Misha Collins plays the angel Castiel on the hit show Supernatural. And Castiel isn't your run of the mill, harps and flowing robes sort of angel. Supernatural's higher beings kick some serious butt. Castiel has dragged Dean (Jensen Ackles) out of hell, has no problem killing innocents for the greater good and according to Collins, has a pretty good tolerance for booze. I got to chat with Collins about what's coming up in the next few episodes, whether Castiel is still a virgin and his many minions on Twitter.
OK, I have to jump right into the upcoming episode “Changing Channels,” because I hear we are in fantasy TV land.
Yes!
So what can you tell me about the episode?
You know what? It looked like the most fun episode that I've seen from a director's or cinematographer's standpoint. The show is jumping back and forth between parodies of genres of television. There's sitcoms, there's CSI Miami, if that is a genre, which I think it may now be.
I think it is. [laughs]
I think it's amazing, actually. It's quite an achievement to have a television program that's achieved its own genre. But yeah, it just looked like so much fun to make from that vantage point, and it was a lot of fun to do. But totally and completely different from any other episode of Supernatural that I've seen.
I hear there is something very dangerous about this TV universe. Can you reveal anything about that? I believe you're warning them to get out?
Get out of the TV universe? Well, isn't that always sage advice for anyone? [laughs] Yeah, things are no...I don't know what I can say...things are not what they seem.
Well, I also hear that you have a big face off with Lucifer (Mark Pelligreno) in “Abandon All Hope” which is kind of huge! Anything you can tell us about that?
Well, as with the Devil's trap, which is used to trap demons, there is, actually, as we've discovered on the show, Angel trapping technology, that I introduced to the show. It's a ring of holy fire. And Lucifer ends up using my own tricks against me and interrogates me, in a way. Basically, Lucifer tries to persuade me to join his ranks as a fellow Fallen. A fellow rebellious angel. It's quite a face off. And it was great to work with...it was one of my first scenes shot with Mark Pelligreno. It was great fun to work with him. He and I did a movie, an independent movie about ten years ago, and we haven't worked together since. It was a lot of fun.
I hear there might be a little angel drinking going on...
Yeah. Yup. It's really such a treat to unravel all of Castiel's various talents. And another one is he seems to be damn good at drinking games. Possibly totally oblivious to the effects of alcohol.
[laughs] Do you have a favorite angel drinking game?
Um, well, no. I don't. Right now I cannot think of a single drinking game. What is it? Beer pong?
There's also Quarters...
Oh Quarters. [laughs] Jenna, I don't know drinking games, I'm afraid to say. There's a hole in my knowledge.
Oh, I think that's OK.
Thank you for that.
How deep into the mythology do you get? I know we've talked about this before, but it's getting really hardcore this season.
Yeah, it is. It's really getting very Biblical this year. And I love it. That's my favorite part of the show...is when they really delve deep into the mythology. They handle it pretty well.
Last time I talked to you, you joked about the “homoerotic tension” between you and Dean. So will we see a very special “Love Comes to Castiel” episode?
“Love Comes to Castiel”? I don't know! I haven't seen that script yet. But it's got to happen in some...it seems like it's too juicy material to pass up. At some point...we've taken him to the whore house and now it would be nice to do something a little more sentimental and sweet somewhere along the line. That script hasn't to my knowledge been written yet.
That was actually based on a question from one of my Twitter followers. They wanted to know about Castiel and angel virginity.
Well, I think it is fair to say that at this juncture, Castiel is still a virgin. I'm willing to go that far. Yeah. Yup. There you have it. It's not something that a thirty-five-year-old likes to admit. But there it is. Actually, he's not a thirty-five-year-old. He's a thirty-five-hundred-year-old. A thirty-five-hundred-year-old virgin.
That's so sad!
Pretty pathetic. He's got no game.
You'd think, with the wings and all...
I know! With all of his powers and the ability to read people's minds and whatnot, you'd think he'd be able to manipulate his way into the sack, but no. He just doesn't know what he's doing.
Well, since I'm relaying questions from Twitter, more than one of them asked about the possibility of you getting a spinoff.
Well that's a great idea. Are any of them television producers?
Not sure...I'm sure they'd write letters though!
[laughs] That would be fun! But Supernatural is fun too. Not sure what I was trying to do right there. Some sort of political...but yes, of course I would love to have my own show! Get rid of Sam and Dean! I'll go out on my own! [laughs] I don't know. I have no idea about that sort of stuff.
How is it shooting in Vancouver?
It's great. It's great. If you like rain, you should move to Vancouver. It's given me a newfound appreciation for the great indoors. It's actually really a nice change of pace from LA. Everything is verdant and lush and there's cold weather and all that, so I'm actually enjoying it. I'm enjoying the change quite a bit.
Where would you like to see your character go in the future?
You know, the more human, the better. I would love to see him really come down to Earth and really begin to assimilate into human society more and more. And learn more and more about what it's like to be human.
So I haven't seen your Twitter. It sounds like you have a lot of activity there.
Yeah, I'm a little bit obsessed with the Twitter...
I've been Twittering and finding it to be a strange experience too. It's quite something how quickly it grows. [laughs]
Weren't you looking for minions on Twitter?
I have minions. I'm no longer looking. I've got a lot of them. I felt uncomfortable with the term “followers” when I logged on for the first time. I thought, that's weird. I don't want to call you followers. The first thing that popped into my head was minions. So from that point forward...they've created websites...
Minion websites?
And tote bags and shit like that. It's a strange world.
There are minion tote bags? That is fantastic. I want one.
You can follow Misha on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mishacollins
Supernatural airs Thursdays at 9/8c on the CW.