Supernatural Stars Confirm Jack's Condition Is as Dire as You Thought

When Jack (Alexander Calvert) first started coughing up blood onSupernatural, we knew it was not headed anywhere good, but now we're wondering if maybe we underestimated how bad this health scare is going to get! Supernatural wouldn't spend more than a year making us fall in love with this kid only to rip him away from us, would it? (Answer: Of course it would, what show have you been watching?)

After realizing Jack's illness wasn't just a tickle in his throat, Dean (Jensen Ackles), Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Cas (Misha Collins) devoted all their time and energy to saving their surrogate son's life, even calling in Rowena (Ruth Connell) to attempt a magical fix-it. Unfortunately, even a powerful spell mixed with archangel grace couldn't restore Jack's life force, and now the boys are out of options. Jack is dying, and there's literally nothing they can do to stop it. Right?

"It's dire at this point," says Alexander Calvert. "I think we should keep our fingers crossed for him. Jack has definitely been on a rough road."

Time will tell if the boys find a way to avoid Jack's grim fate, but with one plan out the window, they've got to come up with a new one fast. According to Misha Collins, each of them will have to deal with the fallout of Jack's life hanging in the balance in their own way. "It's hard for all three of us because, in a weird way, each of us has taken on the role of father, which I think is possibly kind of competitive. We're all vying for the position of father. Like, 'Who's your favorite dad?'" Collins tells TV Guide.

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"But it's been an interesting thing, I think, for each of us to explore with the characters," he continues. "For Castiel, I am uniquely positioned to guide him through the process to be an angel, to lose your powers, to become human, to feel flaccid and ineffective and like a burden. In the process of guiding him through that, Castiel has been telling Jack, 'It doesn't matter if you don't have your powers. It doesn't matter if you're just a human. You still belong to this family unit.' And by virtue of the fact that he's telling Jack that, I think Cas has to, by the transitive property, start to feel like he belongs in some way. Like if Jack belongs, then Cas has to belong, and after being involved with these guys for 11 years, I think this is the first time that Cas is starting to feel like, 'Maybe I have a place here.'"

While no one would ever argue that Cas has been firmly lodged in the Winchester family for years now, it's worrying to think about whether that sense of belonging will be taken from him if they can't find a way to save Jack's life. But you know, they do say that parents who lose a child are more likely to break up...

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Oh yeah, and there's that little problem of Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) possibly being resurrected from the Empty. So that's got to be great news for everyone involved. Can't that guy just stay dead?!

Unfortunately, Lucifer isn't the only thing coming back from the Empty this season. According to Collins, we'll be seeing more of that horrifying creature that lives there too. We first met the Empty when Jack resurrected Castiel, leaving him to wander around in the darkness, hovering between life and death. Collins played this mysterious antagonist with a kind of whimsically violent personality that made him both instantly appealing and off-putting for audiences. Now Collins confirms to TV Guide that the Empty will be returning as as character this season, but we shouldn't expect it to be wearing Castiel's face again.

"We will see more of the Empty -- played by somebody else. I was recast, so apparently the producers didn't like my iteration of the Empty," he jokes.

Supernatural airs Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW.

(Full Disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS, one of The CW's parent companies.)

Update 7:08 p.m. PT: This story was updated to include additional information about the Empty.

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