The Winchester brothers are back in tonight's Supernatural premiere.

"I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" will kick off season 9 by picking up where last spring's "Sacrifice" left off. When the episode opens, the angels have fallen, Castiel (Misha Collins) has lost his grace, Crowley (Mark Sheppard) is in a half cured state, Abaddon (Alaina Huffman) is on the loose, and Sam (Jared Padalecki) is dying despite his decision to stop the trials.

As Dean (Jensen Ackles) works to pick up the pieces, here's what viewers need to know about the Supernatural world as the new season begins.

The Winchesters

While Dean watched the angels fall, Sammy was falling dangerously ill. As the premiere begins, Sam will be unconscious in the hospital while Dean desperately tries a way to save him. When Dean finally does find a way to cure his little brother, he will keep the truth of the recovery a secret.

"Dean is continuing to lie to Sam, and he's hating it every step of the way," Padalecki said as he warned fans that his character will be going through multiple changes during the season, according to TV Line. And Sam can't really tell. Sam's like, 'OK, I remember our conversation about teamwork, so I'm going to take you at your word.' But when Sam finds out, s--t's going to hit the fan."

The elder Winchester brother will be calling on angels for help (see a clip from the premiere below), and it appears Ezekiel (Tahmoh Penikett) will be the one to respond. With the angel's help, Dean will travel into his brother's mind where it appears they will encounter the previously deceased Bobby (Jim Beaver) while also having a run in with Death (Julian Richings).

Castiel

Devoid of his grace, Cas is in an even worse position than his fellow fallen angels when season 9 begins. Now in a completely human state, Castiel must deal with newfound humanity while trying to avoid those of his brothers who blame him for the fall.

"We find him in the woods as a human [when the episode starts]," Collins said, according to TV Guide's Comic-Con Special. "We haven't seen Cas deal with mortality or a complete loss of powers like we are planning to do."

However, Cas will not be completely aware of what has happened to him.

"Cas isn't a dramatically different personality when we first see him at the beginning of season 9," Collins told the Examiner. "He's still Castiel. In fact, he doesn't even initially know that he's powerless or that he's human, so he's gradually experiencing that humanness and sort of folding it into his personality."

Down the line the former angel will discover romance.

Fallen Angels

Now that the entirety of heaven's host is suddenly roaming the earth, things will be rather disorderly. Although the angels still have their powers, their ability to teleport will be gone due to their missing wings.

"With angels on earth, it's not one unified body, we've got lots of angels out there with lots of agendas, many are feeling lost and scared and vengeful, it's lending itself to some very exciting and wonderful character moments for all of our characters to be dealing with," said executive producer Jeremy Carver, according to the Examiner. "A world of fallen angels is a dirty, bloody, scary and in some ways very human world, and we're really, really excited to explore that."

"I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" will introduce two new angels, according to Spoiler TV. There will be Ezekiel, who may be a recurring character, and the female Hael.

Crowley

The King of Hell went through a dramatic change while Sam attempted to cure him. Although the task was never completed, Sheppard says that his character will be profoundly affected by the event.

"I wouldn't say he's cured, the situation was never finished," Sheppard said at Comic-Con, according to MTV. "I'm pretty certain, I'm very certain, that it has had a profound effect on him, and it's not exactly going to be the easiest thing for him to shrug off."

Crowley's situation isn't alleviated at all by the Winchester's current control of him or by Abaddon's return.

Supernatural returns to the CW tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

 

Tags: supernatural the cw television