UPDATE: ‘Supernatural’ season 12 spoilers: Castiel-centric episode coming up, Winchester ally to betray brothers

“Supernatural” season 12 will have a Castiel-centric episode. Incoming showrunner Andrew has revealed that the show’s resident angel, Castiel (played by Misha Collins), will have an episode all about him.

It’s been a long time since Castiel has had an episode just about himself. The last time was in season 6 episode “The Man Who Would be King,” which was told from Castiel’s perspective. In the episode, Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) found out that their angel friend was in cahoots with Crowley (Mark Sheppard). Castiel explained the events leading to his unlikely partnership with the king of hell, asking the viewers what they would have done if they were in his place.

However, after season 6, Collins had been relegated to a guest star, and Castiel’s appearances had become fewer. Even when Collins returned as a regular cast in season 9, Castiel didn’t appear in as many episodes as his fans would have liked. As some critics have noted as well, he was treated as an expendable character.

That would change in season 12, according to Dabb. According to the long-time writer, the show will be a bit more personal.

“It’s about telling smaller stories that impact more of our characters,” Dabb told EW. “For example, this year, especially toward the middle of the season, we’re using Castiel in stand-alone episode in a way that he hasn’t been used in a long time.”

He added, “That’s very heavily about Castiel and the journey he’s been on, some things from his past that we’re not aware of are getting brought to light.”

Update: In a separate article, EW revealed that there are multiple bad guys in this season, and one of them is someone Sam and Dean trust.

“It’s less Sam and Dean having to go up against one enemy and it’s more Sam and Dean, especially as the season progresses, feeling they’re surrounded by enemies, some of whom may be people they have viewed as allies up until this point,” Dabb told the publication.

If there’s one lesson that fans have learnt in the previous seasons, it’s that a supporting character is given more airtime as usual if that character would either die or turn to the other side. In Castiel’s case, he was given one whole episode to air out his thoughts and motives before he was revealed to be the bad guy of the season. And as Castiel is given another episode about himself in season 12, Castiel fans are justifiably worried that one of the allies who would turn out to be enemies would be the lovably naïve angel.

Padalecki previously said that he would want more scenes with Sam and Castiel together. There have been a lot of Dean and Castiel scenes, but not a lot of Sam and Castiel. Padalecki said he would love to explore Sam and Castiel’s brotherly relationship in season 12.

Read: ‘Supernatural’ season 12 spoilers: Jensen Ackles won’t direct an episode, Jared Padalecki wants more Sam-Castiel scenes

It seems the fallen angel’s relationship with other characters would be explored as well. At the San Diego Comic Con 2016 in July, Dabb said Castiel would have a “very specific response” to Mary Winchester (Sam Smith), Sam and Dean’s newly resurrected mother. Collins added that there would be “interesting little dynamic” between Mary and Castiel because they are both considered outsiders.

Read: ‘Supernatural’ season 12 spoilers: SDCC reveals Rick Springfield as the new Lucifer; Mary Winchester’s special bond with Castiel

“Supernatural” season 12 will be back on Oct. 13 on The CW in the US. The Australian airdate is yet to be announced.

Read more:
‘Supernatural’ season 12 spoilers: Mark Sheppard on Crowley’s fate, bromance with Dean
‘Supernatural’ season 12 spoilers: Mary Winchester’s big secret