The panel for Supernatural brought out actors Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, and Jim Beaver; along with creator Eric Kripke, show runner Sera Gamble, and writer Ben Edlund.

Season five wrapped the five-year-long story arc that Kripke wrote for Supernatural, and he considers the upcoming season to be a sequel that won’t be hindered by the prior story. Kripke stepped down from his creative role, but he will still be involved with the direction of the show in some capacity with the writers, and as he put it, “I’m like delightful hemorrhoids, fuzzy hemorrhoids.” He believes the new team has great ideas that will further the show’s success.

With a fresh start ahead for the show, Gamble told the audience that they want to bring in more monsters on the show, but instead of the typical monster of the week, the monsters will have more of an impact on the overall storyline.

With Heaven in disarray, Castiel has been assigned to “clean up duty” according to Misha Collins. He compared it to when Russia had a crumbling government many years ago, and joked that Castiel will speak with a Russian accent — going as far as suddenly speaking with the accent.

Season six will pick up a year after the events of the prior season, with Dean Winchester living a domesticated lifestyle. Then, of course, being pulled back into a life as a hunter. It’s quite the reversal from the first season when Dean was the one pulling Sam back into the fray.

The cast were relentless on teasing each other. Jared at one point admitted that he didn’t watch the last three episodes, which later caused Misha to say, “Jared is still watching the first season; he can’t answer that question.” Jensen, on directing an episode revolving around Bobby Singer, joked that directing Jim Beaver was extremely difficult. Jim was quick to praise Jensen’s directing, and he became sentimental at one point discussing it — only to quickly add, “Did you really believe that crap?” getting a laugh out of the cast, crew, and audience.

Supernatural returns on September 24th, and will be airing on Fridays at 9 PM. It’ll be exciting to see the direction they’ll be taking the show — they clearly enjoy their work, and the passion for it is as strong as ever.