The eighth season of ''

Supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

'', an American

dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

created by

Eric Kripke Eric Kripke (born 1974) is an American writer and television producer. He came to prominence as the creator of the fantasy drama series ''Supernatural'' (2005–2020) which aired on The CW. He served as the showrunner during the first five seasons ...

, premiered October 3, 2012, and concluded on May 15, 2013, airing 23 episodes. It is the first season headed by

Jeremy Carver Jeremy Carver is an American television writer and producer. He developed the series '' Being Human'' (2011–2014), ''Frequency'' (2016–2017), and ''Doom Patrol'' (2019–present). Carver was also a writer and producer on the series ''Superna ...

as executive producer and

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

. It aired on Wednesdays at 9:00 pm (ET) on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. The season was released on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1 on September 10, 2013, in region 2 on October 28, 2013, and in region 4 on September 25, 2014. The eighth season had an average viewership of 2.12 million U.S. viewers. In the season, Dean reunites with Sam after escaping from Purgatory and team up with the prophet, Kevin, to complete a series of trials that'll allow them to close the gates of Hell for good.

Cast

Starring

Jared Padalecki Jared Tristan Padalecki (born July 19, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the role of Sam Winchester in the TV series '' Supernatural''. He grew up in Texas and rose to fame in the early 2000s after appearing on the televi ...

Sam Winchester Samuel "Sam" Winchester is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists of the American drama television series ''Supernatural'' along with his older brother, Dean. He is portrayed primarily by Jared Padalecki. Other versions of the char ...

Jensen Ackles Jensen Ross Ackles (born March 1, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Dean Winchester in The WB/The CW, CW dark fantasy drama series ''Supernatural (American TV series), Supernatural'' (2005–2020) and appearing in ...

Dean Winchester Dean Winchester is one of the two protagonists from the American drama television series '' Supernatural'', along with his younger brother Sam. He is portrayed primarily by Jensen Ackles. Other versions of the character having been portrayed b ...

Special guest stars

Misha Collins Dmitri "Misha" Collins "My mom went to Russia when she was in college, and ��she had a boyfriend whose name was Mitya, which she thought was the same as Misha, which it's not. And his real name was Dmitri, so my real name, actually—my birth c ...

as Castiel *

DJ Qualls Donald Joseph Qualls (born June 10, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his work in films including ''Road Trip'' (2000), ''The New Guy'' (2002) and ''The Core'' (2003), and for several appearances on television series such as '' B ...

as Garth Fitzgerald IV

Special appearance by

Jim Beaver James Norman Beaver Jr. (born August 12, 1950) is an American actor, writer, and film historian. He is most familiar to worldwide audiences as Bobby Singer in ''Supernatural''. He also played Whitney Ellsworth on the HBO Western drama series '' ...

Bobby Singer Robert Steven Singer is a fictional character in The CW Television Network's horror-drama television series ''Supernatural'' portrayed by Jim Beaver. Named after the show's executive producer, Bobby first appears in the first season finale "Dev ...

Guest stars

Episodes

In this table, the number in the first column refers to the episode's number within the entire series, whereas the number in the second column indicates the episode's number within this particular season. "U.S. viewers in millions" refers to how many Americans watched the episode live or on the day of broadcast.

Production

It was announced on April 4, 2012, that showrunner

Sera Gamble Sera may refer to: People * Ryu Sera (born 1987), South Korean singer * Sera Cahoone (born 1975), Seattle-based singer and musician Places * Sera, Hiroshima, a town in Japan * Sera District, Hiroshima * Sera Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet Me ...

was leaving the show to work on developing other projects.

, a longtime writer on the series, took over as showrunner for the eighth season. On May 3, 2012, The CW officially renewed ''Supernatural'' for an eighth season. It aired on Wednesdays at 9:00 pm on the CW. Series star

directed the first episode to be produced for this season but the third to air. "Trial and Error" was the thirteenth episode to be produced this season but the fourteenth to air.

Casting

Ty Olsson Ty Olsson (born January 28, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing Benny Lafitte in ''Supernatural'', real-life 9/11 victim Mark Bingham in the A&E television film '' Flight 93'', and Ord in the PBS Kids animated children's series '' ...

was cast as Benny, a dark and dangerous vampire who helps Ackles' character

escape from

Purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

, where he ended up at the end of the seventh season. Olsson previously appeared in ''Supernatural'' as the vampire Eli in the second season episode "Bloodlust".

Liane Balaban Liane Balaban (born June 24, 1980) is a Canadian actress. Her film debut was in ''New Waterford Girl'' (1999) as Agnes-Marie "Mooney" Pottie. She has since appeared in the films ''Definitely, Maybe'' (2008), ''Last Chance Harvey'' (2008), and the ...

was cast as Amelia, a love interest to

's character

Amanda Tapping Amanda Tapping (born 28 August 1965) is a British-Canadian actress and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian–American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1,'' ''Stargate Atlantis,'' and ...

appears in seven episodes as the angel Naomi, described as being different from any other angel to have appeared in the series so far. Even though Khaira Ledeyo played the role of Kevin's mother in the seventh season,

Lauren Tom Lauren Tom (born August 4, 1961) is an American actress. Her roles include Lena St. Clair in '' The Joy Luck Club'', Julie in the NBC sitcom ''Friends'', Dot in the final season of ''Grace Under Fire'', and the voices for Amy Wong in ''Futurama'' ...

was cast in the role for season eight.

returned as the hunter

Garth Garth may refer to: Places * Garth, Alberta, Canada * Garth, Bridgend, a village in south Wales :* Garth railway station (Bridgend) * Garth, Ceredigion, small village in Wales * Garth, Powys, a village in mid Wales :* Garth railway station (Powy ...

in "Southern Comfort".

Felicia Day Kathryn Felicia Day (born June 28, 1979) is an American actress, writer, and web series creator. She is the creator and star of the web series '' The Guild'' (2007–2013), a show loosely based on her life as a gamer. She also wrote and starred ...

returned as hacker Charlie Bradbury in "LARP and the Real Girl" and "Pac-Man Fever".

Jon Gries Jonathan Gries ( '; born June 17, 1957) is an American actor, writer, and director. He is best known for the role of Uncle Rico in '' Napoleon Dynamite '' for which he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male, an ...

returned as Martin Creaser, a hunter and old friend of the Winchesters, in "Citizen Fang", he previously appeared in the fifth season episode "Sam, Interrupted".

reprised his role as Bobby Singer in "Taxi Driver".

Writing

The season features two flashback stories in parallel to the episode's main story, one showing Sam's relationship with Amelia and another showing Dean's time in Purgatory. Originally, series creator

planned only five seasons, but Carver drew up a plan which would carry the series through a total of ten seasons. Executive producer Robert Singer described the inspiration for the season as "''

Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...

''".

Reception

Critical reception to the season was mixed to positive. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 67% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.35/10 based on 9 reviews. Diana Steenbergen of

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave the eighth season an 8.5 out of 10 and called it an improvement over the seventh season, writing, "What we got was a solid season-long mythology storyline, some great supporting characters, and of course, a lot of the always reliable backbone of the show – Sam and Dean Winchester." She commented positively about the return of the demons/angels storyline and addition of new recurring characters such as Benny, Naomi, and Metatron, but criticized Sam's "regular life" storyline that got "fizzled" and dropping the tablet trials at the last minute.

References

External links

* * * {{Supernaturalnav Supernatural 08 2012 American television seasons 2013 American television seasons