At the end of January, Supernatural writer and producer Sera Gamble’s life was a lot less complicated. Sure, she was celebrating the show’s 100th episode while writing the two final episodes of the season with Eric Kripke, but that was before Supernatural was officially renewed for a sixth season and before she was named the new showrunner for season 6.
Next year Supernatural belongs to Sera Gamble, and at the 100th episode party, I spoke to her about what that future might look like, what fans can expect from the 100th episode, and her thoughts on some of the more comedic and insane elements of Supernatural. Listen to the interview or check out her best quotes below.
Sera Gamble on what makes the 100th episode so special:
“We wanted the episode to feel substantial. As we were breaking the episode, we talked a lot about how it was the 100th episode so it has a lot to do with mythology. It brings in a lot of major characters. It culminates a lot of emotional storylines for the boys. Archangel Michael is a part of it.”
On the remainder of season 5:
“We have an embarrassment of riches. We have so much stuff to get through before the end of the season. I’m working on episode 21 and 22 with Eric [Kripke] right now and we’re dividing up spoils between those two episodes and we have a lot to get through. We have the apocalypse to wrap up here.”
On what season 6 will look like (and this was before it was even renewed or Gamble was named the new showrunner):
“Supernatural, the show, there’s a storyline. We’re wrapping up the apocalypse storyline at the end of the season. Supernatural has always been a very self-imposed, repeatable franchise and there has always been, I think, a very deep well to jump into the boys’ relationship. I don’t think we’ve really exhausted that at all and we have a lot of ideas for where to go after season 5 that we’re very excited about. It’s kind of like in the movies. The heroes save the day and they just drive off into the sunset right after the climax of the movie. And we have the opportunity to go from the epic back to a more intimate story, which I think is probably what we would do if we got the opportunity. And then sort of investigate a whole different set of situations.”
On the challenges of following the apocalypse:
“Every season of the show is creatively daunting. There are certain things that are daunting about going into the season after Lucifer but you just don’t try to top it. Why would you ever go bigger than Lucifer? You just turn left and go a whole other direction and Supernatural is such a solid foundation of a show. It’s never really been about God and the angels and demons. It’s a show about Sam and Dean and what they do as a job and it’s about their family. So we can take them in a lot of different directions.”
On the more comedic elements of the show, such as the TV parody episode “Changing Channels”:
“We were intentionally trying to be the best we’ve ever been for sure. I think we were lax over time and when you’re a young show you are a little bit more afraid of outlandish ideas. But the day that Jeremy [Carver] walked into the writers’ room he opened up his book and he was like, ‘Supernatural is a multi-camera buddy sitcom about a couple of demon hunting brothers who live in a little house with their neighbor Castiel, the grumpy guy who lives beyond the house, Lucifer.’ I mean he was better than that but he had written a one paragraph description of a Supernatural sitcom and we were sold. How do we turn that into an episode? If we find that amusing and it makes us laugh, if it gives us the juice to figure out what five acts and a teaser would be, then we’re good.”
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
