Jensen Ackles talks 'Supernatural' finale and looks toward Season 8

As usual, the "Supernatural" stars have been spending their summer traveling to places like Rio and Rome to meet their fans -- but this week, they stopped off somewhere a little closer to home. We met up with Jensen Ackles in NYC for The CW Upfront, where he and co-star Jared Padalecki were celebrating the upcoming Season 8 of the show.

Tonight marks the Season 7 finale. Earlier, Padalecki hinted at some emotional goodbyes, and Ackles warns fans that there's quite a cliffhanger on the way. "We're going to tie up some loose ends, and we're going to leave some untied, and put some new loose ends in there," he says. "We definitely have places to go in Season 8."

With current showrunner Sera Gamble stepping down after tonight's finale to develop some of her own projects, the show will now be run by Jeremy Carver, who served as executive story editor and then co-producer of "Supernatural" from Season 3 to Season 5.

Ackles has always been particularly protective of his character, but he says that the showrunner switcheroo hasn't made him anxious. "I'm confident in Jeremy," he tells us. "If it was somebody else who was new, who hasn't been on the show, I might be a little nervous, but the fact that Jeremy was with us for several seasons and wrote some of the best scripts we've ever done -- he's kind of a badass. To have him back, I'm definitely confident and excited about him."

We're all also excited about the show's move to Wednesday nights alongside "Arrow," since it's rare that anything ever makes it out of the Friday graveyard. "I thought that Fridays were the slot that shows go to die, and not only did we survive, but we actually grew," Ackles says. "I think it's a testament to the people who watch the show. The fans got really loud about the show, and it's exciting to be a part of something that people are so excited about. It's a testament to them that they threw us back midweek, and back with another comic show."

The show will return to The CW on Wednesdays this October, in the hopes that a later start date will keep fans from dropping off to tune into other networks early in the season promise that there will be fewer mid-season breaks during Season 8.

In the meantime, you don't want to miss the finale. "We're definitely going to find Dean in a predicament, much like previous seasons, where it's like 'Great, how are we going to get him out of this one?'" Ackles says. "He also takes down another, very fan-favorite character with him, and we might have figured out how to end the whole Leviathan threat. "

Excuse us. Back up. He's taking someone down with him? Tune in at 9 p.m. EST tonight.