Supernatural ended 2016 on a cliffhanger for the Winchester brothers. The Season 12 midseason finale finally gave them a win over Lucifer, but it also saw them arrested by the Secret Service for trying to assassinate the President. Their plan to eject Lucifer from the President worked; it just ended with an arrest for both boys, and fans have wondered ever since just what is next for them. CinemaBlend was recently able to speak with Supernatural executive producer Andrew Dabb, and he told me this about how long Sam and Dean will be locked away before the action picks up in the midseason premiere:
Between Episodes 8 and 9, it's about six weeks. They'll be away for about six weeks.
The boys have ended up locked away and imprisoned plenty of times in the past, with one or both of them stuck everywhere from an Arkansas prison to Purgatory. They've always managed to escape, and often within the span of a few days in a given episode. According to Andrew Dabb, a couple of months will have passed with the boys in the clink before we get to see them again. Federal lockup apparently isn't the easiest place to escape from in one piece.
There are plenty of reasons why they might take a long time to either be released or bust themselves out. The biggest is simply that they've never been arrested by the Secret Service for trying to assassinate the President before. The feds are bound to keep a closer eye on two purported assassins than the random local cops do whenever they manage to catch a Winchester. Another possible reason is that the boys might not have been able to work out a way to escape together just yet. If we've learned anything from the last eleven and a half years of Supernatural, it's that the Winchester brothers are a little bit too dependent on each other for one to abandon the other in a tough situation. Who knows? Maybe Sam and Dean are just waiting for Castiel and Mary to find a way to get them out, and their angel pal and mom just haven't figured anything out yet.
Of course, they also may not feel the need to escape ASAP. Their plan to send Lucifer back to Hell worked, so he's not exactly wreaking havoc on the outside while they spend their time in the custody of the feds. They don't need to get free in order to deal with the Devil. Besides, they won't have an easy time avoiding re-capture if they escape as assassins who tried to take out the President of the United States. Every law enforcement official in the country would be on the lookout for them, and they would probably have a hard time saving people and hunting things as federal fugitives.
We can bet that Sam and Dean will be more than a little frustrated by the time we see them after six weeks of imprisonment. It should be interesting to see if and how they're keeping cool in their current situation. The show has already been renewed for Season 13, so we're in for plenty more adventures from the Winchester boys once they finally make it out of their current situation. Luckily, we'll see for ourselves very soon. The Supernatural midseason premiere will hit the airwaves tonight at 8 p.m ET on The CW. Take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule to see when your other favorite shows debut in the coming weeks.
