I Just Gasped Really Loud. BIG (HUGE!) Supernatural News!

My inbox was just flooded with news stories that Sera Gamble will be stepping down as showrunner and Jeremy Carver will take over.

Where the heck do we begin?!

First, the show seems almost guaranteed to have an 8th season. The new CW head had intimated as much, and Jared recently said so in an interview, and now they're announcing a new showrunner. Since they're close to filming the finale (if they haven't already), that's pretty strong evidence of a return.

Far cry from our held breath for seasons 2-5, huh? :)

Let's take a look at saying goodbye to Sera Gamble. I liked a lot of her early episodes. I liked her. I loved the show having a female showrunner, and thought it amusing that no one ever expected her to "girl" it up. In fact, we all feared how bloodthirsty she is...and she more than lived up to that fear. Some of the articles out there mention fan dissatisfaction with the "convoluted" plots of the last two seasons, but honestly, I don't think they were any more convoluted than Kripke's five-season arc and individual season mini-arcs. I thought a lot of the plot threads were clever.

No, the problem with Sera has been, of course, that she took away the things we loved most. She made Dean a dick in the truest sense of the word (ref. "Weekend at Bobby's" and his treatment of Cas). She killed every major character and took the car off the show. The humor got a little less sharp. So some of the things that were done well didn't necessarily hit us the same way because of all the rest of it.

Now let's see what Jeremy Carver brings to the table, beyond 60 episodes of Supernatural and 26 of Being Human. Here are the SPN episodes he actually wrote (source: IMDB):

Sin City
A Very Supernatural Christmas
*Mystery Spot
Long-Distance Call
*In the Beginning
Family Remains
*Death Takes a Holiday
The Rapture
Free to Be You and Me
*Changing Channels
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
*Point of No Return

The *s indicate some of my favorite episodes. To me, this bodes VERY well. If Carver can bring back the perfect blend of humor and wrenching emotion of Mystery Spot on a more regular basis, Season 8 could be a return to the show we've missed for the last two seasons.

And that's something very few shows of this age can achieve!

So what do you think? Joyful, annoyed, or cautiously optimistic? How do you feel about this announcement?

Season 5 Episodes

I was supposed to do a recap of "Bloody Mary" today, but I've not had time what with the RWA conference last week and being under two deadlines at the moment. But I did notice that we're getting some episode titles for Season 5. Here's what IMDB is listing so far:

Season 5, Episode 1: "Sympathy for the Devil" set to air Sept. 10 (Only 50 days away!), written by Eric Kripke

Hmm, interesting title. Who is sympathetic toward the Devil? I can't imagine it would be the Winchester boys, but I could be wrong. Perhaps just Sam? The cause of more friction between Sam and Dean?

Season 5, Episode 2: "Good God, Y'All" set to air Sept. 17, written by Sera Gamble

Have to say I love this episode title since I'm from the South. Interesting that we have the Devil mentioned in the first episode and then God in the second. Part of me thinks they wouldn't cast anyone in the God role, but who knows?

Season 5, Episode 3: "Good to Be You and Me" set to air Sept. 24, written by Jeremy Carver

On first glance, this seems like it might be a brothers-focused episode. Maybe this is when they start healing the rift between them? Maybe they go up against something that causes them to realize they really are on the same thing and that it's good to be them instead of whatever they're facing or people in worse situations.

In casting news, I saw where the role of the archangel Raphael -- a mechanic who is possessed by one of the most powerful beings in the universe -- is being added as a recurring role.