As usual, things couldn't be more grim for Sam, Dean and Castiel. “Supernatural's” 10th season culminated with the Winchester brothers being swallowed up by the Darkness and Cas bewitched by Rowena into attacking her hellish son Crowley. In Season 11, the gang had better regroup and call in reinforcements if they are hoping to survive the Darkness, a threat that predates even God himself!

Stars Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins spoke separately with journalists during roundtable interviews at Comic-Con International in San Diego. The trio opened up about the Darkness, quality time with the brothers, the Cas/Dean dynamic, and Ackles directing another episode.

Season 10 ended with multiple cliffhangers. What are you excited to see not only with the Darkness, but the brothers as well?

Jared Padalecki: One of the things I'm most excited about personally is that the brothers are brothers again. We've had so many years of Benny or Ruby or soulless or Mark of Cain or something where these boys have had reasons to be apart. Even though they don't know what the Darkness is, it's pre-biblical. It predates God and Castiel and Crowley. They are completely out of their world, but they are there together. That's super-cool for me. I am a brother, so is Jensen. I have two sons. Now, the brothers are a team again.

Episode 4 features some quality time with Sam and Dean in the Impala. Is that something you are looking forward to?

Padalecki: That's so cool. I don't want to say it's so unique to “Supernatural,” but fairly unique to “Supernatural,” and that we can do these crazy episodes. We're in a different television show where it's a sitcom or a Japanese game show. I've played Jared Padalecki on “Supernatural.” It's so bizarre. There was one scene where Jensen and Jared, playing Sam and Dean, were playing Jensen and Jared playing Sam and Dean. That's literally it. So we're able to do these cool, funny shows and give it a shot. I know the writers, and, we as actors, if it's not a homerun, the fans will still appreciate it and stick with us. That's because of the support you all give us. A lot of people have great ideas, but they are like, "Oh, we're going to piss off the fans," or "We're going to lose our viewers." We're like, "Fuck it. Let's give it a shot." We've all put that down payment on the family home. I'm super-excited about it. It's going to be a show unlike any other in “Supernatural's” history. It's fun stuff. You can hear what's going on, but you can't see it. It's going to be so cool. It kind of gives me the cool warm-and-fuzzies.

You are stepping behind the camera again for Episode 3. How does this one feel different than the previous ones you have directed?

Jensen Ackles: It's a more straight-forward kind of episode. It's still making sense of what's happening within the story. It's a bit of an expositional episode. There are a lot of advancing the mythology of getting more information about what's going on, figuring out where all the chess pieces are and how we are going to play this situation. That's been kind of nice. I'm not dealing with demon Dean chasing Sam. I'm not dealing with a "Weekend at Bobby's." This is more of checking in with all the different fragments of the storyline and moving that story along, so, it's nice.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan stated he'd love to return as John Winchester. What kind of discussions have you had with him and the writers about that?

Ackles: I talk to Jeff quite a bit. He's a very dear friend of mine. He's always been a big fan of the family that is “Supernatural.” He's still very much a part of that family. Obviously, he's gone off and had a very successful career and continuing to work and constantly working. He will always work. He's a great guy and he's a very talented man. There's kindred spirits with “Supernatural.” He really just enjoys the set and the family and the story and his role within that story. He's always been, "Hey, if I'm available, can I come back?" If it works organically with the writers and they can find a way to where it makes sense, then they would love to do that. He would love to do that. No promise of it in the near future.

When we last saw Cas, he was under Rowena's spell. Where do things pick up for him?

Misha Collins: In the exact same place. We pick up with Cas still being under Rowena's spell. The time cut is kind of negligible. We're really picking up where we left off. Cas is dealing with the attack-dog spell. The Darkness is falling.

What are your expectations for Season 11?

Collins: I think it's going to be a good season. I like that we are changing what's happening on the show. Last season was more about the personal tribulations of the various characters. This season is going to be reuniting us against a big bad, which is something we've done before, but it's changing it up and giving us a new focus. That's going to be great.

Cas and Dean obviously experienced a fractured relationship because of the Mark of Cain. How much time is it going to take to rebuild that?

Collins: I think we are going to see them put their differences aside and unite against that common enemy. They are aware the presence of the Darkness is actually their fault and they have to clean up the mess they made.

”Supernatural” returns Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.