TVLINE | How has it been for you as actors having lost Castiel (Misha Collins) at the beginning of the season, and now having lost Bobby (Jim Beaver) as well?
As actors, it’s been great to explore those intense feelings of loss and regret and resentment; it’s been a nice acting exercise, so to speak. But as Jared and Jensen, it sucks because we love Jim — love, love, love him. We love Misha. They’re great people off-set, and they’re awesome actors on set. They add to the show quite a bit and, selfishly, I like having them around because they help propel the storyline. They add more dimensions just by nature of being two different people. But I understand how [losing them] makes for good television and good storytelling.

TVLINE | How is Sam coping with the loss in upcoming episodes?
Sam is all sorts of a mess. Bobby was very much a father figure to Sam, and so he certainly misses him. It’s difficult for him, but Sam and Dean went through so much that Sam, especially, is like, “We’ve got to deal with what’s on our plates now.” Like, “I miss him. I’ll love him. But we can’t bring him back. We can’t. We no longer have that option.” And Sam’s also dealing with a bunch of craziness in his own world – visions and hallucinations and his wall breaking down – so he almost literally cannot afford to worry about things other than just keeping his head on straight.

TVLINE | Sera Gamble said that the empty beer bottle was supposed to be evocative. Is Sam having any moments where he thinks he’s sort of seeing Bobby?
Not yet. One of the things that I tried to make clear in that episode was that Dean’s been drinking a lot. So Sam sees Dean drinking and is like, “Alright, whatever you’ve got to do to cope, you’ve earned it.” But also when that beer vanished and Dean’s saying, “Hey dude, what gives?” and I’m like, “It wasn’t me,” part of Sam is saying, “Man, maybe he’s just really having a problem drinking,” and part of Sam is saying, “Huh, I don’t know.” We’ve definitely encountered weirder, so Sam isn’t really suspicious just yet.

You can read the rest of this interview at the Source.

With his first child on the way with wife (and former co-star) Genevieve Padalecki, you’d think that the grueling schedule that “Supernatural” requires might be wearing on him. Padalecki tells us that the addition to their family — a boy, due in March — hasn’t made sticking with the show, now in its seventh season, more difficult. It’s a good thing, too, because Padalecki and Ackles are both under contract for a potential Season 8, and network president Mark Pedowitz tells us that though there haven’t been any final decisions made about The CW’s fall schedule, there’s a “very strong possibility” that the show will continue for another year.

After a “One Tree Hill” themed cocktail party, we sat down with Padalecki, who — fresh from two People’s Choice Awards — was eager to talk about how much he and Ackles appreciate their fans. We also got some scoop on Sam’s mental state and what Castiel’s return in episode 17 means for Dean.

Zap2it: Your fans have raised $17,000 for kids with cancer in honor of your son, and he’s not even born yet. You might have an overachiever on your hands.
Padalecki: I hope so. It’s been ridiculous, seeing that. Our fans are amazing. We have such a unique fanbase, which I mean literally. We’ve found this weird pocket where if we had any fewer amount of viewers, we’d be canceled, but if we had more, we’d be coasting, and it wouldn’t mean as much.

Zap2it: You just won two People’s Choice Awards.
Padalecki: That’s what I mean. We beat “House,” and that show has 11 million viewers.

Note: There ARE spoilers for upcoming episodes under the cut. You have been warned!

Zap2it: Not bad. There’s a little dirt on your shoulder, there.
Padalecki: Right? You’re like “How can they have five times as many viewers and still, we get more votes?” It’s because they’ve taken a maternal, or familial liking to us — I can’t think of the word; I’m pregnant. Basically, if we’d ended up becoming a hit show with 20 million viewers, it wouldn’t be as great an experience, because our fans would be nameless and faceless and get lost in it. We meet them at conventions, we recognize them and remember them, and they feel like a real family to us.

Zap2it: For the last few years, you guys have had to wait for news of pickup or cancellation, which is tough. With a baby on the way, no one could blame you if you were ready to wrap up Sam Winchester. Are you still hoping that The CW picks up Season 8?

Padalecki: Yes. Gen and I are both hoping for Season 8, actually. With as many hours as we work, and as much as I travel back and forth, it’s a crazy life, but on the flip side, we’ve built a family in Vancouver. Our crew, our cast — we’re close to everyone. We know what to expect. When I told them that Gen was pregnant and due in March, they were immediately like ‘Okay, we’re going to get you some time off.’ I didn’t even have to ask. You can’t do that if you’re doing some big movie with Tom Cruise. They’d be like ‘Who do you think you are? F*** you.’ We all really care about each other, from the writers, to the actors, to the fans.

Zap2it: The number of conventions you do, all around the world, is unprecedented.

Padalecki: It’s absolutely unprecedented. We’ve spent our summers that way for a few years. So much more than ‘Star Trek’ is what we’ve been told from the people who put on the conventions. We relate to the fans. Jensen and I are pretty casual guys, we’re pretty laid back, we’re Texas boys. He and I are just like ‘People are people!’ Not to say that people on other shows don’t know that, but I’ve been to conventions where there are people from other TV shows where there’s a distinct air of ‘I am the actor, and you are the fan, and I will use the royal ‘we’ when I address you.’ And it’s just like, f*** you, who do you think you are? These situations could be switched. Jensen and I get that. We know what it’s like to be a fan. If you tell me you’re a fan of my show, it’s no different from us saying that to a Dallas Cowboy or an actor we like, or a musician. I freaked out when I saw Mike McCready of Pearl Jam. I was grabbing my wife, like ‘Oh my god!’ and she’s like ‘Dude, I’m pregnant, I’m going to need that arm.’ I never thought I’d react like that. The fans are integral to our show. We’ve made episodes for them — not just episodes with them in mind, but episodes about them. I can’t imagine any other TV show ever being able to get away with that.

Zap2it: I spoke with Sera Gamble the other day, and we talked a bit about Sam’s upcoming mental breakdown. He’s been very carefully managing his hallucinations — keeping busy and developing this sort of OCD method of staying in control. I hear that’s all going to crash and burn pretty soon.
Padalecki: Yep. It’s been built up for over a season, ever since Death said ‘I can put a wall up, but he’s been to hell.’ There’s a point, for the audience, where if a character can get past any obstacle and can always find a loophole, it becomes kind of cheesy. The fact that I was in a cage with Lucifer, we don’t want to make light of it. We don’t want to go ‘Oh, Sam’s doing meditation, so he’s okay now! He’s worked it out through yoga!’ We want to crack him and have him go full-blown nuts. So, yes. In an upcoming episode, he does go bat-ass crazy.

Zap2it: Is he still trying to hide it from Dean?
Padalecki: He’s not being super up-front about it, but it gets beyond the point where he can hide it. Sam thinks he’s trying to protect Dean from the knowledge that he’s in pain. He’s going ‘No, it doesn’t hurt, I’m fine,’ while he knows he’s dying. It’s going to get so bad he can’t hide it from anybody. He’ll be checked into an asylum where they think he’s fully crazy, and honestly, he is. He kind of has been for a long time.

Zap2it: You like it when he’s completely off his rocker, though.
Padalecki: I do! It’s very fun. It’s more than that, though. What’s important to me as an actor and as someone who cares about the integrity of the show deeply, is I don’t want to — once you cross certain thresholds and certain barriers, I don’t want to go back.

Zap2it: Are there going to be lasting effects on him after this?
Padalecki: Yes. There’s an episode that we’re talking about right now where Sam isn’t sleeping. The longest anybody’s ever gone without sleep is like nine days, and they died, because your organs shut down. I wanted to make sure that we don’t have an episode where Sam hasn’t slept in a week, and he’s losing his mind, and then he suddenly gets it together and helps save the day. I want him to be human, and I want him to be effed up. What’s made these characters likable is that they are human. Sam had his issues with demon blood and whatnot, but the story is about two human beings, not about an angel and a demon chick. They come and go, but the audience can’t relate unless it’s about human condition and human emotions and the way nature and nurture affect you. You wrote about that in your article. I want to stay true to this guy going nuts and slowly degenerating.

Zap2it: Misha Collins is coming back for a few episodes this season.
Padalecki: Yeah, his first episode is the one where Sam goes crazy. We’re so stoked to have him come back. So, so stoked.

Zap2it: How do the Winchesters handle it?
Padalecki: Well, for Dean, it’s a double edged sword. He’s been really hurt by what Cas did. Sam and Castiel were never close; Cas always had a bone to pick with Sam because of the Ruby thing, which is understandable, the whole apocalypse thing.

Zap2it: It worked out pretty well for you, though.
Padalecki: Yeah, Jared’s alright with it. My demon child is on the way, I’m good.

Zap2it: So when Castiel returns, that’s really a Dean-centric story?

Padalecki: Definitely. Sam never took offense to the fact that Cas had a beef with him. Sam’s always been pragmatic and practical. He’s like, ‘Okay, I guess if I was talking to somebody who messed the whole world up, I’d be hesitant too.’ I think with Dean, it’s really hard for him to deal with Castiel’s betrayal. We’ve seen Sam wrestle with visions of Lucifer, and now it’s Dean’s turn to have that kind of a story. We’ll see Dean struggle to wrap his head around the Castiel issue. He’s like, ‘How do we forgive this guy? How do we trust him? That’s how we got hurt; that’s how we got burned.’ Dean’s once bitten, twice shy. We’ll see him wrestle with some of his own demons.

Zap2it: Sam and Dean, at least, seem to be back on track with their relationship. They trust each other again. You and Jensen have both said that you prefer that to the episodes where they’re keeping major secrets.

Padalecki: Personally, we’re close friends, great friends, and professionally, we’ve learned how to tell this story through the eyes of our characters, and Sam and Dean are the most important people in each others’ lives. When they’re on good terms, it’s — I don’t want to say it’s comfortable, because it’s hard work, but it’s more comfortable than trying to tell stories you don’t know how to tell. We know how to tell the story of Sam and Dean against the world, and we know the fans are receptive to it, so hopefully it’ll continue to play out that way.

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2012 is shaping up to be Padalecki’s year: earlier this week, Supernatural won Best Sci/Fi TV Series and Best Drama TV Series at the People’s Choice Awards.

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This year, The CW is mixing it up and instead of just presenting its individual series, it will have one panel for the new reality show Remodeled, followed by a panel entitled The Bad-Ass Boys of The CW, and finally, they will close their event with a farewell cocktail reception with the cast of One Tree Hill.

The Bad-Ass Boys of The CW panel will reportedly bring together some of the hottest guys from the network’s most popular shows like Joseph Morgan (The Vampire Diaries) Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl), Wilson Bethel (Hart of Dixie), Jared Padalecki (Supernatural), Shane West (Nikita) and Kristoffer Polaha (Ringer). Sounds like an event I’d like to be a part of!

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Gallery Link:
- Out & About with Genevieve in Vancouver – December 8th

What’s Next: More Supernatural goodness as the show’s 7th season continues, but more excitingly is the news that Jared’s going to be a daddy in 2012! What a lucky kid they’ll grow up to be!

You can check out the Top 30 Under 30 full list and so much more at PortraitMag.net

Now, the supernaturally kind and generous couple are sharing their baby joy with kids everywhere, asking their fans to make a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research hospital in lieu of sending them gifts. Tonic caught up with Jared and Gen for an exclusive chat on the genesis of the decision to encourage donations to St. Jude, the sex of their baby, how they’re preparing to be new parents and which traits they hope the baby gets from each one of them!

Lots of love on Twitter gave the pair the idea to pay it forward and divert gifts to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital…
Jared told Tonic, “The outcry of love and support (by way of Twitter) that we received after announcing our pregnancy was so moving and touching that we were once again reminded of how blessed and fortunate we have been. We had countless inquiries as to where to send presents and cards, and we thought it would be a great opportunity to “give back” by having those gifts go to a charity that we’ve supported. We tried to express that the best way to show us support would not be to support us, but to support ALONGSIDE us.”

He adds, “In that vein, we thought of St. Jude’s. St Jude’s Children’s Hospital is a pediatric cancer treatment and research center. It’s a wonderful charity that we’ve worked with for a while. It is a family’s last resort when their young one has been diagnosed with a cancer that’s not covered by insurance and that they don’t have the means to pay for independently. In fact, NO CHILD is EVER denied treatment based on race, religion, or an inability to pay. We both realize and understand that we’ve been so blessed and privileged with our health and independence, and we think it’s important to help others who have not been so fortunate.”

Why they chose St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital…
“There are several charities that we support, and this one seemed like a great choice,” Jared told Tonic, adding, “As soon-to-be parents, it’s only natural to empathize with other new parents: and though we’re not technically parents yet, there’s already nothing more frightening than the thought of something happening to your child that you won’t be able to help.”

Get Involved! If you make a donation, Jared and Gen will know it came from you…
And, if you send a receipt proving your donation of $10 or more to Jennifer@Tonic.com, we’ll randomly select a donor to receive a personal thank you via Twitter, or other communication medium if you haven’t joined the Twitterverse) from Jared and Gen!

They’ve already raised over $12,000 towards their goal of $20,000. Jared said, “The support and congratulatory wishes has been nothing short of amazing and in two short weeks, people have joined together and raised over $11,000 for the charity! It’s truly inspiring.” You can contribute here.

Baby Name?
Jared says, “We’ve thrown around countless names, probably every one in the books, and a few that we kinda made up, but we both agree that we’d like to meet our child before we decide on a name.”

Prepping for parenthood…
What do an English major (Gen) and the son of an English major (Jared) do to get ready for baby? Read, of course. Jared tells Tonic they’ve read “almost every book.” He says, “Both of us love to read, and we’ve both taken to reading all of the books that we can. Our favorite is “Panic Free Pregnancy.”

One part Jared, one part Gen, equals…
We asked the parents-to-be what traits they’d like the baby to inherit from each respectively. Doting husband Jared said, “I could probably make a list pages long, but the most important traits that I hope the baby gets from Gen are her work ethic, her love of knowledge, her patience and her ability to empathize with those around her.” Equally smitten, Gen told Tonic, “I really hope the baby gets Jared’s lexicon, although that probably means I’ll be carrying around a dictionary all the time! I really hope baby gets dad’s sense of humor, work ethic, perseverance, athleticism, compassion, and kindness and of course…. toes!” She added, “Anything the baby gets from dad, I would be so proud.”

If they could each have one supernatural power, what would it be and why?
Jared said, “I would love to be able to survive underwater,” explaining, “It seems like we’ve been able to conquer flying to a degree, but we still can’t explore the depths of the ocean – its scary and exciting to me to think about the unknown down there.” Gen said, “To make time stand still, just so I could enjoy things a little bit longer.”

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The actor guests included Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, Jennifer Morrison from House (here filming Once Upon A Time), Ginnifer Goodwin (Once Upon A Time, He’s Just Not That Into You), Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty), and Amanda Tapping (X-Files, Sanctuary, Stargate: Atlantis), to name a few.

Entertainment was provided by emcees Kid Carson and Amy Beeman from The Beat 94.5 and performances by Dirty Radio and Will Blunderfield. The Once Upon A Cure fundraiser was organized by a North Vancouver mom, whose seven-year-old son has Hunter Syndrome (MPS II).

She and her husband Ryan, who works in the film industry as a camera operator, organized the event to raise money for Hunter Syndrome research.

Those affected by the disease — 35 people in Canada — lack the enzymes to break down certain long-chain sugars. These sugars build up and damage many different tissues in the body and in most cases, the brain.

Untreated, Hunter Syndrome is fatal. The gala raised closed to $90,000.

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In our chat, he previews the boys’ big battle against an “absolute power,” Sam’s struggles, the upcoming lighthearted moments, and, addresses a question that seems to plague fans’ minds at the beginning of every season (even though we all usually hate to admit it).

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, Sam and Dean (Jensen Ackles) are kind of up a creek this season.
JARED PADALECKI: They are. We’ve done so very much on this show and put Sam and Dean in so many strange positions, and now here we are in season 7 and we’re going, “Well, what can possibly happen to them now.” But what’s been wonderful and a real blessing from the character’s perspective over the last few years is that we’ve accumulated these friends and this angel who can get us out of tight spots and all these little home bases that have really been a boon for our hunting business, so to speak. And now we’re gradually losing touch with all of these. Hunters are being killed off, we lost this angel on our shoulders. So now we see the boys in a position that they’ve been in before, but usually they’ve had more artillery at their disposal.

Being that Castiel was so close to them, how are they dealing with his new power? And how concerned are they with him being so powerful — even though they have no idea how to deal with it?
Well, it’s very intense. We certainly don’t take it lightly. One of the writers mentioned how power corrupts, and we see Castiel with absolute power. We don’t take it lightly what he can do. So we try to go full steam. Sam and Dean sort of don’t half ass things. If they see something they don’t like the go full steam ahead.

But that must be hard to do with Sam’s wall being crumbled. How is he dealing with that?
Sam and Dean don’t know what could possibly go wrong now. One of the things that has really remained a constant with Sam at least is that he’s tried to remain strong. Sometimes there’s a downfall, like when he had the demon blood thing going on. He’s always thought he was doing the right thing, and he remained very headstrong. But now, with Sam’s wall coming down, we see this guy who has always been strong who kind of now is just losing it. He doesn’t know if he can trust himself and he has such self doubt that it’s crippling. It’s difficult on Dean; it’s difficult on Bobby because he can’t be a help to them if he can’t be a help to himself. At least in the past, he’s always been able to go in guns blazing and provide some sort of help. But now, with Sam’s not sure who he is and where he is, it’s like Dean and Bobby have to take care of me as well.

You’re breaking my heart here…
[Laughs] We certainly also have a few laughs, too. Usually, from what I can extrapolate from past seasons, we usually kind of get the storyline up and going for the show and then throw in some fun ones around midseason. [Usually, it's] right around when everybody is going, “Man, I don’t know if I can deal with another dark and dying and death [episode].” Here, at the beginning, we’re definitely setting up this new route that we’re taking. And there is no lack of laughs. Dean’s always got this tongue-in-cheek humor, and Sam’s got his reaction to this guy that I call my brother. So we’ll have a good time in the end, but we don’t have a super goofy one yet. But I was thinking about that the other day. It’s great to be part of a fun, crazy sci-fi show that’s dark and deals with mythology and then we do something where we play ourselves. It’s nice for the fans. They appreciate being a part of it and laughing with us.

At this point and time, we’re not doing American Idol numbers where 30 million people watch every week and it’s a no-brainer that [they’ll] go forever. We have this core group of followers who are a part of it and enjoying being a part of it. So it’s nice to have that confidence in our viewership that we can do something like that and not jump the shark. Actually, we’ve had an episode called “Jump the Shark.”

Now, this might sound silly, and it is. But I get this question more than anything, so let’s just put it out there. What’s going on with Sam’s hair this season?
[Laughs...for a good while]Well, it’s probably more similar to season 6 than season 1. It’s taken on a life of it’s own. I think one day my hair and the Impala are going to have re-negotiations for season 7. But I guess we pick up season 7 where season 6 left off. So it’s most similar to that. I get a lot of people who liked my hair in season 1. I think, literally, we’ve had times in the past 6 or 7 years when I’m like, “Man, I want to cut my hair really short.” Or Jensen’s like, “I really want to grow my hair out. It gets cold here.” And I suppose they won’t let us because that’s just who Sam and Dean are. One’s longer-haired and one’s short-haired. And now that Sam’s older, they definitely style it more than let it be floppy and frumpy. I think back in season 1, I was just this 23-year-old kid but I was also 6′ 4”. I had the body of a man but a face of a boy, and they wanted me to be more a boy than a man. So they gave me the original Bieber look. Maybe Bieber stole it from me — the whole hair-in-the-eyes, “I think I’m too sexy” attitude. But now I’m adult Sam ‘do.

Lastly, Supernatural has a bit on competition on Friday night. Along with Fringe, NBC’s Grimm, which is in a similar wheelhouse, is also starting up. What do you make of this? How is Supernatural going to fare?
Maybe I should be worried about it, but I take it as a compliment. A lot of these supernatural shows come and go. And I do watch Fringe and Josh [Jackson] is a buddy. I guess you can say, bring it. We’ve been on seven years. Good luck catching up. [Laughs] But I’ll take it as a compliment. When Supernatural came out, there were a lot of procedurals and you were either a doctor or a cop or lawyer, otherwise the show didn’t stay on TV. And then we came around, and I don’t want to say we were trailblazers, but we found our niche. And, like I said, we’re not getting 100 million viewers every week, but we have some people who are passionate and passionate about the genre.

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