Jared Padalecki has given a recent interview in which he previews what we can expect in the second half of Supernatural‘s seventh season, as well as how he and Jensen Ackles feel about their fans! Mind the spoilers.

In the Zap2It interview, Jared talks about a storyline involving Sam’s (inevitable) breakdown:

It’s been built up for over a season, ever since Death said ‘I can put a wall up, but he’s been to hell.’ There’s a point, for the audience, where if a character can get past any obstacle and can always find a loophole, it becomes kind of cheesy. The fact that I was in a cage with Lucifer, we don’t want to make light of it. We don’t want to go ‘Oh, Sam’s doing meditation, so he’s okay now! He’s worked it out through yoga!’ We want to crack him and have him go full-blown nuts. So, yes. In an upcoming episode, he does go bat-a** crazy.

Misha Collins’ return as Castiel will coincide with this:

His first episode is the one where Sam goes crazy. We’re so stoked to have him come back. For Dean, it’s a double edged sword. He’s been really hurt by what Cas did. Sam and Castiel were never close; Cas always had a bone to pick with Sam because of the Ruby thing, which is understandable, the whole apocalypse thing. [But] I think with Dean, it’s really hard for him to deal with Castiel’s betrayal. We’ve seen Sam wrestle with visions of Lucifer, and now it’s Dean’s turn to have that kind of a story. We’ll see Dean struggle to wrap his head around the Castiel issue. He’s like, ‘How do we forgive this guy? How do we trust him? That’s how we got hurt; that’s how we got burned.’ Dean’s once bitten, twice shy. We’ll see him wrestle with some of his own demons.

Jared also has some nice things to say about the fans he and Jensen meet at conventions:

We relate to the fans. Jensen and I are pretty casual guys, we’re pretty laid back, we’re Texas boys. He and I are just like ‘People are people!’ Not to say that people on other shows don’t know that, but I’ve been to conventions where there are people from other TV shows where there’s a distinct air of ‘I am the actor, and you are the fan, and I will use the royal ‘we’ when I address you.’ And it’s just like, f*** you, who do you think you are? These situations could be switched. Jensen and I get that. We know what it’s like to be a fan. […] The fans are integral to our show. We’ve made episodes for them — not just episodes with them in mind, but episodes about them. I can’t imagine any other TV show ever being able to get away with that.

Read the full interview at Zap2It!