Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

Chelsey Reist (The 100) will guest star, her role is unknown (I think it will be this episode) (x)
Thanatology is the study of death.

What’s happening with Hell now that Crowley’s dead on Supernatural? — Mara
It’s pretty much what you’d imagine. When one leader falls, another must step up. But the question is: Who will earn their spot in Hell’s throne? (Hint: It might be someone we’ve never met before.) “There is a power vacuum,” showrunner Andrew Dabb says of the situation in Hell. “Into that power vacuum will step a new player for us. Once Crowley is gone, demon-kind and some of our players — some we’ve met before and some that are new — start asking themselves: What is the future of Hell? People come with various different agendas.”

Guest stars: Chelsey Reist (Unknown), Seth Issac Johnson (Shawn Raider.)

Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

Sam and Dean drive up to “The Royal Motel” at night in the Impala, wearing their fed suits. They have a chat over the roof of the car.
Dean makes a PBJ in the Bunker Kitchen.
Scenes were filmed in a residential neighborhood, mostly interiors in a house. Only Jensen was spotted on set.
Chelsey Reist (The 100) will guest star, her role is unknown (I think it will be this episode)
Thanatology is the study of death.

BILLIE RETURNS…BUT NOT LIKE BEFORE – While working on a case involving the ghost of a demented doctor, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) get assistance from an unexpected source – Billie (guest star Lisa Berry). Castiel (Misha Collins) finds his way back to the Winchesters. John Showalter directed the episode written by Steve Yockey (#1305). Original airdate 11/9/2017.

Written by: Steve Yockey

Guest stars: Lisa Berry (Billie), Seth Issac Johnson (Shawn Raider), Dan Vaida (Ghost)

Other Spoilers/info:

Sam and Dean drive up to “The Royal Motel” at night in the Impala, wearing their fed suits. They have a chat over the roof of the car. (x)
Dean makes a PBJ in the Bunker Kitchen. (x)
Scenes were filmed in a residential neighborhood, mostly interiors in a house. Only Jensen was spotted on set.
Thanatology is the study of death.

Castiel reunited with the Winchester brothers on this week’s SUPERNATURAL and the angel will be delving into a case with Sam and Dean in the next episode. He’ll also get a chance to meet Jack for the first time since his birth. Once that meeting happens, the group will head to Texas to investigate a case and fulfill Dean’s obsession with everything cowboy related.

During a visit to the set of SUPERNATURAL in Vancouver, we spoke to Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester), Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) and Alex Calvert (Jack) about the reunion with Cas and what’s to come in the next episode.

How Important Are the Winchesters? Before moving on to the next episode, we noticed that Billie brought Dean back from the dead this week because, according to her, Sam and Dean are “important”. We’ve always known that the Winchesters are crucial to the fate of the universe, but does Billie know something now that we don’t? Jared and Jensen aren’t yet sure. “We haven’t really found out why just yet,” Jared explained. “We know we’re important for some reason, but true to SUPERNATURAL form I think it will be a surprise to Sam and Dean and Jared and Jensen. I think the brothers have always felt like they have a higher cause and a greater calling, so I think they’re looking forward to figuring out exactly what it means.”

Loss of Faith. The meeting with Billie also revealed that Dean feels a bit loss after the recent deaths of his mother and friend. Cas’ return, however, will be considered a bit of a “win”, according to Jensen. “At the end of last season and the beginning of this season we do see that Dean is just of like given up, so to speak. So the return of Cas has ignited that fire again. He’s got some hope and motivation to dig a little deeper and see what we can figure out. Because if he was written off and Mom was written off, maybe there’s a few other people that shouldn’t have been written off. And we figure that out as the series continues to move on.”

Skeptical Sam. While Dean is just happy to have his buddy back and doesn’t seem to question the reason beyond Cas’ return going forward, Sam is a bit more skeptical, according to Jared. “I think Sam is really looking to find out what happened and how did it happened. Also, not just because of Sam’s intellectual curiosity, but Sam still wants mom back and, heck, if we can start calling out who we want back, I’m sure there are a lot of people Sam wouldn’t mind to bring back. So I think Dean is so relieved to have that win he’s looking for, and to have our buddy back. Sam’s like ‘OK, it is great, I agree, but, you know, to quote Dean — the other shoe is probably going to drop. So what else can this person do?'”

Jack and Castiel Meet. Castiel spent the later part of season 12 protecting Jack before his birth because he believed that the boy could help the world. Jack “adopted” Castiel as his surrogate father and was devastated when he learned that Cas was gone at the beginning of season 13. Now the two of them will finally come face-to-face. We’ll see that Jack and Cas are “close because they think it’s like meeting the only other alien,” Alexander said. “You’re an alien on the Earth and you thought you were alone, but then suddenly there’s someone who’s actually like you. I feel like they have that unique bond.” This moment will mean “everything to [Jack]. I don’t want to say too much cause I think it’s all kind of there when we see it, but I mean, a huge moment for Jack.”

Dean’s Love of Westerns. We saw that Dean is obsessed with Westerns all the way back in the season 6 episode of “Frontierland”, but he’ll get a chance to revisit that in the upcoming episode “Tombstone”. “I don’t think it’s any shock that I’ve always been kind of a fan of the iconic symbol of a cowboy and everything that comes along with that,” Jensen said. “A fan of western movies and everything. So when I read that Dean gets all excited about it and decides to play the part up, so to speak, I of course got excited as well. I think there’s a nice slow-mo montage of some snakeskin boots and a hat and the whole bit. But yeah, instead of playing FBI agents we get to play Texas Rangers, which is kind of fun.” Alexander said that the crew was so into this episode that “everyone in the crew dressed up as cowboys for one of the days.”

Watch a portion of our interview with Jared, Jensen and Alexander below (more to come!).

Anything on Jack and Castiel’s reunion on Supernatural? — Rachel

Castiel will very quickly find himself taking on a parental role with Jack, even as soon as this week’s episode, a.k.a the first time they meet. “A big part of this episode is about trying to tell Jack that everybody screws up, don’t give on yourself,” Misha Collins says. “The truth is, Cas is the worst person to be giving that speech because he never forgives himself and is always lamenting his poor choices in the past.” And yes, Castiel will have to face his choices at some point. As Collins puts it, “I don’t think the journey of self-healing as really begun for Cas, but he’s also not as morose as we’ve found him previously.”

In the Supernatural episode of Advanced Thanatology, Seth Isaac Johnson plays Shawn Raider, a kid who goes exploring where he shouldn’t (we all know how that ends, don’t we?). One thing I loved about this character, was the throwback to Dead in the Water, all the way back in Season 1.

Even Dean makes mention of Lucas Barr, the young boy who also went silent after seeing something traumatic. (If you haven’t seen the episode – Chuck forbid – Shawn goes mute after seeing a ghost.) Seth also appeared in 22 episodes of The Killing.

Tell us about your character, Shawn Raider, in Supernatural.

He’s sort of the quiet one of his group. The relationship that he has with Evan – he sort of just acquiesces to the situation – he doesn’t really have a say. He just sort of accepts whatever has gone on. You can see that with going to the house, taking the mask, all that stuff. But I think he’s also a character that a lot of people maybe can relate to; a lot of people have been in that situation, or know somebody who has. He’s a character you can sympathize with – he isn’t the one who incites all of these actions that lead to the events of the episode. He doesn’t have any real way to stop it. I think that it tugs at the heartstrings a bit, with what happens to him.

What was it like working with Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles?

They were amazing. Their chemistry – it’s nothing I’ve ever seen before, just because they’ve been working together for so long. Not even just between them, but with the crew as well. They have such great chemistry with everybody. You can tell that they all have a lot of history – I’ve heard a lot about what it’s like working with them throughout the years; how they thought they were going to be cancelled multiple times, but every time everybody just wants them back and I think it’s the chemistry that makes them work so well together on screen as well. Why so many people are invested in the characters, just because they’re actually like that.

Obviously, you’ve heard of Supernatural before; did you watch any of the shows?

I’ve seen a few episodes, and I know a lot of people who are very invested in the show; as I’m sure you know there is a large fan base that absolutely loves all of the characters.

I’m a proud card-carrying member of the #SPNfamily; so I know what you mean. What did you enjoy most about working on Supernatural?

It was a super unique experience for me, because I had never really worked on something that was so action-oriented, first of all. Second of all, I got to die, which was pretty cool. I spent more time in makeup in this episode of Supernatural than I think I have on anything before.

I was going to ask you about that – how long did the makeup take?

It took about 30 minutes; but funny story, actually, just because of the shooting schedule on the last day I had to be in and out of the makeup like three or four times. It sort of adds up.

What was the funniest thing to happen during filming?

In the intro sequence when Josh, the actor who played Evan, when he and I were filming our exploration of the house – it was a lot of fun just improvising and playing because we had total control over what we did. That was a super unique experience, super exciting – and we just got to play around a lot, which was really good for trying to build the chemistry, as well.

It was very Blair Witch.

In the opening sequence, where you guys are climbing over the fence – we only ever see a small portion of the fence, mostly between two trees – was that fence actually there?

There actually was a fence there. It wasn’t the same exterior of the house as the interior; the entrance was quite a bit different, so walking up to the house and entering it – I was really surprised that they were able to make that look so seamless. When we were on set filming it, I was thinking, “How are they going to fit this stuff together?” They did a great job; it looked really awesome on camera.

What made you decide to take up acting?

My mom was a radio and theatre teacher at an art school in Edmonton for about a decade. My brother played Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. It was sort of in our family already; he got too old for it. The producers of the play, they asked if I wanted to audition for it. I had never done anything like that. Apparently, my parents were like he’s a bit more shy side, he probably won’t want to … but apparently, I disagreed. And now we’re here.

Do you have any upcoming roles you’d like to share?

I always wish I could talk about upcoming things, but I’m not able to at the moment.