Fans of the long-running CW hit “Supernatural” packed the legendary Hall H at San Diego Comic Con International, on Sunday, the closing day of the pop culture phenomenon, hoping to gain more insight into this cult series as well as to find out any clues they could about the upcoming ninth season.  Before the special guests took the stage, the lights dimmed and the audience was treated to a “music video” set to The Doobie Brothers classic rock hit “Rockin’ Down The Highway,” featuring both clips from last season.  Check it out below:

This led into a gag reel that will be included on the Season 8 DVD/BluRay due out Sept. 10.  Finally, there was a teaser of Season 9.  No video is available yet but EW provided this detailed description:

“The rundown: Dean walks into the Men of Letters HQ and Kevin shoots an arrow at him. He misses. “Dean you’re alive,” he says. Dean retorts, “Yeah, because you’re a crappy shot, Katniss.” Kevin confesses he’s been living in fear that the world has ended — and he’s constipated. (To which Dean said, “Overshare.”) “Next time, when the world is ending, grab a gun,” Dean chides. Then Sam walks in with Crowley, who’s chained, covered, and bound. The brothers drag him down into a dungeon, and Dean punches him in the face. “I never get tired of doing that,” he says. Sam makes clear to Crowley, who is fascinated by the boys’ “tree house,” exactly what they’re looking for — the name of every demon on Earth and who they are possessing. Crowley thinks Sam and Dean are going to try to torture the information out of him, (or, as he puts it, “put the S-A-M into S & M.”) but instead, they say they’re going to leave him alone. “We figure being in a room by yourself with no one to talk to is pretty much your own personal hell,” Sam says. They close the doors and it becomes clear that Crowley is certainly not going to enjoy his time alone in the dark. FIN.”

Finally the panelists took the stage.  Joining showrunner/executive producer Jeremy Carver and executive producer Robert Singer, were cast members Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester), Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester), Misha Collins (Castiel), Mark Sheppard (Crowley), and surprise guest Felicia Day (Charlie Bradbury), who joined the cast midway through the presentation.  Singer excitedly expressed that they had big plans for Charlie in the upcoming season.

Day seemed equally enthusiastic, responding “I think it’s always amazing when you have a gift of a character that you just want to play all the time, and I’m so blessed to be working with these very amazing men with excellent hair.”

After Season 8’s cliffhanger ending, which saw the Earth being showered with falling angels, Carver described the initial set up of Season 9.  “We’re going to learn pretty quickly that a world full of fallen angels is pretty much a free-for-all.  It’s not one unified body. We’ve got lots of angels out there with lots of different agendas and many are feeling lost and scared and vengeful, and I think it’s lending itself to some really exciting and wonderful character moments for all of our characters to be dealing with.  A world of fallen angels is a dirty, bloody, scary, and in some ways very human world.”
Regarding the Winchesters, who chose each other over closing the gates of hell, Carver says, “That has left them stronger than ever but also created an tremendous amount of fallout for them, particularly this season, because the brothers are walking into a world where the normal constructs of heaven and hell aren’t the same anymore.”  Padalecki adds, “We did chose each other and to continue fighting the fight together. We’ll keep fighting the fight together and you’ll be seeing Sam and Dean — in this free-for-all world — we’re really going to need each other more than ever.”

And while the Winchester Brothers will find themselves “knee-deep in angels,” perhaps the character most effected will be the series’ resident angel Castiel.  Collins remarked on the changes in store for his character, who finds his powers diminishing– no more teleporting or time bending– with all of these other angels running about.  “It’s a remarkable shift for Castiel.  There’s a shift in the dynamic there in terms of how he can be utilized by the brothers at the outset of the season, and I think that for Castiel’s arc as a character this season it is going to  be an immensely rich tapestry to explore, his becoming human.”

But since the series is beloved not only for its dark, violent… er supernatural edge, but also for it’s endearing humor, Collins added, “Now he’s really down in the dirt and filth of being a human.  That includes learning to eat — and learning what happens after you eat.” He promised a “great bathroom scene.”

Regarding Crowley’s breakdown in Season 8, Sheppard said, “Whatever happened to Crowley at the end of Season 8 has had a profound effect on him, whether he likes it or not.  And hopefully we’ll go on a little journey to find out what kind of effect.”

And what about the two leads?  Ackles says of Dean, “Dean has been through quite a lot.  I think what keeps him motivated or keeps him pushing on is — really it’s his sense of duty to fight the good fight. It’s his duty to his brother, his family, and it’s what he signed on to do.”

Padalecki at one point addressed the fans.  “Thankfully we have fans that want us to keep fighting the fight.  You all really kick ass.”

Are you excited for the ninth season?  Will there (or should there) be a tenth?  What are you hoping to see happen?  Comment bellow!