Winchester Radio–Exclusive Interview with Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles
This is a very special edition of Winchester Radio. Jensen Ackles joins us to chat about Supernatural’s ninth season. We discuss the Mark of Cain, Dean Winchester’s evolution over nine seasons, and much, much more.
Transcript
Winchester Radio: We’re excited to welcome Jensen Ackles to our podcast. Welcome Jensen! Thank you. Is he still there? Hello? Did we lose Jensen?
Jensen: No, I’m here, I can hear you. Hello? Hey! Aw, I got muted! That sucks.
Winchester Radio: (laughs) No! Something happened to the crossover onto air. Sorry about that.
Jensen: That’s alright. Everybody’s here. Thanks for having me.
Winchester Radio: So, this is a new format for you. Welcome to podcast format.
Jensen: (chuckles) Yeah, usually I just sit in a room with people shoving mikes in my face. So this is uh – this is nice. I actually just made my bed while I was talking to you guys.
Winchester Radio: (muffled) You could scratch the back of your knee and we’d never know.
Jensen: That’s right.
Winchester Radio: It’s just like talking to a bunch of friends on the phone. Um-
Jensen: (wheezy laugh) Except how many people – how many people are actually gonna be listening to this?
Winchester Radio: Um well our biggest podcast listening audience was about and 10,000?
Jensen: Nice!
Winchester Radio: No-we’re forgetting Misha. Oh that’s right, Misha’s was higher. Jim Michaels was about 2,000. Misha’s was 35,000.
Jensen: Wow. So basically 35,000 is the number to beat is that what you’re telling me?
Winchester Radio: Exactly. Yeah.
Jensen: (laughs) Alright, then I’m gonna need feedback from you guys, make sure-(laughs more) Uh, alright, so what’s going on? What’s new?
Winchester Radio: So, we are gonna interview you a bit. So fair warning – there are, there will be some questions.
Jensen: Are there some scandalous questions?
Winchester Radio: You can make them as scandalous as you like.
Jensen: Not with 35,000 people listening.
Winchester Radio: (laughs) Minimum, that’s a minimum.
Jensen: Alright, alright. Well, fire away.
Winchester Radio: Okay, so – Firstly, let’s get into one of the big things-Cain, that’s the big thing right now, and how he warned Dean that the mark would come with some potential side effects, can you kinda tease us a little about what will happen to Dean as a result of the mark?
Jensen: Um, yeah. It’s – imagine Dean taking like a low-dose steroid. It’s starting to affect his emotional state, it’s starting to affect his physical state, he’s getting a lot more short-tempered and he’s feeling a lot more strength – he’s getting a lot less emotional about situations and becoming more of a – more of a tool, of you know – uh – of hunting. And it’s starting to take it’s toll on him. And you’ll see that as the season starts to wrap up. Kinda where that is going-where that’s going I don’t know how it’s gonna end up, I’m not sure, I’ve only read up until episode 20 so we still got three more episodes to be on that, but obviously waiting to see how that all plays out, but uh – as of right now, it’s just kinda building up.
Winchester Radio: Ah, okay, cool, next question-
Jensen: It also means that I’m personally having to do a lot more push-ups throughout the day.
Winchester Radio: Oh! They’re actually making you work out.
Jensen: (huffed laugh) I know. It’s a tragedy, but it happens.
Winchester Radio: Have they given you a diet to follow – high protein, any of that?
Jensen: Oh, they don’t – tell us any of that stuff. They tried to get us in shape before season one when we were in our mid-twenties, and since then, they’ve just left us alone. But no – it’s uh kinda up to us if we want to do that to our physicality, it’s really up to us, I mean obviously you’ve seen transformations that Jared has gone through. I’m not sure if that was for the show or if it was just personal, um but uh it’s – they don’t – nutrition and workout programs and stuff like you hear on movie sets and stuff like that (laughs) they’re too busy down south writing scripts and we’re too busy up here shooting ’em so there’s no time for that. If we get an opportunity – if Jared and i get an opportunity to keep ourselves in shape, then that’s on our time.
Winchester Radio: Um, this is not the first time we’ve seen the brothers fight. Do you think this time the estrangement is different? Could this be make or break for them? Are we going to see changes in their relationship? And if so, where will that take the viewers, and will that change the show?
Jensen: It’s definitely um – kinda charting new waters as far as the subject of the fights. Before it was kinda this like sibling bickering and now it’s getting into uh – really the sacrifices these two are willing to make for each other. Obviously, Dean is willing to go all-in and keep the family together and keep the brothers moving down the road and it kinda seems more and more like Sam is willing to cash-out. And he’s not willing to throw his life on the line the way that Dean is and so that’s a tough pill for Dean to swallow. And I think that the only way he’s dealing with it is by not dealing with it. The Mark of Cain has given him a simplicity in his thoughts that’s allowed him to kinda ignore the complexity of their relationship right now – and focus on the prize which is Abaddon at this point. Um, so, I think it’s kind of put in the back of his mind and he’s not having to deal with it. Sam is obviously dealing with his issues. And I don’t know where that’s gonna lead, I don’t know how they are gonna make up uh – I don’t know if it’ll be something that gets addressed in the upcoming episodes because it hasn’t yet so I assume it will – to what extent, I don’t know.
Winchester Radio: Kind of along the same line there – this season, we’re seeing a colder versions of the brothers. Dean, in particular, with his reaction to Sam and Sam’s curtness-we also saw Dean really coldly kill a guy in the last episode, Thinman, and also Dean’s room looks less homey now, which on twitter Jerry Wanek hinted at – it was a deliberate choice. So, are these actions related to the Mark of Cain, you think, or just the brother’s problems, or everything all-together?
Winchester Radio: Cain, that’s a big scene right now. Cain warned Dean that the ‘mark of Cain’ came with some potential side effects. Can you tell us what we might expect from Dean because of the mark?
Jensen: Yeah, imagine Dean taking like a low dose steroid. It’s starting to affect his emotional state, it’s starting to affect his physical state, he’s getting a lot more short-tempered, and he’s feeling a lot more strength. He’s getting a lot less emotional about situations and becoming more of a tool of hunting and it’s starting to take its toll on him, and you’ll see that as the season starts to wrap up where’s that going. Where that is going to end up, I’m not sure, I’ve only read up to episode twenty so we still have three more episode beyond that so I’m obviously waiting to see how that all plays out, but as of right now it’s kind of just building up.
It also means that I personally am having to do a lot more push ups throughout the day.
Winchester Radio: Oh, that actually means they’re making you work out (laughs)
Jensen: I know, it’s a tragedy but it happens (laughs)
Winchester Radio: Have they given you like a diet to follow, are you high protein right now?
Jensen: Oh, they don’t tell us any of that stuff. They tried to get us in shape before Season One, when we were in our mid-twenties and since then they’ve just left us alone. Now it’s just up to us, if we want to do that to our physicality, then it’s up to us. Obviously you’ve seen the transformation Jared’s gone through, but I’m not sure whether that was for the show or just personal but they don’t guide us with nutrition or work out programs like you hear on movie sets. They don’t-they’re too busy down south writing scripts and we’re too busy up here shooting them so there’s no time for that. If we get, if Jared and I get an opportunity to go work out and keep ourselves in shape then that’s on our time.
Winchester Radio: This is not the first time we have seen the brothers fight, do you think this time the estrangement is different? Could this be make or break for them, and are we going to see changes in their relationship? If so, where will that take the viewers and will it change the show?
Jensen: They’re definitely charting new waters as far as the subjects of the fights, before it was like sibling bickering and now it’s getting into the sacrifice that these two are willing to make for each other. Obviously, Dean is willing to go all-in and keep the family together, and keep the brothers moving down the road and it seems that more and more, Sam is willing to cash out and he’s not willing to put his life on the line the way that Dean is. That’s a tough pill for Dean to swallow, and I think the only way he’s dealing with it is by not dealing with it. The mark of Cain has given him a simplicity in his thoughts that’s allowing him to ignore the complexity of their relationship right now and focus on the prize, which is Abbadon at this point… so I think it’s kind of put to the back of his mind and he’s not having to deal with it. Sam is obviously dealing with his issues, and I don’t know where that’s going to lead, and I don’t know how they’re going to make up. I don’t know if it’s something that will get addressed in the upcoming episodes, it hasn’t yet, I assume it will, to what extent, I don’t know.
Winchester Radio: Now kind of along the same line there, this season we’re seeing a colder version of the brothers, Dean in particular in his reactions to Sam and Sam’s curtness. We also saw Dean really coldly kill a guy in the last episode, ‘Thinman’ and also Dean’s room looks a loss less homey now and on Twitter, Jerry Wanek said that was a deliberate choice. So, are these actions related to the mark of Cain do you think, are they just through the brothers problems or everything all together?
Jensen: Yeah, that’s all kind of a nod to the mark of Cain and what’s its doing inside Dean, and what it’s doing to his psyche and his emotional and physical self. He’s becoming less, uhm, what’s the word? He cares a lot less about the humanity aspect of what he does, which is why he was able to actually take a human life as opposed to knocking the guy out and dropping him off at the police station for you know; to be tried for his crime a past Dean would have. Instead, he was like, “hey he’s a bad guy he’s got to go.” So, I think the line between black and white is becoming almost dangerously clear, they grey areas are becoming less and less as far as Dean is concerned. You know, he’s always been a black and white kind of guy but there’s always been a touch of civility when it comes to what to do with humans who are bad, and I think because of the mark of Cain and because of where this season is heading and because of the tension between the brothers, I think that leads to Dean being, “You know what, if you’re on the wrong side of my gun then I don’t care if you’re a monster or a bad guy, you’re going down.”
Winchester Radio: I like seeing this change in Dean, it’s really interesting to watch.
Jensen: Yeah, for a long time there were a lot of different storylines going on, mostly revolving around Sam, and what the story was doing to Sam although a lot of it, it could be said was being seen through Dean’s perspective, the story was always, kind of about Sam and what was going on internally with him and so it’s an interesting switch to have Dean fighting the demons inside and having a mark or whatever it be you know with Sam it was Lucifer it was all these things and now Dean’s really struggling or maybe he’s not struggling. Maybe he’s embracing it, I don’t think we’ve come to a conclusion about how bad it is but I’m enjoying the fact that it’s been different for him to do.
Winchester Radio: Last season it ended with a really heart-wrenching moment from both brothers inside the church during that scene. Can you talk about what that scene meant for Sam and Dean not just as a unit but also individually and what does it mean now that they’re completely on the outs with each other?
Jensen: I think you had two different perspectives from two different people. I think Dean was, avoid losing his brother at all costs even if that meant closing the gates of heaven and all the things that happened in the season finale and all the stuff that we picked up with in the season premiere at the beginning. Dean was really clear on his objective and that was to keep his brother alive, no matter what the cost whereas Sam was all,
“No, I’m ready to lay myself down, I’ve done enough. I’ve sacrificed enough, I’ve killed enough. I’ve done everything and I’m ready to walk away.
That has been and is a very jagged pill for Dean to swallow because he doesn’t. He sees it that as long as they are together there is a choice to be made and once they give up that choice then they’re going to allow themselves to possibly be ruled by demons or angels or whatever it could other chaos. Not that it isn’t chaos anyway but at least they’re still free to drive down the road and do what they do. It’s different ends of the spectrum as far as it goes from either brother and I think that’s been the underlying and the common denominator or tension for the whole season. I mean, Dean wants it one way, and Sam wants it another way and it all started with that church and what happened there.
Yeah, it’s interesting. Even though the brothers are together they’re not truly together.
Winchester Radio: Speaking of Dean being affected by the mark of Cain and doing things he wouldn’t ordinarily do he chosen to work with Crowley this season.
Jensen: Uhuh.
Winchester Radio: I think you have great chemistry, you and Mark Sheppard working together, are so much fun and interesting but do you feel like Dean thinks he made the right decision to trust Crowley? Do you have any thoughts about what Sam thinks of all this?
Jensen: Yeah the decision to go off with Crowley came on the heels or Dean coming to the realisation that everything he does, everything he touches is poison and he can’t save people and even when he saves people it’s the wrong thing to do, according to Sam and when he can’t save people he loses people he should have been protecting like Kevin. So I think the guilt really drove him to extreme measures and that means working with any and whoever to accomplish the mission that he set out to accomplish, which is find Abaddon and kill her. So that I think as far as his moral compass goes, I think that might have been shattered after Kevin and after the conversations with Sam. So, he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care who he works with he’s just getting the job done.
As far as working with Mark that was a lot of fun, Marks a great actor we all know that and working with good actors is a lot of fun so we had a really good time doing that, but as far as the story goes, Dean is not above scraping the bottom of the barrel to do what he can or to get what he needs, and unfortunately that’s not going to sit well with Sam. So again you’ve got conflict there.
Winchester Radio: Again, kind of along the same lines of what Sam would think of Dean working with Crowley, Dean has made some really big gestures in the past to save Sam. He brought him back from the dead in Season Two, and he let Gadreel possess him this season, but Sam wasn’t able to save Dean from Hell, Sam wasn’t able to get Dean out of Purgatory. Do you think it’s time for Sam to save Dean from something big like that, like maybe the mark of Cain effect and do you think that might give Sam perspective as to why Dean does what he does?
Jensen: Yeah, Sam’s a real selfish asshole is what it boils down to (laughs)
It is true, Sam seems to be a little preoccupied and maybe it’s a little brother thing. Maybe he’s
“You’re my big brother you can figure it out yourself.”
But that’s a contrast to the way Dean thinks as in, “I’m the big brother and I have to protect my little brother from harm.” That’s kind of been his creed for as long as he can remember so I think that they both kind of come at it from different angles. Sam is more willing to allow for things to happen as they happen and it’s a Sam-centric world in his mind, and I think it always has been and I think it’s been a Sam-centric show for a long time and it was originally based around that and Dean was the guy who was the protector and there to keep him going along and to make sure that nothing happens to him and it’s kind of always been that way and I’m not surprised it’s turning out the way it’s turning and still within the vein of what we’ve been doing for the past nine years.
Winchester Radio: Sam and Dean, as well as Cas have been really busy this season with so many antagonists, Gadreel Crowley, Metatron, Abaddon not to mention various angels and various demons. Will we see these separate storylines comes together more is it that everyone is busy fighting their own battles?
Jensen: Yeah, I would like it to all gel together and it probably will they usually bring it all back around and it usually comes all to a head. You know, it’s funny that there are people on this show that I have never even met because our storylines are so opposite so they really have compartmentalised the show this year. The stories are very separate and we’re like ships passing in the night as far as other actors go so, I think at some point it does have to all fall in together and all relate to each other at some point and we’re getting close to the end of the season so I would assume that that’s coming up pretty soon.
Winchester Radio: We just found out, the description was just released for episode seventeen coming up in a couple of weeks and the episode’s going to be going back to the history of the ‘Men of Letters’ and a return by Grandpa Winchester, Henry Winchester, can you talk about that a little bit?
Jensen: Yeah that’s another one of those things. Gil came back to reprise his role as Henry Winchester, which is great, I think he did a great job the first time so we were excited to have him back, but unfortunately I never worked with him. All of it was flashback stuff to what happened back in the day so we never even got a chance to be on set together but it’s nice because it does give a little hindsight into the history of what happened with him and it does shed a little light on the Abaddon story.
Winchester Radio: We’ll look forward to seeing that we loved Henry last year, he was great.
Now Sam rather harshly told Dean that Dean makes his sacrifices for selfish reasons because Dean doesn’t want to be alone, but we’ve seen both brothers go to extremes for each other. Do you think there’s any validity to Sam’s statement?
Does Dean do what he does for fear of being alone or is it Sam specifically?
Jensen: Ask the question one more time.
Winchester Radio: Okay, Sam accused Dean of making the sacrifice for selfish reasons because Dean’s afraid to be alone. Do you think that’s right? Is that true?
Is Dean afraid of being alone, or is Dean afraid of losing Sam specifically?
Jensen: That’s a good question. I don’t think Dean thinks about it like that. I don’t think he sits down and thinks why did I do the things I did. It’s just an instinctual thing, I think he has always been protective. I think it’s been his self-imposed mission in life to protect his brother. He dragged him away from college nine years ago and he blames himself a lot for pulling Sam back into this life and I don’t know whether he feels he needs to protect him or keep him alive out of guilt. Whether he protects him because of the fear of loneliness, whatever the reason is, I don’t think Dean sits in his bed and psychoanalyses himself all that much. Actually, I think he just goes with his gut feeling, and whatever the reason he’s not too concerned about it, he just knows that he feels it’s the right thing to do.
Sam’s character is more the analytical one and maybe he makes Dean think about one or two things whatever it is, I think Dean would prefer not be psychoanalysed by his stupid brother but, who knows?
Winchester Radio: Along the lines of Henry Winchester coming back. Since the end of last season and now throughout this entire season we’ve seen several of our beloved guest stars kind of come back from the vault. Is this something we can continue to expect to see for the rest of this season? Can you tell us who else we might see?
Jensen: Uhm. Well, we’ve definitely got some up and coming surprises, which I obviously can’t talk about.
Winchester Radio: Dammit.
Jensen: Although I’m sure you guys know so it’s obviously no secret but I’m gonna pretend you don’t.
Winchester Radio: There are some rumours flying around but nothing confirmed. There’s rumours flying around the internet.
Jensen: Well, I don’t even want to know the rumours so, all I can say is don’t believe everything you read or hear but at the same time what I will say is that there will be some nice surprises in the future.
Winchester Radio: Who would you really like to see come back? If you could have anyone out of eight and three quarter seasons of the show if you could pick anyone to come back who would it be?
Jensen: That’s really tough.
Winchester Radio: No pressure to be fair (laughs)
Jensen: What’s that?
Winchester Radio: No pressure to be fair or anything…
Jensen: Yeah, no kidding that’s really tough we’ve had… I mean when you’ve done, what is it? One-hundred and ninety-two episodes, there have been a lot of people who have come and gone through the years that have been, that we have wanted them to stick around, you know? From Sebastian to Rob Benedict to… but for me… specifically for Dean, let me answer for Dean because for Jensen the list is probably about a dozen people but for Dean? If he could pick anybody to come back it would be his father.
I’m sure you guys have seen the subtle changes that have happened, or maybe not as subtle as the seasons and the years have gotten longer. I’m trying to mould Dean into the way I remember John being and I’ve always thought that Dean would become his father at some point and I think there is still a massive void that was left when his father left and I think that if Dean could wish anybody back into their world it would be his father but I think that we know that that’s probably not going to happen.
Winchester Radio: I kind of have a follow up question to that then for you speaking as Dean. What do you think John would think of the Men of Letters?
What do you think his reaction would be?
Jensen: I think it would be similar to the reaction that the boys had when they found out. It would be a game changer it would be like,
“Wow, I wish we’d have known about this earlier because this is wealth of knowledge that could be extremely useful in the field that we are in.”
I think that John would hit the ground running. I think if he was offered a batcave like that filled with endless knowledge of the supernatural he would dive right in, which is basically what the boys did when they stumbled upon it so.
I also think it would shed a lot of light on his, why he became who he became. He based it all off the fact that he lost his wife to something supernatural and that kind of set the wheels in motion and for the life that he ended up having. If he’d have known that he was predisposed to having that life regardless of his wife I think that would be a heavy thing for him to understand.
Winchester Radio: Speaking of characters coming back and talking about having some surprises coming up, hopefully your promo department will not spoil it as they did with Lauren Tom. We spoke to her last week and she said they went to such trouble to keep her name out of the credits and then the promo featured her and Osric so…
Jensen: Really?
Winchester Radio: Yeah.
Jensen: There’s a lot of moving parts with this operation that it’s hard to keep on top of every one of them.
Winchester Radio: Everyone was excited to see her and have her back and it was great we got, Mama Tran and Kevin and now Kevin is bound to her until Heaven is back.
Jensen: That’s right.
Winchester Radio: Do you think sending Kevin to Heaven do you think it will help Sam and Dean in their drive to find Metatron and Gadreel and all that?
Getting Kevin to Heaven with everyone stuck between the veil.
Jensen: I think if the can think of a way to get him to Heaven then that is definitely a high priority on their list, but I don’t think it’s the top priority. I think dealing with the situation at hand, dealing with Metatron, dealing with Abaddon and all the stuff surrounding that is obviously the task at hand and once they figure out what’s going on there then they can go back and help out the people who need something doing.
Winchester Radio: Onto a completely different subject. For years Supernatural has been referred to as “The Little Show That Could” and now it’s spawning a spinoff. How do you feel about being a part of something that is expanding like this and how do you think Supernatural fans will connect to the spinoff?
Jensen: It’s a good question. I don’t know, I’m always wary of spinoffs, you know, I always feel like it’s another version of the original, but that’s not to say it can’t become something of its own like we’ve seen with, what is it? The Originals are standing on their own two feet.
Look, can it work?
Sure.
Will it work?
Who knows?
But that’s the same with any show, you know, any Pilot that is being made by now has an eighty-six percent failure rate so I think that they can attach themselves to a show that has been successful to an extent, might give them a slight edge, but they’ve got to understand that at the same time they’re going to get a lot of, well, assumingly tether a lot of the audience that we have and they’ve got to deliver.
We haven’t gone nine seasons by phoning it in so. I think they will. They’ve written a good script and they’ve got a decent cast, many of them, I’m going to meet them in a couple of hours actually.
So it will be interesting to see if they can parley what we’ve spent nine years creating and if they can parley that into something slightly different and something successful, but whether that happens, I don’t know. I don’t pretend to know the ins and outs of network television and what makes a show work and what doesn’t. I just turn up for work and know my lines, and hit my mark and try and do the best I can and they leave me alone.
Winchester Radio: A lot of the Supernatural fans, we’re going to be there for it, and we’re going to support it as best we can so we’ll be rooting for it so…
Jensen: That’s good to know. I’ll tell them it’s theirs to lose when I see them today. (laughs)
Winchester Radio: Well you guys have set the bars very high on the original so…
Jensen: (laughs) Jared and I were actually joking, we were like should we go into this read through with sunglasses on and scotch in hand and be like:
“Listen kids, you wanna know what they key to success and nine year is? It’s called day drinking.”
Winchester Radio: (laughs) You really should.
Jensen: There’s a big part of me that wants to go over there and just be a total dick to ‘em all, but I don’t think I can.
It’s almost like hazing. It’s almost like a fraternity.
Winchester Radio: Exactly.
So, some hazing might go on a little?
Jensen: Well, I don’t know it’s probably the only time we’re going to get to work with them because if the show does go to series then they’re probably going to want to shoot the show in Chicago, I think, and we’ll obviously be doing our own show so I think for all intents and purposes for all our benefits we’re probably just going to give them some sound advice and hope they listen to it.
Winchester Radio: You’ve played Dean Winchester for almost a decade. It will be a decade coming up looking back on him as a character and his evolution can you touch on some of the storylines that you feel have shaped Dean as an adult primarily?
Jensen: I think the hunt for Dad was intrical in telling me personally who the character was and where he came from and that really gave me a direction emotionally that he would be going. So, for the first couple of years those were the growing years. More recently I think the Purgatory story was very heavy handed in shaping the way Dean thinks about his life and other people’s lives and about the whole Heaven situation. Purgatory, I think it helped clarify a lot of questions that I think he had as to maybe his purpose and personally I enjoyed the Purgatory line and I enjoyed the characters that were brought on because of it. I enjoyed the sets that we got to film in and the way that they shot it. That was a really cool thing, but more importantly I think Dean was really affected by that.
I also think that another one that is probably high on the list is when Sam was drinking the demon blood and he was basically having to watch his brother go it alone and deal with this situation that he was dealing with and he couldn’t, he felt helpless and I think that that really lit a fire in Dean as far as,
“I’m not gonna sit here on the side-lines and watch my brother go down in flames, I’m gonna do something about it.”
I think that that was very telling of his character and who he is in terms of who he will be in the future. We saw it again last season and this season so there have definitely been things along the way that have helped shape who he is and it’s continuing you know as most humans are, ever evolving so…
Winchester Radio: To that end, are there any decisions that Dean has made over the years that you could revisit and possibly alter in some way?
What would be the issue if you were to do so?
Jensen: Not invite Gadreel into Sam. That would be number one on the list.
Winchester Radio: (laughs) Valid. That’s a good one.
Jensen: I think that was one of the reasons that Dean felt the way he did, that everything he touches turns to crap and I think that that put him in the kind of mental space that he could go off and work with Crowley because he didn’t care.
That’s not true.
He didn’t care who he could affect, he just didn’t want it to be people that he loved.
I think if he had an opportunity to go back revisit that situation at the beginning of the season he would have maybe changed a few things.
Winchester Radio: There are times when you’ve had to play Dean as Dean up against Jared playing Sam as Gadreel, Azekiel, many different incarnations and you always seem to keep Dean very steadily as Dean and that’s not easy. What is the toughest part of working with Sam as a different character?
Is there a most difficult one?
Jensen: The most difficult one was soulless Sam, that was I think, because it was almost a role reversal because soulless Sam was cut and dried and black and white as… not heartless, more emotionless like Dean. Soulles Sam was kind of like Dean and in contrast I wasn’t really able to play Dean with that gruff, devil-may-care attitude because it was basically the same thing that Jared was doing with Sam, which made sense because if you don’t have a soul that you don’t give two shits about what anybody wants or thinks or anything like that so… it was even more so than the way I play Dean so I really had to dial that back and it was really kind of difficult for me and I don’t know, I feel like I kind of turned Dean into a whiney bitch that season that was really difficult because I don’t like playing that character. I didn’t like seeing him like that either so what soulless Sam did to Dean as a character that season was tough for me because to me it wasn’t, it was like the whiney bitch side of Dean that I don’t like to play and I don’t like to see, but unfortunately it was necessary to see, to contrast what Jared was doing with Sam.
That being said there have been other carnations of Sam that have come along, and I just try and keep Dean as… after playing the guy for nine years, I’ve been thrust into a lot of different situations and as long as I’m able to ask myself,
“Okay, how would this guy handle this situation?”
Then that’s the way I play it. So I always go back to how I have always seen Dean and how he has handled situations in the past and that helps to shape my thoughts on how to play him. You know, I remember when they came to us with the idea of the ‘French Mistake’ and I was like, “You guys can do whatever the hell you want to do as long you’re not asking me to do something other than play Dean, I’m fine.” Cause I know how to do that.
At this point I now know how to portray him in just about every situation, not every situation, but I know the different aspects about how to play him when he’s dealing with whatever he’s dealing with. That’s no different when it comes to what’s going on with Sam, whether he is Gadreel or Azekiel or Sam or soulless Sam or Lucifer or however many faces of Sam they have created over the years I think that there is always a piece of Dean that is there. It may be tweaked to contrast what is going on with Sam but there is always a common denominator that is there and as long as I have that then I feel like I am in a safe place.
Winchester Radio: I have two completely different questions so the first one I’m going to ask. Can you confirm for us so that everyone can hear that you do not have any social media. You’re not on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Skype…
Jensen: I do not have any social media. I never signed up for myspace when that came out. I have never signed up for anything. Never signed up for anything, and apparently I have tonnes of accounts but guess what, they’re not me.
There were times when I was like, maybe I’ll just sign up for a private one so I could maybe just enjoy Instagram with my friends or Facebook with just my friends… nah, didn’t even do that. I have nothing so I don’t even know what happens out there in the world of social media.
Winchester Radio: Even if you wanted to sign up for something, your name is taken. You can’t even be you. There are way too many variations of your name for you to have an account.
Jensen: And that’s one of the reasons why it’s too late at this point, you know, whoever pretended to be me has ruined it for me so screw it.
Winchester Radio: It’s good that you can clear that up for everybody because there are still many people who believe that you are out there so…
Jensen: Listen if Hell freezes over and it does happen, if for some reason I decide to join whatever it is then I’m sure it will be public knowledge. In fact you have my word that it will be public knowledge. If I join I will not join privately, I will join publicly for all to know and understand that “Okay, I’ve sold my soul to the devil and I’m now on Twitter.”
Winchester Radio: Now my other question is completely different. We’re soon about to see Misha’s directorial debut. As a director did he ask you for any advice? And the most important question.
Can you tell us more about the pie in the face pranks?
Jensen: As far as advice, he and I sat down to dinner, this was maybe a couple of weeks before he was supposed to start prepping and I unloaded on him as much advice that I would have wanted someone to tell me and also, some advice that I did actually get before I shot ‘A Weekend at Bobby’s’ and Misha promptly whipped out his phone and began writing notes so I don’t know whether any of those things helped him or whether he was just writing an email to somebody, but yeah, I tried to tell him as much as possible and to give him an idea of what to expect.
The thing is, you can give somebody as much advice as you can possibly give them and it seems to all get either washed away or put aside because when you’re actually in it then instinct and personality take over and luckily Misha is a smart guy and he’s also surrounded by people who really know the show and the crew who love him so the support system that he had going is the same support system that I had going so they kind of helped him navigate any treacherous turns and unfortunate or fortunate for him, I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him this, Jared and I didn’t actually work that much on that episode we actually. I think we only worked like three days on his episode it was a big… I don’t know, I wasn’t working so I wasn’t there so we had to get in some hazing like day one. Fortunately for him we didn’t even get to stretch it out over an eight day shoot it was like we’re only on today and tomorrow so,
“Sorry buddy, you’re gonna get hazed pretty bad.”
He took it in his stride and he was actually… I actually blame you guys ‘cause there was so much build up on what we were going to do to him that we could not, not do anything. So it’s really the fault of the fans that he got you know, whatever happened to him happened, and I don’t take responsibility at all.
Winchester Radio: It’s his fault. He was the one who was terrified of what you guys were going to do to him.
Jensen: Exactly, so we were just fulfilling prophecy.
Winchester Radio: Who’s idea was the pies?
Jensen: That may have been me.
Winchester Radio: So, we saw the pies, twice. Was there anything we didn’t see on the video?
Jensen: Well, there was a lot that didn’t get done let me put it that way. I actually had a list of ideas, and the list was extensive, and we didn’t get to do a whole lot because after day one he took some intense precautionary measures. There was some real good ones but unfortunately the only ones that paid off were they pie in the face, twice and I think Jared got his script but some of the more extensive one unfortunately we had to abort because a) we weren’t going to be there to do it and b) he had taken some precautionary measure that we couldn’t circumvent.
End of podcast.