Jared Padalecki teases what fans can expect from Sam Winchester in Supernatural season 10.

Supernatural‘s ninth season ended with Dean dying in his brother’s arms, only to be resurrected as a demon. With Dean and Crowley off doing demon things, Sam will be left to pick up the pieces.

The hunt for Dean

Season 10 begins “a couple of months after the finale,” Padalecki tells TV Fanatic. “Sam went back to the room and Dean, his dead brother who was in the room in a locked bunker, was gone. Since Sam didn’t see the episode, he didn’t realize that Crowley took him.”

The result is “the Sam I love, which is the Sam on the hunt to find his brother,” Padalecki says.

The brothers will “be apart for more than a few episodes,” he adds. And because of the time jump, we should expect flashbacks. No matter when the brothers finally reunite, “I think we’ll still see bits and pieces of what happened to Dean and what happened to Sam.”

Flying solo

And Sam will be going at his search for his brother alone. “He’s sort of a lone wolf,” Padalecki teases. “Let’s put it this way, he doesn’t have anybody to be his crutch so he’s sort of leaning on everybody.

“He’s asking help from Cas, though Cas is a wounded angel. He asks for help from other hunters who we don’t know really well yet but I imagine we’ll come to know. He’s reaching out to the men of letters bunker library. He’s reaching out all over the place, but he’s unfortunately running into a lot of dead ends.”

Saving Dean

The end of season 8 — with the third trial of curing a demon — will “come into play,” Padalecki previews. “Dean’s a demon and demonless Dean is dead Dean. So Sam has to find out, ‘If I expel the demon am I just re-killing my brother? Am I back to where I was?'”

On the other hand, “he doesn’t want his brother to remain a demon so he has to rely on some things where he’s already been with Crowley and he also has to try to find some new stuff as well,” meaning “Sam is going to rely on his experience but also search for a different method because obviously that’s not going to cut it.”

Sam vs. Crowley

As for Crowley, he and Sam will be in touch “much to Sam’s chagrin,” Padalecki says. “Sam is made aware of how Dean got away and what he assumes Crowley did and why.” And “once he knows he’s furious.”

Padalecki adds, “Crowley is shit list number one, so to speak.”

Supernatural season 10 premieres Tuesday, October 7 at 9:00 p.m. ET on The CW.