When Supernatural premiered on The WB way back in 2005, it's hard to imagine that either the network or series creator Eric Kripke ever thought it would still be on the air nearly a decade later. Supernatural was by no means a huge hit during its inaugural season, and it remains a minor miracle that the show even survived the initial mass blood-letting that took place when UPN and The WB merged into The CW in 2006. Still, survive Supernatural did, amassing an ever-devoted tribe of followers that seems to grow every single year.

With Supernatural preparing to cross the monumental 200th episode mark this fall, the series' cast and crew recently sat down to take questions about the upcoming tenth season during a TCA press event. Here are some of the highlights.

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Episode 200

Supernatural fist bump

First off, showrunner Jeremy Carver made the announcement that the aforementioned 200th episode of Supernatural will be a musical. Well, sort of. Carver says the episode will not be entirely music-based, and stopped short of confirming whether Sam and Dean will actually sing. However, he did confirm that multiple musical numbers will take place during the episode, including both cover songs and original material. The actual plot is still being kept under wraps, but Carver insists that the episode will be one of their most meta comedies yet, and will serve as a love letter to the fans. It's hard to imagine how one gets more meta than season six's The French Mistake, but if any show can do it, it's Supernatural.

Demon Dean

Supernatural Season 9 Finale - Dean Demon

On more serious topics, Carver confirmed that Dean's big metamorphosis into a demon at the end of season nine will not be a storyline that gets wrapped up quickly. A good chunk of episodes will feature "demon Dean", and a new character will be introduced that takes a vested interest in Dean's future. Sam will spend the early part of the season searching for his brother (who presumably takes off with Crowley), while Castiel will have his hands full picking up the pieces left behind by Metatron's aborted plot to take over heaven. The latter task won't be easy, as Cas' supply of angelic grace continues to dwindle.

Spinoffs

Supernatural Bloodlines still

One of the most widely disliked aspects of season nine was the ill-conceived spin-off episode Bloodlines, which seemed a lot more like Twilight in Chicago than anything related to the Supernatural universe we've come to know. Sadly (or happily, if you're one of the few who like the idea), CW president Mark Pedowitz is still set on making a Supernatural spin-off work, despite his decision to not pick up Bloodlines to series. Pedowitz says that the impetus is now on Supernatural's producers to come up with another idea good enough to be worth taking a shot at.

Series Finale

Sam, Dean and Cas in Season 9 of 'Supernatural'

Finally, the questioning arrived at the all-important issue of just when Supernatural will end, and whether the endgame is already planned out. Carver made mention of the well-known fact that Eric Kripke had an ending in mind for around the five season mark, which was obviously changed when the series ended up continuing. Carver said that Kripke has never shared what the original ending was intended to be, and while Carver has his own final image in mind, he remains open to any "happy accidents" along the way that might lead to a different and/or better finale.

As to when Sam and Dean will finally call it a career, all parties remained non-committal, with stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles being of the opinion that the cast, producers, and writers will all be able to tell when Supernatural has exhausted its creative potential. Carver echoed these sentiments, saying that "there’s so much story left to tell" and that "the show is continuing on beyond any of our wildest dreams and I don’t want to limit myself.”

Whether fans will end up agreeing with him is anyone's guess, but that likely won't stop them all from tuning in this October to take in the Winchesters' next chapter.

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Supernatural season 10 premieres on Tuesday, October 7, 2014.

Source: TCA