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'Supernatural': Jensen Ackles doesn't like 'soft' Dean; Jared Padalecki talks hell

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September 22, 2010 9:06 PM ET

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supernatural-jensen-jared-s4.jpgWhen Season 6 of "Supernatural" begins, Sam (Jared Padalecki) can now relate to his brother Dean's (Jensen Ackles) experience in hell.

Zap2it visited the show's Vancouver set while the stars were filming Episode 8, "All Dogs Go To Heaven," and we had to ask whose tour of hell was worse - Sam's or Dean's.

"I'd say mine, I think," Padalecki says, explaining that not only was Sam in hell, but he was in "Lucifer's cage with an archangel battle."

"Crowley (Mark Sheppard) says, 'I can't imagine what it's like in the cage, and I can imagine so many things,'" Padalecki continues, "So we get the idea that Sam was in the bad part of hell. He wasn't like, in the penthouse. He was slumming down there.'"

The experience has changed Sam significantly. "I come back much less lovey-dovey, and more like 'All right. I've been to Hell a couple times. I've been to Heaven. I've died; I've come back, I've done this, and I've done that; so I think Sam's kind of more no-bulls***."

In the scene we observed on set, Sam and Dean pose as experts at a crime scene. "We go up to this dead body, and my line is 'Yeah, we're specialists. We answer the questions of mouth-breathing d*** monkeys.' Stone-faced. 'You're going to tell us what's going on?'" Padalecki says.

Ackles chimes in, "He's come so far!"

Meanwhile, Dean has the added pressure of a girlfriend and a child to worry about. The more nurturing side of Dean doesn't necessarily sit well with Ackles.

"There was a big shift in Dean's character, actually, much to my chagrin," admits Jensen. "I was not happy with it. Dean was really kind of being written soft. We spent five years with this guy being a tough, shoot-first-ask-questions-later kind of guy, and now all of a sudden he's lived one year in more of a domesticated life and he's gone soft on us."

Ackles feels for the fans who might be missing "old Dean" as Season 6 begins. "As a fan of the show myself, that kind of made me upset, but I did my best to kind of curve that in the acting. It read pretty soft on the page, but I think I toughened it. I'm like 'Look, if I've got anything to do with it, I'm gonna beat this guy up a little bit.'"

Padalecki jumps to his co-star's defense, explaining that Ackles wasn't going against the writers' wishes - he was just doing his job as an actor. "You kept it true to the character," he says. "It wasn't like you were just not doing what the writers were writing for. It was like 'How can I work this in to where I don't completely lose Dean?'"

The changes have made playing Dean come less naturally to Ackles. "I had no idea what the hell I was doing," Ackles laughs. "Even the dialogue, the way it was written, being so soft and affected. I was like, 'This is not the guy I'm used to playing.' I would kind of skew the dialogue a little bit to make it work in his favor. But it was definitely different. It was an odd situation for Dean to be in."

"After five seasons of playing this guy, now I actually have to think harder about how to play this guy correctly than I have before. I'm like, what happened to the gravy boat here?"

"We talked to [Smallville's Tom Welling], and he's like, yeah, Season 6, it's easy from there on out," Padalecki says. "We're like, it got harder!"

Though Sam and Dean have definitely grown apart, they are working on rebuilding their bond -- though they may be going about it in different ways.

"I think the common denominator is also that Sam and Dean both want it to be better," Padalecki says. "In their own way, albeit; but they at least both want the same things. Maybe they work differently, but it's no longer Sam going 'Alright, I've got this demon... you do whatever you want; we'll meet up later.' I think we're just wording differently what we want. We're trying to work together and let it flesh itself out."

Of course, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and before things get better, they will get worse. Dean is upset with his brother from the get-go. "When Sam shows back up unexpectedly, obviously there's surprise, but then there's also anger. 'How long has he been around, and why hasn't he told me?' That's the first bit of friction," Ackles says.

It only gets messier from there. "In the trailer, there's a shot of me hitting him, and that wasn't edited to look as though it was; that actually happened," Ackles promises. "There are physical confrontations. There are verbal confrontations between the others. But they do have their common denominator, and that is that they're both hunters, so they get back on the right track  eventually. There is still a strain in the relationship that has yet to be worked out [by episode 8]."

Will there be more physical fighting between the brothers? "I hope so!" Padalecki laughs. "It's fun."

"Supernatural" fans, we love hearing your thoughts. Let us know what you think of Dean's potential "soft" side -- and how do you think Sam's post-traumatic stress will fare now that he's topside? Dish in the comments below and don't miss the season premiere on The CW at 9 p.m. on Sept 24.

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 |  Comments (92)

Wow, Sera just decided to make Sam the male Lana Lang. Enjoy the mockery, you're going to get a lot of it.

M. | September 22, 2010 10:54 PM

Can someone remind Sam that Dean was also in hell, that he, Sam, only went to hell once, and that Dean was also in heaven, With Sam! Can someone also remind me why they have to keep giving Sam all of Dean's story lines after Jensen makes them successful? Can someone remind Sera that the Dean fans also watch her show and they watch it for Dean, not just for the special snowflake Sam?

Or, as the case may be, this fan isn't watching it anymore.

strangelove | September 22, 2010 11:00 PM

Say what?

Dean's been a badass, hardcore hunter since his youth and he loses all of it in one lousy year? On what planet would that happen? No wonder Jensen's upset.

I just don't get it. Sam has all these interesting storylines lined up and it sounds like the only thing Dean to balance against that is being a domesticated, soft, out of practice hunter. I was hoping we weren't hearing much about Dean's arc because it would be revealed later but alas, I suspect this is the extent of it. What a huge disappointment.

celia | September 22, 2010 11:10 PM

I have to say I'm sorry I read this interview. I was finally starting to look forward to Season 6, now I'm not so sure. "Soft Dean" does not sound promising. I understand Jensen is trying to nudge it in the right direction, but he shouldn't have to force the writing to fit the character.
And in the Supernatural I've been watching for the past 5 years, Sam has not been to Hell twice.
Writers that don't know their characters and actors that don't seem to remember the story line. I'm trying to keep an open mind, but this doesn't sound good.

Nancy | September 22, 2010 11:10 PM

I'm glad Jensen tried to keep the old Dean in there. I love this show, and I feel like we've already seen the "Sam is the bad guy/Jensen's the good guy" with Sam and the demon blood and also with Sam and Dean being vessels for Lucifer and Michael respectively. I just hope this season stays true to the characters that we've all come to love.

Madison | September 22, 2010 11:12 PM

You don't want to hear my comments but I'll give them to you.

Jensen said is EXACTLY what I feared they would do to Dean. It shows a real lack of respect for the character to think that one year retired would turn him into a big old softie with Hallmark card dialogue.

Real life doesn't work that way and it isn't true to who Dean is. Not even just as someone who was raised as a hunter but as an adult who was forced during childhood to grow up too fast. Not to mention the whole 40 years in Hell thing. It shows a total lack of understanding on the parts of the writers.

In all the years he's been in the business I cannot think of a single other instance of Jensen complaining about something currently going on with a character he is playing, about the writing of a character he is playing. Not once, not even when all he had to talk about for Dean was repetition of Kripke's "Sex and cheeseburgers" line in Season 3. Which makes the fact that he did so now a HUGE deal.

I am no happier with the direction it sounds like they are taking Sam, which is apparently d(#cheb@g territory. I am not interested in excuses for Sam's behavior. I just don't want him acting like a jerk, no matter what the reason.

Also just to remind some of the people involved in the show, Dean has been to Hell as well, he was there for FORTY years. Dean also went to Heaven, the same as Sam. Sam is not experiencing anything super unique, beyond being in the cage but frankly after what we saw of angels last season, it doesn't strike me that it would be any worse than being in "normal hell". Lucifer did not strike me as being "scarier" than Alastair and neither frankly did Michael. They were just slightly more childish and immature.

If they decide to make some huge deal out of "oh how much worse Sam's time in Hell was than Dean's time in Hell", then they really have entered Lana Lang territory. How much more blatantly obvious can you get than taking a storyline from one character and saying "Hey look here is the same story only supersized!" for the other one?

Koni | September 22, 2010 11:13 PM

Poor widdle Jensen! Cry, cry, cry! Oh my God, go find your balls Jensen.

Deanna | September 22, 2010 11:17 PM

Well it looks like Samgirl Sera couldn't resist going whole-hog on the Sam show. Yeah I think I'm done. Thanks for heads-up Jensen. I'll catch you on your next project.

Shona | September 22, 2010 11:24 PM

The sad thing is that out of everything written in this lovely article, the only thing stuck in my head is the fact that Jensen used the word chagrin. I loathe that word since reading the Twilight series. It used to be a great word. Now - not so much.

One of these days I'll catch back up on this show, but until then at least i can read about it. :)

Sherry | September 22, 2010 11:28 PM

Gee, I was going to watch the next the season premier. The promos got me interested but now I guess I watch SyFy.

Heather | September 22, 2010 11:30 PM
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