'Supernatural' writer talks season four

Did they really do that? In a last-minute twist to Supernatural's season finale - shown last night on ITV2 - Dean was finally sent to Hell, losing a year-long battle to save his soul. But what does this mean for season four? Is Dean confined to Hell for good? We put in a call to Sera Gamble, one of the show's top scribes, to find out more.

Those final few seconds of the season... what was that all about?
"We'd been saying we were going to do that all season long, so I feel like we had to go there. Anything less than that would have been a cop-out, because we'd been saying there was no way to break that contract. There was a big discussion of what that moment would look like, but there was never any doubt in our minds to stick him down there and have him suffer all summer long and into next year."

It's quite a big thing for Supernatural to actually show the audience Hell, having only talked about it in the past.
"In my mind, that isn't even necessarily Hell itself. It's the starting place. I like to think of Dean as sitting in the chair in the waiting room to Hell. It's not even what he's going to experience once he gets into the first chamber of Hell. That's just where they stick you before they hand you the sign-in sheet. There's much, much worse to come for him!"

Where are you at with production of season four?
"We are working on the first batch of episodes, which is episodes one through seven. Eric Kripke (creator) and Bob Singer (executive producer) are off casting some of our roles right now. I'm writing episode two, and we start shooting this week."

What's your episode about?
"It's very hard to talk about, but I will say there are very, very angry, malevolent ghosts in my episode. There are also familiar faces that I think fans will be happy to see again. When I was figuring out how the story was going to run, and which guest stars might be fun to bring back, I kept my fingers crossed. I knew it would be hard to get them because they are very talented and hard-working actors who are busy, so we're lucky."

Could Jeffrey Dean Morgan (John Winchester) ever rejoin the cast?
"We would love to have him back, but he's really busy. He's turned into a huge star over here! We got to use his voice for an episode at the end of last season, so there's always a chance. We would love to bring back the character if our schedules ever lined up, but I don't think anyone should hold their breath because he's in the midst of a huge movie right now."

In general, how does season four tally with the first three?
"I haven't been quite as excited about a mythology for a season as I am about this season. Either I'm on crack or this is the coolest mythology we've done in a long time! I'm really excited to see what the fan reaction is when these episodes air and we start to reveal what we have in mind."

How did the writers' strike affect your storytelling last season? You were six episodes short in the end.
"While we were waiting to hear when and if we would be shut down, we kept coming up with story ideas and thinking of ways to tell that story in different sizes. When we got back [from the strike], it was a question of 'what is the most important story to tell?' We had one story that was clearly the most important: that Dean has made a deal with the demon and has one year left to live. There are some others that we'll be paying off in season four - such as why Sam and Dean's mum's friends all got killed - and some others that kind of fell by the wayside."

How long do you think the show can run for?
"I've no inside knowledge of whether we'll be picked up for another season, but the thing about our show is that there's a built-in structure that works and will keep working for 150 episodes or more. As for the Winchester family and their issues with the demons, I have no idea what that story would be about in season seven or eight, but I have faith in the writing staff and Eric. I actually don't worry about it. Supernatural is one of those shows that could go on for a really long time."

The new season of Supernatural airs from September on The CW in the US and in January 2009 on ITV2 in the UK.

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