed. If you had told us in our second year that Supernatural was going to become angel- and demon-based show, that we would be invoking God and that there would be fallen angels; we would have said, “Nah, that’s not this show.” It has really evolved over time and at a certain point you go where the story takes you. Eric originally thought we’d have the kind of monsters that you tell around campfires to scare kids. Pretty soon we realised how that was not going to be our legacy.

ENDS.