Supernatural Team on “Free-For-All” Season, Dean’s Big Secret and Sexytime for Castiel

What does a world full of fallen angels look like? That's the question on every Supernatural fan's mind after the Season 8 finale.

"We're going to learn pretty quickly that a world full of fallen angels is pretty much a free-for-all," executive producer Jeremy Carver said at Sunday's Comic-Con panel, moderated by TV Guide Magazine's Rich Sands. "We've got lots of angels out there with lots of different agendas. ... A world of fallen angels is a dirty, bloody, scary and, in some ways, very human world, and we're very excited to explore that."

Carver said that the angels will be feeling lost, scared and avengeful about their new surroundings, but it's unclear just how, or even if, the Winchester brothers will be able to help them. "We can pretty much bet that the path of the fallen angels intersects with the Winchesters in some very big ways this season," Carver said. "I think you can absolutely look forward to the boys being sort of knee-deep in angel problems this year."

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It also remains unknown if the Winchester brothers will want to help at all. "Whether or not they are good or bad or whether or not they are going to be a friend or foe is really kind of a case-by-case situation at this point, so we're not quite sure who to trust," Jensen Ackles said. "The angels are cutting a wake because they can. They have the power and they want to know why and how they ended up here and what they're supposed to be doing."

It will take some time for Sam and Dean to figure out how to exist in a world filled with demons, and now also fallen angels. "They're really going to need each other now more than ever," Ackles said. "Their mission, though it's unclear, is still the underlying 'fight the good fight', but now they've got to figure out what that is exactly."

Thankfully, there's at least one silver lining to the events of the finale — the brotherly love between Sam and Dean is at an all-time high when the show returns. "For the first time in a long time, the brothers chose each other and their love for each other over their season-long quest," Carver said. "That has left them stronger than ever."

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Sadly, that bond will be tested early this season. "There is a situation that is happening that Dean is aware of and is having to keep quiet about and it's a very substantial secret," Ackles said. However, it sounds like fans won't have to wait long to get the dirt on what Dean is hiding. "There's a real surprise in the first episode that no one's going to see coming. There's going to be a few gasps," executive producer Robert Singer said. "It's something new for them. We've never done it before. I've never seen it done before."

Now that the angels have fallen, one of the biggest changes this season will be Castiel — who is now part-human and lacking his powers. Misha Collins called it a "remarkable shift" for his character. "Now he can pop in and basically fold laundry. There's a shift in the dynamic there in terms of how he can be utilized by the brothers," Collins said. "It is going to be an immensely rich terrain to explore — his becoming human. ... Now he's really down in the dirt of being human and getting to experience what it is to actually eat and then what happens to the food after you eat it."

Joked Jared Padalecki: "There's a really great bathroom scene."

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All kidding aside, this change will deeply affect Castiel both physically and emotionally. "He has a real progression through the first half of the season of being really lost. He doesn't have any money. He can't teleport. He doesn't know how to drive," Singer said. "As it goes along and he becomes more adept, he kind of embraces the human life. But as the war between the angels becomes more heated, he has a real push-pull: Can I stay here and do this and be a worthwhile human being or do I have to get back into the fray?"

He'll definitely have his own distractions, for, you see, Castiel will find love this season, or at least lust. "Love is a strong word," Collins said. "Sex, we will see." The actor was much more evasive about one of the biggest mysteries surrounding Castiel: whether he'll continue to rock his signature trenchcoat. "Now that he's human, at least change your underwear," he quipped. "Cas begins this season in his trademark trenchcoat, I'll tell you that."

Supernatural returns on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 8/7c on The CW. Check out the sizzle reel from Sunday's panel below: 

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