Supernatural is entering its ninth season with two benched players.

Following the events of last spring's "Sacrifice," both Sam (Jared Padalecki) and the King of Hell (Mark Sheppard) are not quite themselves. Since Sam didn't complete the third trial to close the gates of Hell, the younger Winchester brother has fallen quite ill while Crowley remained only half cured.

"We left Crowley in a very different sate than he is used to being in," Sheppard told Fear Net at Comic-Con. "While Sam did not necessarily complete the cure...one would not assume that he has the same dilemma as say, Castiel, you can be pretty much assured that the experience that Crowley had in that church has had a profound effect on him of some sort. Whether he likes it or not or whether he's going to admit it or not."

As for Sam, when he gave up his mission - a task he felt was purifying him and atoning for his past mistakes - what ever energy had been building up inside him took a turn for the worse. The upside, Dean (Jensen Ackles) will do something to make his little brother better. The downside, he'll choose to keep it a secret from Sam.

"When I got the outlines for the scripts this year, I got chills," Padalecki said of his excitement regarding Sam's development, according to Fear Net. "It's the kind of stuff I love, where we get to see a side of Sam that we've never, ever seen. In a 176 episodes, we've never seen this happen."

Considering viewers have seen Soulless Sam, Demon Sam, Lucifer Sam, Demon Blood-Drinking Sam, and Sam with a cracked wall in his mind, it's hard to imagine just what side of the character we have yet to see.

Find out when Supernatural returns to the CW on Oct. 8.

Tags: supernatural