At San Diego Comic-Con, I had a chance to speak with the incredible Jim Beaver about his role as Bobby Singer on Supernatural. You can check out the video from the press room roundtable interview below. Beaver was rocking a Deadwood hat, which made me only love him more. Don’t read any further if you’re not caught up on season 7 of Supernatural.
With the tragic death of Bobby, and his later return as a ghost, season 7 was an intense season for the Winchester’s surrogate father. After the finale, I was a bit surprised to see Beaver at Comic-Con promoting the upcoming season. What was the significance of him being there? Would they really drag him down there for a show that he’s no longer on? Does he know how he might be introduced, if he’s re-introduced? Beaver: “I know that anything’s possible. We are so at the outer edges of what I can say, and you know, what a thrill.” He joked that he keeps sucking up to the powers that be. “Put it this way: I’ll be surprised if you’ve seen the last of Bobby.” Excellent.
How challenging is it to keep these kinds of things secret? Beaver actually had a lot of fun keeping the secret that Bobby was returning as a ghost. “I had a lot of fun because I went on Twitter and I lied to the universe and told them all about this great movie I was making that I wasn’t actually making. Posting photos I found on Google images of film crews in the snow. I was delighted to find that there were some people who were actually disappointed that I wasn’t actually making a movie about the abominable snow man.” Keeping the secret for several months that Bobby was going to get killed in the first place was tough, but it was harder on Deadwood because he had 6 months of silence there.
How much does he know, going into this season? “If I tell you how much I know, it will tell you a little bit about what I know. But uh, put it this way: on a TV show the hierarchy is often established or symbolized by your number on the call sheet. I mean, Jared and Jensen are 1 and 2, and considering how long I’ve been on the show, I’m number 3. Number 3 on a call sheet is often the last to find out. And let’s just say that this situation is not inconsistent with that.”
Regarding the powerful exit in “Death’s Door,” how did Beaver feel about coming back as a ghost and how that would affect the death episode’s emotional impact? “I was concerned about that because dramatically it was absolutely great the way they resolved it. Bobby got the Viking funeral and it was great. As far as my employment goes, I was very happy to come back as a ghost. And I think if they hadn’t brought Bobby back with a real dilemma—if they had just brought him back and said ‘Oh, he’s back!’—that might have really cheapened what we did in ‘Death’s Door.’ I think the fact that they brought him back and created a real strong dilemma for … because when someone you care about dies, everybody wants him back. But sometimes there are questions about is that the right thing, you know. So, I’m sure even in real life that question sometimes arises.” Well said.
How did Beaver feel about Bobby going vengeful so quickly? “Well, you know, we were running up on the end of the season …” Was it fun for him to play that aspect? “It was fun. It was a lot more fun than just kind of standing in a corner watching Sam and Dean do stuff. Yeah, it … I don’t know. It felt a little rushed to me, but not impossibly … not ruinously so. I just thought, oh, it would have been nice to build this over 10 episodes instead of over 4 or 5.” I can’t say that I disagree. Regardless of the pacing, however, it did allow for some great emotional moments. I’m very curious to see if and how the powers that be paint Bobby back onto the canvas. You can check out the video of the interview below.
Photo and Video by Lucia Giusti, Copyright © 2012 TheTelevixen.com
Lucia is a Ph.D. Candidate in History, living in southern California. When she’s not reading about imperial women in ancient Rome, she’s probably watching television. Or writing about television on her blog, 
