Supernatural‘s tenth season is only days away. Prepare yourself for the new season with our refresher on where we left off.
Supernatural season 9 was filled with twists and turns and left off with a shocking, game-changing finale. So where have we left our intrepid cast?
Heaven
Heaven has been in disarray since the aborted apocalypse of season 5 and the subsequent civil war that has raged among various camps of angels since. Into the power vacuum came Metatron, the scribe of God. He stole Castiel’s grace and locked all of the angels out of Heaven at the end of season 8. Season 9 saw different factions of angels arise on Earth.
Metatron, with the angel Gadreel at this side, cast Castiel as the villain in the story he was writing, setting himself up as the new God. At the end of the season, however, Castiel revealed Metatron’s duplicitous nature to the other angels. With Gadreel dead, Metatron locked up, and Castiel’s stolen grace fading, the angelic factions remain confused and leaderless.
Hell
Like Heaven, Hell has had its own power vacuum since Lucifer was locked back up in his cage. Crowley rose into power, but with his capture at the hands of the Winchesters, Knight of Hell Abaddon stepped up and gained her own band of followers in her quest displace Crowley and become queen.
Much of season 9 featured the two factions of Hell facing off. Abaddon even went so far as to bring Crowley’s human son to the present time as a bargaining chip. Crowley managed to save his son’s life — thanks to the lingering humanity from the human blood he was drinking — while Dean killed Abaddon with the First Blade, the only weapon capable of killing a Knight of Hell.
Winchesters
Of course, the ability to slay a Knight of Hell doesn’t come cheap. Dean was forced to take on the Mark of Cain from Cain himself to use the First Blade. The Blade had the unfortunate side effect of pushing Dean darker and darker. Crowley’s support for Dean’s increasing bloodlust did not help matters.
Meanwhile, Sam spent the first half of season 9 possessed by Gadreel in order to heal his body from the demon trials of season 8. After Gadreel was ejected from his body, Sam was furious with his brother for disregarding his wishes — he would have rather died. With the brothers’ relationship fracturing under the weight of angels, demons, and betrayal, things looked bleak going into the final showdown with Metatron.
Demon Dean
Dean, armed with the First Blade, faced Metatron in the season 9 finale. However, Metatron had the strength advantage and fatally stabbed Dean while Sam watched on in horror.
In the final moments of the season finale, Sam attempted to summon Crowley to make things right. Crowley, though, ignored the summons and facilitated a shocking resurrection.
The Mark of Cain, it turns out, has a side effect: it does not let go of its host, even to death. The season closed with Dean opening his eyes…
The black eyes of a demon.
Supernatural season 10 premieres Tuesday, October 7 at 9:00 p.m. ET on The CW.