wayward sisters

Thursday’s episode of ‘Supernatural’ is a special one, not only because it’s the first new episode since it went on its winter hiatus at the beginning of December, but because it also serves as the backdoor pilot for a potential spin-off ‘Wayward Sisters’, which will focus on several of the long-running female supporting characters from the show, headed up by Sheriff Jody Mills played by Kim Rhodes.  However, it appears that this episode will more closely focus on Claire Novak (Kathryn Newton) the headstrong young woman who was last seen off hunting on her own, or as Newton describes it:

“She’s discovering herself as a person and what she wants in life.  It takes a lot of courage to be on your own and a lot of focus. I admire her drive.

 

“It’s a constant tug of war between Claire trying to work with the group versus her want to be a solo fighter and her wanderlust inside. She’s been on her own for a while so she knows she can do it alone.  Jody brings out the family and the need to be home and that really makes it hard for her to go off on her own. It’s a big reality check.

 

“A lot of things happen in the pilot that make it really hard for Claire to be on her own.  She realizes that she needs everybody. It’s about being on a team. They are a team of strong women coming together to fight a bigger battle, so she’s learning that she can do it on her own but sometimes, it helps to have a big group of badass women behind her.”

Also part of the story are Sheriff Donna Hanscum (Briana Buckmaster), Alex (a.k.a. Annie Jones, played by Katherine Ramdeen) and newcomers Patience Turner (Clark Backo) the psychic granddaughter of Missouri Moseley and Kaia Nieves (Yadira Guevara-Prip) an orphaned dreamwalker.

In this clip from the episode, Claire returns to Sioux Falls to reunite with Jody and Alex only to find Patience has made herself at home… in her sweatshirt.

About the tone of ‘Wayward Sisters’, Newton said “There is an elevated fantasy tone, but there’s a core Supernatural dynamic. It’s not like people are going to watch it and be like, ‘This is a new show, what is this?’ It’s definitely going to feel like the Supernatural that we all love.”

A previous attempt at a ‘Supernatural’ spin-off ‘Bloodlines’ was attempted in 2014, but the Chicago-based vampire concept didn’t connect and the spin-off never materialized.  It seems that greater care is being taken with ‘Wayward Sisters’ to keep it more firmly set within the established ‘Supernatural’ style.

‘Wayward Sisters’ airs on Thursday night, January 18 at 8pm EST on The CW.

Source: Entertainment Weekly