On the heels of the first teaser poster being released for Game of Thrones: Season 3, HBO aired a new teaser promo Sunday night.
Like the poster, this is the most tease-y of teasers - pretty much just giving you the date Game of Thrones returns, and a few bits of intriguing voice over dialogue, much like the earliest Season 2 ads. But hey, the campaign has begun, which means more is to come...
HBO have released the first teaser poster for Game of Thrones: Season 3 and it's... Well, a pretty stark image, if you'll excuse the pun. It's basically just numbers, with the date of the show's return. Well, there are some swords in the first zero!
But look, at this point, we're all just psyched to see more of this show...
Deadline is reporting that comedian Patton Oswalt and actress Rosemarie DeWitt are both joining Season 2 of Aaron Sorkin's HBO series, The Newsroom, in recurring roles.
Oswalt, who worked with DeWitt previously on Showtime's United States of Tara, will play Jonas Pfeiffer, the new Vice President of Human Resources of ACN, while DeWitt will play Rebecca Halliday, a litigator who’s been hired to defend ACN in a multimillion-dollar wrongful-termination suit.
DeWitt and Oswalt from United States of Tara.
Nikita returned last week for Season 3, with a very different new scenario for the characters, as they are back inside Division – albeit a Division under new management.
I spoke to Lyndsy Fonseca about what’s to come this year for Alex, who’s had quite a few dramatic changes occur of late. We discussed Alex’s celebrity status, her dynamic with Sean and Amanda -- and a popular non-relationship with Owen -- and more. We also chatted about this Friday night’s exciting new episode, in which Nikita and Alex discover a young girl who has been taken by a former Division agent and apparently been brainwashed. Plus, will Fonseca be able to reprise her role as Katie in Kick-Ass 2?
IGN: Things have changed for everyone on the show, but for Alex, this is really the first time she is allowed to be herself – she’s not a double agent, she’s not a rogue agent, and everyone knows her true identity. What is this transition like for her?
Fonseca: I think in the bigger picture, her being this kind of public persona has brought a lot of power to her and this maturity. It hasn’t come easily. I don’t think Alex is the kind of person that enjoys dressing up like that and being in that public way. But I think what it does is forces her to grow up a little bit and kind of take charge on her own. As the season continues, we’re not going to be focusing a lot on her public persona, but I think she brings a lot of that to Division to help her deal with being there.
IGN: The premiere used her celebrity in a very fun and funny way, but going forward, how do you deal with someone who’s been trained to be a spy being very publically known?
Fonseca: Well, Alex is going to go in a very different direction than I think most of the audience is going to expect. We start off this season with her in this really great place and her using her celebrity to benefit the mission. But it’s going to go in a very different direction. She’ll end up really having to deal with certain things that… You know, I think that a lot of things have been cleaned up, like her relationship with her mother, and Nikita and her are on such good terms. It’s like the final thing is her addiction self, and she’s really going to have to struggle with.
IGN: So that's going to be coming back into focus?
Fonseca: I think that's been a little bit buried, because there’s been other things to deal with. Now that she’s in this new place where they’re all agents, they’re all in this together. But she gets hurt and there’s pain and it’s going to really force her to deal with things that she thought she had resolved before.
IGN: I’ve seen the episode airing Friday, with that great young girl…
Fonseca: She was amazing.
IGN: It seems as though this girl brings up a lot of emotions and memories for both Nikita and Alex.
Fonseca: I think that it’s kind of shocking to see a girl her age in Division, because she is the age that Alex was when she was sold into slavery and then a few years later was on the streets, doing drugs. You see this girl who’s just such a shell of herself. You don’t know if it’s Stockholm syndrome. You can’t really figure it out. And the pain in her eyes, everything that she’s dealing with, it’s so similar to Alex’s life and I think she sees a lot of herself. And I think Alex just doesn’t want to go there. What she ends up doing is going to the parents a lot and the mother and I think that is something that she can relate to as well. Because Alex’s mom didn’t know that she was alive and I’m trying to find out all this information, but I can’t tell them that I know that their child is alive. So dealing with the mom really is difficult in a lot of ways for Alex.
IGN: The first episodes this season touch upon a lot of the big emotional points the show has set up in the first two years, but as far as overall mythology goes, they’re more standalone. How is this season mapping out compared to the first two?
Fonseca: Especially at the beginning, it is a little bit more standalone and kind of bad guy of the week or a mission [of the week] at first. But there are going to be recurring storylines that we’re going to be doing that wall continue through all the episodes as well. It’s kind of a little bit of both. But it’s gonna be different, because there’s no Percy, you know? We’re in this together and Amanda is going to come in and out and we’re trying to figure out where she’s coming from and what her plan of action is. But it is a little bit more standalone than it has been in the past.
IGN: You mentioned Amanda and when I asked on Twitter if fans had questions for you, quite a few seemed to enjoy the interplay between Alex and Amanda.
Fonseca: I love that!
IGN: Will there be more of that this year? Obviously, it’s more difficult, because they’re no longer co-existing inside Division.
Fonseca: Right. Yes, they’re definitely going to be in a storyline together, but we have not shot it yet. I know that it’s in the future for the season, but in all honesty, I don’t know how it’s going to come out. I think the writers are still figuring that out! [Laughs] But it’s going to be good, because she’s going to have a hold over Alex in some way… So it’s not going to be taken lightly. It’s not going to be fun thing. Amanda is going to go all out.
IGN: And we know Amanda can be very scary when she goes all out.
Fonseca: Oh my gosh… She’s so good!
IGN: How are things going for Alex and Sean?
Fonseca: Well, it’s funny, because at work today, the only scene that I have to do is to make out with Sean Pierce in a closet. It’s a very hard day at the office. [Laughs]
But no, it’s not going to be an easy relationship. There’s going to be this thing where Sean really puts it out there and makes an ultimatum and says, “It’s me or Division” and “Why are we here? What are we doing here? We have a life to live.” And I think that contrast is totally confusing for Alex. It’s like, “What do you mean? This in my life. What am I going to do? Go sit on a beach somewhere and drink Mimosa?” That’s not reality, you know? And that’s going to cause problems because they want different things, even though they want each other.
IGN: Meanwhile, it’s funny, because a sect of Nikita fans have been curious about this whole Alex/Owen dynamic, even though they’ve never met...
Fonseca: I know. It’s so weird how there are shippers for that, when we’ve never even met! It’s very flattering! It’s great. It’s so cool.
IGN: So that being said, this season they will finally meet and interact. What do they make of each other initially?
Fonseca: You know, it’s kind of cool… I made the decision that there’s always been this kind of animalistic part of Alex. There’s this kid that’s not a celebrity… the really down and dirty part. And I feel like Owen can be like that. This guy is very, very animalistic in many ways. And I think they kind of connect in that and sense that about each other. And I don’t mean that necessarily in a relationship kind of way. It’s more that he comes back in the picture and it’s like, “What is your deal, man?” There’s definitely sparks and some sort of understanding that they have with each other.
IGN: You mentioned Alex’s addiction issues. Owen recently got over his own addiction to the regimen. Could there be some bonding there?
Fonseca: There is that. We haven’t really touched on that topic as characters yet, but absolutely. That would be a really cool thing to play as well.
IGN: So at San Diego Comic-Con, you were crossing your fingers – has it worked out with your Nikita schedule to do Kick-Ass 2?
Fonseca: It has! CW and Warmer Bros. and the creators here at Nikita, they’ve been so wonderful about letting me out for a week to go to London and do a little bit in Kick-Ass. I’m very limited in my time that I can go there, but the fact that they let me do it at all… I actually leave on Saturday to go shoot for a week there. And I’m really excited!
IGN: My last question comes via your costar, Devon Sawa. When I asked on Twitter if anyone had questions or you, he asked if himself, Shane West, Dillon Casey and Aaron Stanford were Ninja Turtles… who would be Raphael?
Fonseca: [Laughs] Well, that’s funny, because they were having this major debate two nights ago over dinner. And honestly, I had no idea what they were talking about, because I’ve never seen Ninja Turtles! I don’t know… If I’d seen it, I’d have an opinion! Sorry!
Nikita airs Friday nights at 9pm ET/PT on The CW.
Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on on Twitter at @EricIGN and IGN at ericgoldman-ign.
If things had gone as originally planned, the Season 4 premiere of Community would be airing tonight on NBC. But last week, the network decided to hold off on bringing the series back, with its actual date as yet undetermined.
While Community fans wait to find out when we'll actually see the Greendale gang, the cast of Community have filmed this new video celebrating their premiere date on October 19th... That won't be on October 19th.
If things had gone as originally planned, the Season 4 premiere of Community would be airing tonight on NBC. But last week, the network decided to hold off on bringing the series back, with its actual date as yet undetermined.
While Community fans wait to find out when we'll actually see the Greendale gang, the cast of Community have filmed this new video celebrating their premiere date on October 19th... That won't be on October 19th.
Warning: Spoilers for the first two seasons of Nikita follow.
With Nikita back this Friday, October 19th, for Season 3, we thought it would be a good time to relive some of the show’s coolest moments. Nikita is one cool show, so narrowing it down wasn’t easy, but here’s what we came up with…
Knowing that a missile is headed toward the house where Michael is trapped, Nikita has raced into harm’s way in a desperate attempt to rescue him. The house explodes just as she gets there, and she stumbles around the debris, her grief growing with every second. Suddenly, Michael strides out of the smoke like something out of an 80’s music video and Nikita leaps into his arms. On this show, even the mushy stuff is really cool.
Robbie (played by Bug Hall - Alfalfa from The Little Rascals movie!) was a recruit who dreamed of seeing the world once he became a field agent. Those dreams were squashed when he was made a Division security guard instead and that disappointment eventually led to him snapping and going on a shooting spree inside Division. Alex and the rest of the recruits are told that Robbie has been terminated, but in the episode’s last scene, Amanda tells a bound and beaten Robbie that she underestimated him, and that he is a prime candidate for the group’s super creepy “cleaner” program--a chilling reminder of just how twisted Division is.
The deepening of the friendship between Nikita and hacker extraordinaire Birkhoff was a pleasantly surprising subplot during Season 2. Nevertheless, they had their share of conflict as well, not the least of which was Birkhoff’s vehement opposition to Nikita’s Hail Mary plan to infiltrate Division. After challenging her sanity, Birkhoff made nice in a most unexpected way: he gave her a big kiss (right in front of her studly boyfriend), then added sincerely, “May the Force be with you.” Way to go, Nerd!
Nikita had told Alex the truth about who killed her parents... From a certain point of view. Yes, it was a Division strike team sent by Percy but she left out one critical bit of information. And in a moment as shocking for fans as it was for Alex, Percy reveals to her that Nikita was not only a member of that strike team, she was the one who murdered her father.
Nikita has been captured and tortured by a man she maimed back when she worked for Division. He thinks he’s broken her when she says she’s sorry—but wait! That’s not what she’s apologizing for. With a downright evil smile on her face, Nikita regrets not gouging out his other eye, nor cutting out his tongue. Then she laughs in his face. And it isn’t an act. In this incredible moment, we see the part of Nikita that she fears the most. The woman that did evil things once upon a time—and liked it.
Following Made in Jersey being yanked by CBS last week -- plus, NBC killing Dane Cook's new series before it even aired -- we have our next cancellation of the fall TV season, as NBC is pulling Animal Practice (starring Weeds' Justin Kirk) from the air.
The struggling comedy, which had sunk to a new ratings low this week, will be replaced, as of November 14th, by Whitney, returning for its second season.
This comes on the heels of NBC's last-minute decision to not debut Whitney and Community this Friday as originally scheduled, as it became more likely they would instead use those series to fill in gaps in the future on other nights. Indeed, Whitney replacing Animal Practice seemed like an obvious call, given Animal Practice's weak ratings and the fact that Whitney would be paired with a show far more compatible for it than Community - Guys with Kids, the only other multi-camera sitcom currently airing on the network.
Of course, Community fans still want to know when they'll see new episodes of that beloved series. For now, I'm sticking with my guess that it'll very likely return early next year, replacing 30 Rock on Thursday nights, once that show has aired its final thirteen episodes.
One year ago, FnaticMSI won the season one League of Legends World Championships at DreamHack Summer 2011, taking home $50,000 and the privilege of being the first ever League of Legends champions. Nobody at the time could have predicted that this was only just the beginning of one video game's significant impact on the esports industry.
FnaticMSI at Dreamhack Summer 2011 (Riot Games)
Fast forward to today. According to developer Riot Games, League of Legends is now the "most played video game in the world" with over seventy million registered users and twelve million daily active players logging a combined total of one billion hours of game-time a month. While the statistics are seemingly unparalleled and unquestionably mind-blowing, Riot's mission extends beyond that of the standard MOBA. As stated by CEO Brandon Beck, League of Legends was built with every intention to be a competitive sport, one that is both business and entertainment.
Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck (USC Marshall)
For Riot, 2012 was a year of explosive growth as the studio continually invested in the evolution of esports, establishing League of Legends' place in the movement. Without a doubt, Riot is one of the most involved game developers in esports with their attempts to bring it into the mainstream despite the financial risk.
Marc Merrill, co-founder and president of Riot, stated, "We lose a lot of money on esports. It's something, currently, that we do to drive return or profitability or whatnot. It's bringing value to our players. Maybe, down the road, that will change. This is something we believe, as a company, philosophically, if we bring value to our players, they'll reward us with engagement."
Riot's efforts culminated last week with the season two World Championships in Los Angeles, California, where players and fans congregated at the Galen Center to witness the highest caliber of play by the best teams in the world. Over 7,000 attendees filled up the sold-out arena, which is typically used for college athletics.
A multitude of online streams broadcasting the event garnered over one million concurrent viewers all over the world. The number increases dramatically if you include the televised broadcasts in China and South Korea. Such figures indicate that Riot has created the foundations of a spectator sport, a necessity for the legitimacy of esports.
The crowd at the S2 World Championships (ESFI World)
The underdog team, Taipei Assassins, defeated South Korea's Azubu Frost in the grand finals to win the tournament's $1 million prize, a far cry from last year's $100,000 prize pool, setting a strong precedent for other premier tournaments and game developers. The substantial $5 million prize pool for the season two World Championships is a testament to Riot's commitment to its players, which in turn is rewarded by player involvement.
Taipei Assassins, S2 Champions (Garena)
Riot VP Dustin Beck emphasized, “It’s in our blood at Riot to give back to the community and we think our pro players feel the same way and believe they have the same responsibility.”
Pro player Ocelote of SK Gaming (ESL)
Millions of dollars in cash prizes is just the tip of the iceberg. On August 6, Riot announced the League of Legends Championship Series, which is essentially a global league of professional players with weekly matches, playoff events, and most importantly, paid salaries. The salaries, according to Beck, cover the basic cost of living for players and will be supplemented by travel and housing stipends. All of that coupled with sponsorships, stream revenue, and tournament cash prizes are an attempt to legitimize pro gaming as "a completely viable career opportunity," which will help League of Legends reach its full potential as an esport.
This is just the beginning; esports is still in its infancy, growing rapidly with every event. And Riot Games is in a unique position to strengthen and sustain the entire realm of esports, which includes pro teams, leagues, organizations, the community, and competitive games beyond just League of Legends. With the success of the World Championships, Riot has raised the bar significantly for other events, bringing esports a step closer to overall legitimacy in society.
The effort to garner mainstream acceptance and attention is not exclusive to just Riot. David Ting, General Manager of Esports and VP of Research & Development for IGN Entertainment, has stated since the inception of the IGN Pro League that his mission is to help esports become a major sport, one that measures up to the NFL.
TSM winning IPL Face Off
Roy Bahat, former President of IGN Entertainment, stated, “The time has come for video games, as a spectator sport, to go mainstream in the United States as it has elsewhere around the world.”
IPL will once again be hosting their live event, IPL5, at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas from November 29 to December 2. Tickets are available for purchase now.
On the heels of winning two Emmys last month for its first season (among seventeen nominations), American Horror Story returns Wednesday night for a brand new story, American Horror Story: Asylum.
Completely unconnected storywise to the first season, Asylum does feature several returning cast members playing totally different roles, including Zachary Quinto, Lily Rabe, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Jessica Lange - the latter of whom won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for her work in the first season. They are joined by several newcomers, including Chloe Sevigny (Big Love), James Cromwell (Babe, LA Confidential), Joseph Fiennes (FlashForward) and Adam Levine (yep, the Maroon 5 guy!), in the story of an asylum in 1964 where some very twisted things are occurring, involving both humans and... otherwise. It was also just announced that Ian McShane (Deadwood, Kings) will be appearing in two episodes.
American Horror Story amassed quite a following last year, even while some felt the show -- from Nip/Tuck and Glee's Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk -- was too over the top. With the new season and a completely new storyline here, we wondered, will you be checking it out? Let us know in our poll below!
American Horror Story: Asylum premieres Wednesday, October 17th at 10pm on FX.
The Season 3 premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead delivered the biggest ratings in the adult demo than any other entertainment series this fall (including all broadcast shows), earning its highest rating to date, more than 50% over last season's premiere.
Last night's third season premiere aired to the tune of 10.9 million viewers for its first telecast, with an adult 18-49 demo rating of 5.8. For reference, ABC's Modern Family -- which was previously the highest rated show this fall -- earned a 5.5 rating. Needless to say, for AMC -- a pay cable network -- 5.8 is pretty damn impressive.
Walking Dead Creator Discusses the Season 3 Premiere
Said AMC President Charlie Collier, "Thank you to the fans for making The Walking Dead such a tremendous success. We are honored and humbled that television's largest adult audience resides on AMC. So many people on both sides of the camera worked tirelessly on this project, and I thank and congratulate each of them for their amazing contribution."
The Season 3 premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead delivered the biggest ratings in the adult demo than any other entertainment series this fall (including all broadcast shows), earning its highest rating to date, more than 50% over last season's premiere.
Last night's third season premiere aired to the tune of 10.9 million viewers for its first telecast, with an adult 18-49 demo rating of 5.8. For reference, ABC's Modern Family -- which was previously the highest rated show this fall -- earned a 5.5 rating. Needless to say, for AMC -- a pay cable network -- 5.8 is pretty damn impressive.
IGN Speaks with comic series creator Robert Kirkman
Said AMC President Charlie Collier, "Thank you to the fans for making The Walking Dead such a tremendous success. We are honored and humbled that television's largest adult audience resides on AMC. So many people on both sides of the camera worked tirelessly on this project, and I thank and congratulate each of them for their amazing contribution."
Warning: Full spoilers follow for The Walking Dead Season 3 premiere episode, "Seed," and minor spoilers for Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead comic book series.
So how about that for a Walking Dead season premiere, huh? Pretty exciting and gruesome stuff. And, as tradition here at IGN, we got to talk to comic series creator and show EP/writer Robert Kirkman about what we just saw. Months have passed, Rick's fully in command, Carl's now clearing houses with the likes of Daryl and T-Dog, there's a walker-filled prison that needs cleansing, Lori's not giving Rick any disapproving looks or pushback and Andrea and Michonne are still off on their own. There's just so much happening.
The Walking Dead: Season 3 Premiere Review
IGN: Well, we're finally here. We're at the prison now. What's it like to finally be tackling a big set piece and storyline that the comic fans have been anticipating ever since the show started?
Robert Kirkman: My experience in having the Walking Dead comic turned into a TV show has been indescribable. It's not something that I've ever heard of anyone really experiencing. It really is quite bizarre. I've gone from seeing comic book characters that I've written for nearly a decade come to be represented by flesh and blood human beings who you can have conversations with. Which is really awkward. But now I'm actually seeing an entire world built up that I can walk around in. I can go into cells inside the prison. I can walk the prison yard. I can play basketball on the basketball court. I can go up into the guard tower. It's really strange to see it all come to life and I think AMC's done a really good job in working with very talented people who really dedicate themselves into making this show the best that it can be. I know a lot of time and effort went into making this prison and it looks absolutely remarkable on screen. In person though, it's overwhelming for me to be there.
IGN: A lot of things have changed within the group since the last time we saw them. Exactly how much time has passed?
Kirkman: Well, we don't really like to nail things down too tightly, but we were getting into winter pretty much by the end of Season 2. The leaves were starting to fall off and it was getting pretty cold and so we were definitely approaching winter when we last left off. Season 3 picks up now with the end of spring and the beginning of summer. So we skipped through a little bit of fall, winter and a little bit of spring.
IGN: What was behind the decision to have Rick be so fully in charge? I think the term that was coined was "Ricktatorship."
Kirkman: I think it was very important, after the last scene in Season 2, to show that Rick's decision to not take any advice from his people and to make it his way or the highway has really made it so that they've all survived the winter, despite not being able to find a solid place to live in for any real length of time. I think we really wanted to show that Rick is a capable leader and that he does know what he's doing. And I think the first two episodes of the season will show everyone that this is a different guy; much more harsh, much more deadly and way more serious. A hardened leader.
IGN: He really has no opposition, at this point, from anyone. And they're a head-strong group.
Kirkman: For better or for worse, Rick's word is law right now. And that's something that has kept them alive. But we'll see, as the season progresses, sometimes he makes mistakes and sometimes bad things happen. But for now, at least, Rick's in charge and we're seeing a very different person. This is a guy who was a small town cop who was just kind of feeling his way through this world. And to a certain extent, he was scared out of his mind. Over the course of the first two seasons, he's become this guy that we have now who is running head first into a prison yard and taking walkers out. And doing whatever he has to do to keep these people around him safe.
IGN: Another big change, and more evidence that Rick's word is law, is how much Carl has changed. Rick would have gotten an earful if he'd tried to have Carl shoot walkers last year.
Kirkman: Carl has really evolved into a child soldier over the course of the winter. He's now there in the mix with Rick and Daryl when they're cleaning out that house in the beginning. He knows how to clear a room now. He knows how to run through a house that could be infested with zombies. And, as you can see, this is something he's done before. This is Carl growing up. Having that time jump in between the seasons has really facilitated turning Carl into a different character. A much more capable character. Someone who doesn't have to hide in the house while all the cool stuff happens. He's out there shooting guns, taking out Walkers and being a little badass.
IGN: What can you tell us about Rick and Lori's relationship? It seems pretty cold at this point. He's providing for her, but little more.
Kirkman: It's definitely damaged. Despite all the other changes that happened over the winter that we didn't get to see, they really haven't reconciled. For the most part, they're not really speaking. Lori has done something that Rick hasn't forgiven her for yet. And Rick did something that Lori wasn't too happy about, as we saw at the end of the second season. So they're really distant and struggling through the fact that they have to live together. She is carrying a child. Could be his child, could be Shane's. Nobody really knows. It is definitely a big sense of source of tension within the group this year.
IGN: Now this is close to the time, in the comic series, that Michonne would become a part of the group, but you've chose not to do that here. She's off with Andrea, which is a pairing we never saw in the comics. What was behind that decision?
Kirkman: I think as the season progresses, and we see our entry point into Woodbury and meeting The Governor, it will become pretty clear this pairing was a really cool change that came with a lot of great story in it. That's really the key to making changes to the comic book. Asking ourselves "what does it add?" or "how could this enhance the story?" And I think this enhances the story in a big way. Having these two warrior women out on the road, surviving together, is kind of a cool thing. And we've seen that they've bonded quite a bit over the winter. One thing that I really like about this season is that if you notice and do the math about how long Rick and the group were with Andrea, she's been with Michonne longer than she was with the rest of the survivors. So their bond has grown very strong over time. If these groups were to meet, if Andrea and Michonne were to encounter Rick and the others, her new bond might add some conflict to the reunion. ...Were it to take place this season.
IGN: Keeping things with the comics here... poor Hershel. We saw his leg get hacked off, but in the comics it wasn't him. It was a different character.
Kirkman: It's a pivotal moment in the comic series, but it happens to Allen, a character that hasn't been introduced on the television show. So we decided to do it to Hershel. And having that moment that comic book fans remember adapted for the show -- in a cool way that calls back to the comic series and the stories that were told there, but also done in a way that comic fans can still be surprised when it happens -- really is the meat and potatoes of the show. I want the comic fans to still go "Oh my god!" That's the really cool stuff, when people don't know what to expect. Even though it's still familiar.
At a retailer breakfast during NYCC today, Marvel unveiled plans for more of its Season One graphic novels -- books that aim to freshen up the earliest adventures of its key heroes -- in the form of Wolverine and Iron Man.
Tackling Wolverine: Season One will be writers Ben Acker and Ben Blacker (of TV's Supernatural) with Salva Espin on art, which explores Logan's journey from hardcore vagabond to X-Man, including his first appearance way back when he battled the Hulk in Incredible Hulk #180.
Iron Man: Season One is being written by Howard Chaykin with art from Gerald Parel, and will aim to modernize Tony Stark's origin once again.
Also announced at the retailer breakfast was Deadpool Killustrated from writer Cullen Bunn, in which the spirit of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe lives on with Wade Wilson going around to kill off some literary classics, including Moby Dick, Little Women, Sherlock Holmes, and Dracula.
Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator himself. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. He loves superhero pets so hard.
With The Walking Dead returning for the much-anticipated Season 3 this Sunday, I recently had the chance to sit down with executive producers Robert Kirkman and Glen Mazzara to discuss what fans can expect this year.
Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead, and Mazzara, who serves as showrunner, talked about the introduction of key comic book elements this season, how the characters are evolving and much more.
For those who are super spoiler-phobic, no big twists and turns are revealed, beyond previously and officially revealed story elements of Season 3, though some basic plot details – and one cool zombie-visual -- from the season premiere are discussed.
IGN TV: How did you decide to do the time jump? Robert, you’ve about how, if you think about it, the first two seasons were pretty compressed, time-wise. This is a pretty big leap to make just as far as how much we’ve seen these people to this point.
Robert Kirkman: I know that one of the vehicles that come from television that I really like is the gap between seasons. I really love it when shows do that. I think The Sopranos did it really well. They were off the air for 18 months, and when they came back 18 months had passed in the lives of the characters. I think that’s a really cool thing. To me, it’s always fun to come in a little late in the game and see the characters in a much different light, and then spend the first episode going, “Oh, that’s what this person is doing now,” and, “Oh, they have this opinion now,” and, “Oh, these behaviors are a little bit different.” You know, it casts the characters in a bit of a different light. It also helps you separate things from season to season, which I think is really cool.
Glen Mazzara: Yeah, and I think it was important to show the effects of Rick’s leadership on the group. They’ve come together, they’re a tight-knit group -- that’s interesting. It was kind of exciting for us to advance the story and let the audience catch up. I guarantee people are going to say, “Are we ever going to see a flashback episode of what happened during the winter?” I’m going to go on record and say, “No. You’re seeing the story we want you to see, and this is part of a new story.” So we really wanted to advance things, move things forward and let the audience catch up.
IGN: Going in, you’ve got two characters that you’re introducing, both from the comics and both with a lot of expectations and a lot of popularity. On a visual level, Michonne is obviously matching with the comics much more than the Governor. How much did you debate did you have about how much you wanted to stick to the comics with those two characters?
Mazzara: First of all, we went with the best actors, who came in and really got the roles and got the characters and we’re very, very happy with the work that David [Morrissey] and Danai [Gurira] are doing. And they’ve added so much throughout the season. The question came up about Michonne’s iconic look, with the dreads, and that was something that was important to Robert - that she match the look of the character in the comic books. So we worked on that. Originally, I wasn’t so sure. I was afraid a wig might look fake. But we had conversations and experimented with the wig until it was to everybody’s satisfaction. We went ahead with it. With the Governor, he’s a developing character, so what you see is just what you’re getting now. But that’s a character that will continue to evolve and change, and we’ll see what happens with him. But that character did change in the comic book. People tend to forget that.
IGN: Robert, I’m sure it’s been funny for you to see that there can be super fans of the comic who are more precious about things being changed than you are and want everything to stay exactly the same. How do you go about making those decisions on what’s really important to you to look or stay the same, both visually or in other ways?
Kirkman: Yeah, I think it’s very important to recognize that the television show and the comic book series are two different things. I think that there are really cool, really memorable, really important moments from the comic book series that have existed over the life of it. There are some of those that I absolutely feel need to be adapted into the show in order for it to be a Walking Dead show, and there are other things that I think can be changed and should be changed. This is an adaptation, and keeping things fresh and lively and changing things up actually makes it better. I think that those diehard fans that are saying, “Oh, it’s not exactly like the comic. I want the exact same stuff,” I think they would be bored with the show if they had gotten their wish. I think it’s very important to add new material to this and make it as exciting as possible, just because the comic book is exciting and new. That’s one of its charms.
IGN: The first two seasons have a lot about Shane versus Rick and their differing styles of leadership. Now we’re going into this new season and Shane is out of the picture, but Rick has changed himself. At the place he is now, how does his style of leadership match or not match the Governor?
Mazzara: That’s a great question. I think Rick is initially a lot more honest than the Governor. I think the Governor is playing a game and a long con. He has an ultimate agenda that’s very important to him. Rick’s face is sort of pressed right up against the glass, and he has very immediate needs of keeping this group alive, finding a safe place, preparing a safe place where his wife can have a baby so that when the baby’s born, everyone’s safe -- they’re not out on the open road and the crying baby isn’t summoning walkers -- this is what he’s thinking about, the problems at hand. The Governor’s looking down the road a little bit more.
IGN: Some fans weren’t in love with Lori last season. Can you talk a bit about Rick and Lori and what their dynamic is like this season? Can they get past all that’s happened at this point?
Mazzara: That’s something that will unfold this season, their relationship. That’s something that’s important to them. I don’t think there’s been any time while they’re out on the road where they could push in and spend time with each other and work out their problems. That’s what she’s saying when we meet her in the season premiere. So I think Rick’s job is to find a safe place for her to have the baby. Then he’s probably thinking they can deal with this problem. But, you know, it’s business first. So Rick’s using life on the road, in a way, as an excuse to avoid repairing his marriage. They’re in conflict, and I think both actors have done a great job of really making you feel like you’re watching a marriage in distress in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. This year, I really think you’ll really feel sympathetic for both characters.
Kirkman: I think one cool element of this season that we’re going to be exploring throughout is the fact that these are two people that are a married couple, who may just need to take a break. They have come at an impasse in their marriage, they have both definitely done things that the other is not very happy about, but they can’t really do the things that we would do in this world -- step back, try and figure out if we want to stay with this person and what our relationship is actually built on. These people are forced to live together in order to survive. They’re basically on top of each other at all times and not able to deal with their issues. That’s something we’ll be dealing with a lot moving forward.
Let the bodies hit the floor!
The first cancellation of the 2012 Fall TV season goes to...CBS' Made in Jersey, which has been yanked from the schedule after two low-rated (by CBS standards) episodes. The legal drama, which starred Janet Montgomery as a sassy, street-wise attorney who ruffled feathers at her posh, prude upscale law firm, has been pulled from its Friday slot effective immediately, with CSI: NY moving to 9pm to fill the void. The 8pm slot will now feature rotating CBS procedurals until Undercover Boss premieres in November.
Read IGN's Review of the Made in Jersey Pilot!
It's interesting to note that CBS, the highest rated of the "big four," cancels the least shows of any network. So for them to pull the trigger here is notable.
Where were they from again?
Many are still wondering when FOX will pull the low-rated Mob Doctor from its Monday nights. Perhaps with first blood drawn on Made in Jersey, FOX won't have to be the first network to cancel a new show this season.
Spoilers for the Supernatural: Season 8 season premiere follow.
Supernatural returned last week, setting in place plenty of big new storylines for the show, as Sam and Dean were reunited after Dean’s year in purgatory. So what’s next for the Winchesters? Supernatural executive producers Robert Singer and Jeremy Carver discuss their plans for Season 8 – and beyond.
There will be frequent flashbacks filling in more of what happened in the past year for Sam and Dean. “Not every episode, but where appropriate,” explained Singer, adding it would inform where “The boys’ headspace is in a given episode.”
Singer noted the flashbacks" allowed us to tell slightly different kind of stories.” When it comes to Sam and his newly revealed love interest, Emilia, he remarked, “Supernatural hasn’t spent, I think, a lot of time on relationship stories. This is a really nice mechanism to do that without imposing that on the forward momentum of these other stories that we’re telling.”
Noted Carver, “One thing we like particular about the first 13 [episodes] is the way we’re playing with perception… What happens as these brothers start to discover more about what they’ve done in the past year – and might those tables turn in terms of who has to answer for what?”
“Sam is keeping thoughts of this woman and this relationship to himself. It greatly informs where he is now at the beginning of the season. It represents something to him. It represents, essentially, another way – another life,” said Carver.
Carver, who returned to Supernatural in Season 8 in his new role as showrunner, after a couple of years away from the series, remarked, “The jumping off point, certainly when I came back to the show, was laid out by Bob [Singer] and Sera [Gamble]. You are truly alone. What does that mean? What kind of impact does that have on somebody? How does that affect somebody after so many years?”
While comparisons are inevitable to how Dean had his own domestic life when Sam was in hell, the producers noted that the big difference was that Dean “Never felt comfortable” in that scenario and couldn’t put aside all of his Hunter past – still salting windows and such. But Sam, “found real solace and real comfort. The only thing that sort of got him back was yeah, they were responsible for Kevin. ‘If we can do the Kevin thing and get this done, I’m done.’”
As Carver put it, Sam’s experience gave him, “A taste of something he never had before, and it had a really profound effect on him.”
As Carver noted, Dean had “a bit of a surprising reaction” to Purgatory, which was brought up in the season premiere.
“The idea that it was ‘pure’ down there… I think one of the last things you’d expect going to a place that is so horrible - That someone might actually consider it a happy experience. You have to ask yourself, why do you think it’s happy? What is this thing inside himself that he connected to? This primal side? How will he deal with that topside?”
As for Dean’s new friend Benny and how they became so chummy, Carver said, “It’s something we’ll see in those flashbacks. Hopefully the intriguing question that the premiere asks is, you see this warmness, but when they meet you see this reserve and general distrust. How did they get from that to that embrace? That’s what the flashbacks are telling us.”
As mentioned above, a big new player introduced in the season premiere is Benny, and Carver noted that as the season continues, “We use Benny as that thing that is representative of Dean in purgatory.”
“I think you’ll see Benny playing a pretty important part both in his physical presence and his psychological presence. The idea of Benny is hanging over our brothers pretty heavily. He’s a guy who has a tremendous, tremendous bearing and he’s really working out wonderfully. He’s a really complex character and adds really interesting wrinkle to the brother’s relationship this year – how they deal with something like this.”
Season 7 hammered home the hardline stance Dean had with the supernatural – going so far as to kill Sam’s old friend, who he believed was inevitably a danger. So just what changed for Dean to make him let a dangerous creature like Benny go, and how might Sam react to discovering this? Said Carver, “I think that’s the question that comes front and center when you see Benny. That’s something that’s got to be confronted at some point and arcs out through the course of the season.”
The Season 8 premiere also brought back Kevin, introduced at the end of Season 7, in a big way. Noted Carver, “We’ll learn more about how he personally feels about being a prophet and being involved in this mission that the brothers are a part of – the personal cost it has for him. And to see how his willingness or desire to do the job, how that rubs off on the boys. They’re all playing off each other and inextricably linked here.”
We’re also about to meet Kevin’s mom and Carver explained, “Putting aside the question of trust for a second, you could say Ms. Tran does something sort of interesting and sort of fun and it gives the boys, in an odd way, a bit of a mother figure that they haven’t had I a long time. It’s a fun dynamic and it can be a rather moving dynamic at times, also. It also gives you a fourth wheel on the car that you have to deal with…”
When it came to recurring characters in Season 8, Carver and Singer were still tightlipped on what role Bobby might play, despite Jim Beaver being part of the Supernatural panel at San Diego Comic-Con this summer.
What could they say about who we’ll see this season? Said Carver, “We’ll be seeing a healthy dose of Kevin. Crowley is set up to be somewhat of the boy’s main agonist. There’s Benny, there’s Emilia. There are some new angels that we’re introducing. Amanda Tapping is playing a fairly mysterious angel named Naomi.”
As for the big, “What happened to Castiel?” question, “We’ll be telling that story pretty steadily through the first seven or eight episodes. By episodes seven, eight you’ll start to get a really good idea of what happened in Purgatory to Cas.”
The premiere set up a big new mission for Sam and Dean - to actually close the gates of hell, once and for all. But if they accomplished that, would that mean all their enemies would be vanquished? Clarified Carver, “There’s so many other monsters in this universe. In the Supernatural universe, you’re thinking ‘I’ve eliminated a big chunk’ – but certainly not all.
As for how big a story arc this is establishing, Singer noted, “Jeremy’s hell-bent on multiple seasons.” Carver said the actual quest to close the hellgate story was a season-long arc, but added, “The questions that come up in this quest and the series of reveals and the series of discoveries are meant to start giving us underpinnings for questions and secrets and things that will be explored in future seasons.”
As for whether closing the hellgate to demons coming in and out would also affect human souls, Carver revealed, “That’s something that will be clarified later on – or dealt with.”
Supernatural has a reputation for doing some rather unusual and noteworthy episodes. Looking ahead to some highlights this year, Carver said, “We’re doing one a little bit later that’s dealing with what happens when you find yourself living in a cartoon universe. That’s a lot of fun. It actually won’t be animated. It deals more with cartoon physics in the real world. We will be doing an episode that deals pretty heavily with the LARPing universe, different from the way we’ve dealt with in the past. Those are two really fun ones we have coming up.”
There is also a found footage episode, which Carver described as “pretty unlike any episode the show has ever done before. Said Singer, “You’re living in this found footage. The boys are bracketed on either side in the opening and at the very end, but for 95% you’re living in this found footage. [Sam and Dean] are in it, unknowingly. It’s crazy. It’s a really good episode. It’s very compelling and has some great guest stars.”
Carver said the setup was, “College kids dealing with a situation that goes pretty horribly awry” and that the episode was much more in line with “your Paranormal Activitys or your Blair Witch” than the Ghostfacers episodes. Added Signer, “Tonally, it’s a 180 degrees away from Ghostfacers.” As Carver noted this episode “ain’t for laughs.”
Carver also remarked, “I’m excited about episode five. We’re dealing with a good deal of flashbacks from Sam and from Dean. That’s a really meaty and emotional episode. It’s somewhat of a turning point for the boys, also.”
Supernatural airs Wednesdays at 9pm ET/PT on The CW.
Season two is finally coming to a close. For the past few months, teams from all over the world have battled each other to claim their ticket to the Season Two World Championships. The season has filtered these teams down to just twelve top teams from five different regions for the final struggle to put their mark on history as World Champions.
Here's how it will work, twelve teams will compete, four of those twelve teams (drawn via lottery from the five regional winners) will receive a bye and immediately enter the bracket stage. The remaining eight teams will be split into two groups and compete for the top two spots in each group. The top two teams in each group will move on to the bracket stage and battle it out in best of three matches for qualification into the grand finals. The top two finalists will clash in a best of five match on October 13th for the title of Season two Champion. The winner will receive a whopping $1,000,000 grand prize, as well as bragging rights as Champions.
This event is gearing up to be the most epic tournament yet. We have power houses such as Moscow Five (M5) and Team SoloMid (TSM), Veterans such as CLG Prime (Counter Logic Gaming Prime) and Dignitas, dark horses like Invictus Gaming and NaJin Sword, and the underdogs in the Saigon Jokers. This tournament has it all.
M5 is a dominating force with their near flawless track record, never leaving the podium in LAN events since their first exceptional appearance at IEM (Intel Extreme Masters) Kiev, setting new game metas with their oppressive game play. However, past dominance does not ensure future dominance, so it remains to be seen whether M5 will once again take control and run through the tournament, or if their road to the top will stop just shy of the crown.
TSM also has a power that cannot be denied. Time and time again, TSM has consistently proven their worth, establishing themselves as the number one team in North America. Being nearly undefeated (only loss to Azubu Blaze) in the NA circuit with their superb coordination and understanding of game mechanics place them squarely in the favorites box for this tournament.
CLG Prime, a team with one of the longest histories in League of Legends e-sports, have continuously secured their spot as one of the top North American teams. If the IPL 5 Qualifiers were any indication, it would seem that CLG Prime has adopted an extremely aggressive play style which we saw in their match against World Elite i-Rocks. However, WE. i-Rocks is a comparatively rookie team. We will have to see if this glimpse of a new play style will show itself in the World Championship and how it will fare against more seasoned teams. CLG Prime's willingness to change and better themselves could possibly be their shot to win.
World Championships 2012 Preview
Dignitas has a history that doesn't pale in comparison to CLG Prime. Even though the recent spotlight has fallen on the likes of TSM and M5, Dignitas has always shown their experience and maturity as a team in game, which they showed at PAX Prime, winning second place over CLG Prime. It would be foolhardy to ignore the threat Dignitas poses in their quest to be Champion.
SK Gaming, a european veteran , has had many switches and changes these past months, with many former members leaving in favor of other teams. With their new roster, they placed second at Regionals however, we will see if SK Gaming, led by Carlos "Ocelote" Rodríguez, will be able to ride that momentum in the tournament.
CLG.EU (Counter Logic Gaming. EU) quickly established themselves as a top European team. Their abilities can be best represented by their record against power house Moscow 5. CLG.EU is the only team to have beaten M5 with any sort of consistency. While M5 cast off CLG.EU's shadow by beating them at the European Challenger Circuit in Poland, it remains to be seen whether it was a fluke, or if M5 finally overcome the challenge set by their rivals CLG.EU.
While Asian teams have contended internationally in the past, the skills of these teams have been overshadowed by that of the North American and European teams. However, with ample time to better familiarize with the mechanics of the game, These Asian teams have started to emerge as true contenders on the global stage.
World Elite quickly made a name for themselves at IEM Guangzhou, placing first over CLG Prime and SK Gaming, first proving that Asian teams had the power to contend globally in League of Legends. They have securely established themselves as one of the top teams in Asia, but will that rank carry itself into the playoffs or will their skills fall off in the face of North American and European teams?
Invictus Gaming (iG) would prove to be a dark horse in this event. They showed themselves recently in the third North American Qualifiers for IPL 5 winning through all their games, beating CLG Prime and Mono.Ferus, only to lose to Meat Playground in the finals. Nonetheless, Invictus Gaming proved their worth by defeating top North American teams despite a ping disadvantage. It would seem that iG have qualified for events like IEM Kiev and IEM World Championship, however were unable to attend due to travel complications with their visas. It will be interesting to see if they can reproduce their success in the IPL5 qualifiers at the Season 2 Championships.
Azubu Frost, a quick rising team in Korea, the newest region to be added to the League of Legends community, has already made a name for themselves as one of the top Korean teams along with sister team Azubu Blaze (who gave TSM their only black mark in the NA circuit). We will see if Azubu Frost can exhibit the strength of Korean Gaming in League of Legends on the global stage despite their short history.
NaJin Sword shocked the world when they qualified for the Season 2 World Championships. Most assumed that the qualifying team would be Azubu Blaze alongside Azubu Frost. However, in an epic best of five match, NaJin Sword knocked Blaze out in the finals 3-2 becoming another dark horse in the playoffs. Led by top laner MakNoon, NaJin Sword have a record for borderline "insane" strategies with an extremely aggressive play style. Will their play style carry their team to victory? or will it be their downfall?
The Taipei Assassins (TPA) are a team that can contend with the top Asian teams, however, in the 2011 World Cyber Games (WCG), their only attendance in a global event, they were sent home early in the group stage. TPA have remained as a top team in Asia, contending with teams such as World Elite, and Singapore Sentinels. After winning their qualifier and earning a bye from the group stage, we will have to see if their strength as a consistent top Asian team is a tribute to an improvement to their skills, and how they fare against other globally recognized teams.
Another surprise coming to this event are the Saigon Jokers. They can be considered the underdogs of this tournament, however, their hard earned victory over the Singapore Sentinels after being sent to the losers bracket by them shows their persistence and dedication as contenders for the Championship. It will be pleasing to see an underdog story happen before my eyes should the Saigon Jokers be able to perform reoccurring upsets and take home the gold.
Just looking at the teams and their records, M5 and TSM are the clear favorites with a little more emphasis on M5. However, both these teams have NOT been proven to be unbeatable. It is up to the accumulated experience and familiarity with the game in each team to decide the victor. We have seen upsets before in NaJin Sword and Saigon Jokers; there is no reason for that same possibility to not exist. Of course the teams that earned byes have a bit of an advantage, however each team has their strengths which give them all an honest shot for the crown. I will thoroughly enjoy watching these twelve teams compete. Exhausting every advantage they have, whether it's newly formed strategies, already established play styles, or secretly learned champions on the road to become Season Two champions.
Here at IGN TV, we were psyched to hear that Lucy Lawless would be appearing on Parks and Recreation this season, in a recurring role as a new love interest for none other than Ron Swanson, played by Nick Offerman. And when I spoke to Lawless on the set of the series recently, where she was filming her second episode, she quickly made it clear she shared that excitement. Even before we began our interview, she was telling me just how great a set it was and how happy she was to be working on such a funny show.
Sitting on the recently built Washington, D.C. sets (for Ben and April's new jobs this season), we went on to discuss what makes her character, Diane -- who makes her debut this week -- the kind of woman Ron would be interested in, why Parks and Rec is so great and a bit about the end of Spartacus.
IGN TV: So you’d seen a lot of the show beforehand?
Lucy Lawless: Oh yeah, I’ve seen everything. I think they thought I was kidding, but I’ve really seen everything. I’m an enormous fan.
IGN: So that was an easy yes.
Lawless: I’m a P-and-R aficionado, actually.
IGN: Nice, so you can share factoids with the best of them?
Lawless: I think so. Actually, Nick said something yesterday, and I knew it wasn’t right -- I had to think about it for a minute. He was saying who knew about Duke Silver, his secret identity, but he forgot that Mark knew, because Mark was the one who told Tom.
IGN: So what is it like playing a love interest to Duke Silver himself?
Lawless: Very exciting -- well, I don’t know he’s Duke Silver yet. I’m not sure if and when that’s going to come up… But it is! This is a very rare thing in television, especially in half-hour where you’re not accustomed to seeing the characters grow and change. But Leslie’s gone off to Washington -- this is so shocking to me, I’ve never actually seen this set!
IGN: Yeah, I guess no one had, except for the people shooting here. Aziz came over here today and said he hadn’t seen it either.
Lawless: Yeah, and Ben is off doing his thing, and yet the show remains intact in terms of its storylines and everything. It’s as rewarding as ever. I’m just so lucky to have been invited to join. Oh my God, and I met Rob Lowe today! Now there’s somebody with a bloody magnificent oeuvre, you know, and charming with that. Accomplished guy, seen a lot of Hollywood, and he’s still as delightful as anybody else on this set.
IGN: How would you describe your character? Because it takes a special kind of woman to be a love interest to Ron Swanson, I’d say.
Lawless: Yeah, well she is, in Ron’s words, a sharp, capable woman. At some point, he runs afoul of her, and basically she threatens to feed him his own mustache. I’m not sure how that’s done, but I love the sound of it! So we’ll see if that scares him off.
IGN: Well, he certainly likes strong women, so I’m guessing it might not scare him off. I’m guessing he might be very intrigued.
Lawless: Yeah, but I don’t think she’s another Tammy, which was extremely exciting to me. They have something different in mind. Again, it’s that evolution. They’re allowing him to have something he’s never had before, which is a real grownup relationship. I’m dying to see whether he ever gets to wear the red shirt! I don’t know if we’ve slept together or not, and the sexual tension’s palpable.
IGN: As a fan -- especially since Ron Swanson is such an iconic character at this point -- what’s it like playing off Nick?
Lawless: I had the giggles at first because it’s Ron Swanson, you know? There was one point in the first episode where I had to laugh derisively at him, out of nowhere, and I was having real trouble getting to that point. I’m not used to faking emotions anymore. It’s a different kind of acting that’s required in comedy. You’ve got to keep it light. Anyway, so I would get Nick to do that little dance - Amy Poehler actually wrote that episode, where she gave them all little bits, and they were all wasted. I’d get him to do that dance, like a monkey for me. He just dazzles me. He’s too funny.
Continue to Page 2 to see what Lawless had to say about how Andy is involved in her storyline, the opportunity to do comedy and her thoughts on the upcoming end of Spartacus.
With Supernatural: Season 8 kicking off this Wednesday night at 9pm, we recently caught up with stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki on the Vancouver set of the series, find out where Sam and Dean are headed this year.
Both Winchester brothers have been trapped in far off hell-mensions before, but in the Season 7 finale we saw Dean actually land down in an unfamiliar place to the show - Purgatory. So how will this season be different, as far as the "separated brothers" storyline goes? Well, for one thing, the year down in Purgatory has turned Dean into a "hardened warrior." Because in Purgatory, it's all monsters. And the hunter became the hunted.
"We find that Dean has gotten out, and the time that he spent there [Purgatory] and what happened there has changed his outlook, and his perspective on things," Ackles revealed. "These guys [the brothers] are always kind of at war, with the evils of the world, but he got a heavy, heavy dose of it down there, because he's surrounded by the things that he kills when he's topside. It was almost a concentrated version of what he's used to. He's come back a hardened warrior, and ready to use those sharpened skills in the real world. So he's a solider that just got back from war. It's going to take him a little while to adjust to the lack of threat, and the lack of combat."
Sam and Dean, from the Season 8 premiere.
"It's almost like The Hurt Locker, when Jeremy Renner's character comes back from war and he's sitting there looking at a cereal box aisle, and it's just so foreign to him," Ackles continued. "But what isn't foreign is being on the ground, fighting. I think Dean is feeling a sense of that. It's a year that he spent down in Purgatory, so he was down there for a whole year doing this. Fighting and battling non-stop, covered in blood, covered in mud, covered in dirt for twelve months."
Meanwhile, Sam, with no idea where Dean or Castiel went, and without Bobby or any contacts to the Hunter world, has been living a very different life. "[Sam's] going to take off the hunter garb and just live a normal life, because I have nothing to tie me back," Padalecki remarked. "There’s no Jo, there’s no Harvelle’s Roadhouse, there’s nothing. There’s absolutely nothing holding Sam back from a normal life so he really commits to it and so when it all comes crashing back down, it’s like a brutal reminder yet again of who he kind of has been and is possibly meant to be."
"I think Sam in this season is different than Sam in other seasons where Dean was either in hell or where Sam was in hell," Padalecki added. "Usually when they’ve been split up, there’s been sort of the impetus of like, 'My brother’s in trouble, I’ve got to save him. I’ve got to help him. He’s going to help me and he’s going to save me.'" Part of the normal life that Sam pursues in Dean's absence is a relationship - his first meaningful one since Jessica back in the pilot episode - with a girl named Amelia. And even though the relationship is apparently over and done with by the time the Season 8 premiere takes place, Sam is still left hesitant to return to his old life with Dean. "Sam is kind of the adult in this reconciliation," Padalecki said. "He’s like, 'Look I found my own thing. I love you. You’re my brother and I’m so happy you’re back and I’m going to help you now but I want out. I want out. I love you. It’s great. I’m grateful that you’ve saved my life many times and vice versa. No hard feelings.'"
Padalecki then added, "And so Sam is kind of at a place where he wants to move onto something different, and I think Dean resents Sam more because Sam was living a good Christian life down in Kermit, Texas with a girl that he fell in love with and Dean was fighting for his life." Jensen Ackles also expanded on this notion, stating that the brothers have been worlds apart, in many ways. "It's going to take a little bit of time to warm up to the relationship that [Dean] has with Sam," Ackles said. "There's also what Sam did for the past year, which compacts the odd element that these two brothers have not only spent time apart — it's what they were doing. Dean was in this concentrated war zone, and Sam was literally just the opposite. So really, these two brothers have really been living two different lives this past year, and now they're having to come back together and pick up where they left up. It poses a bit of a problem."
More from the Season 8 premiere.
Added into the mix, causing more problems, is a new, mysterious character named Benny (played by Ty Olsson), who Dean bonds with down in Purgatory. "I'm really excited about that relationship, just on a personal level," Ackles smiled. "It's not only introducing a new character who I think is really cool, and I don't know if you guys have had a chance to talk to or see any of Ty Olsson's stuff, but he's a really fantastic actor. He and I clicked right off the bat, and the character is I think a really great kind of contemporary for Dean. It's a foxhole relationship in a sense. He's been at war with this guy. Benny really earned his stripes with Dean. He earned his trust, which is really difficult not only for Dean to understand, but even more difficult for Sam to understand when Dean comes back."
So with the Winchester brothers now more estranged than ever, what does that mean for the further adventures of Sam and Dean? "I think the way [Sam's] going to specifically react to Dean is just try to help him out in the task at hand and hopefully then do his own thing again," Padalecki stated. "He’s not going to leave him hanging and say 'Nope, I’m not having this. Have fun.' He’s going to say 'Okay, I get it. I do owe you this as you certainly have done for me a lot more than anybody else has. You’ve earned this and so I’ll help.' And we also both believe that we’re onto something that will end our hunting careers forever, so Sam’s like 'You know what? Perfect. Because I know what it’s like to not have an anchor into the hunting aspect of life - so I would love to actually not have a need for that hunting aspect of life and if this can solve that, then I’m in.'"
Supernatural's Season 8 kicks things off with "We Need to Talk About Kevin," on Wednesday, October 3rd, at 9pm.
Travel accommodations to Vancouver provided by Warner Bros.
