In the "Supernatural" winter finale, "O Brother Where Art Thou," things quickly spiralled out of control for Sam and Dean Winchester (series leads Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles). Dean sought to kill the omnipotent Amara, but was instead mesmerized in her presence. Meanwhile, Sam, with the help of Crowley and Rowena, brought a confined Lucifer to hell in order to grill him for information about the new big bad -- yet the mystical cage serving as Lucifer's prison had been damaged when Amara was released and Sam soon found himself trapped in it as well.

Now, Lucifer wants Sam as his vessel again -- even if he has to torment and torture Sam to get it.

Ahead of tonight's midseason premiere, "The Devil in the Details," "Supernatural" executive producer Jeremy Carver spoke to SPINOFF about Lucifer's surprise return, Sam's dire circumstances and Dean's connection to Amara. In addition, Carver weighed in on the possibility of a 12th season.

SPINOFF ONLINE: How long have you waited to bring Lucifer back -- and why was now the right time?

Jeremy Carver: With Lucifer, we have a wonderful combination of a great character played by a great actor like Mark Pellegrino. You are always going to look for any possibility to bring him back. By introducing this element of Amara -- who is God's sister -- rising again from where she was hidden, it begins to reopen the landscape for archangels in terms of who really has the power to stop her. Lucifer, in wanting to insert himself into this battle, makes perfect sense to us from a story standpoint.

Viewers immediately noticed the absence of Adam and Michael in the cage. Is this the same prison from Season 5 or an alternate version?

It's the same one. The absence is explained a bit more in Episode 10. The focus is really on Lucifer, but the cage you saw, you didn't see all of it. There's no reason not to think that someone else isn't in there. But, when Lucifer is brought to this cage in hell, then it's solely Lucifer.

Sam is currently trapped in the cage with Lucifer. How bad do things get for him?

The easy way to do this would be for Lucifer to pummel Sam into submission. I think Lucifer is smarter than that and has another way of going about things, which is to persuade Sam to see things his way. He can make a very persuasive argument.

Meanwhile, Dean is busy making out with Amara. How does feel about that development and his uncanny connection to her?

We'll see in the second half of the season that Dean is not happy about it. It's a question of Dean having to figure out how to overcome or deal with what he sees as a weakness, which is how he is around Amara. The interesting part comes when he has to decide how to tell the ones around him that he loves the most what is going on. He has to make a decision whether to keep it a secret or not. It's a big moment for him to share his greatest weakness with Sam.

Amara opens up and shares some of her history and views on God with Dean. Not much is known about Amara, so what does he do with all that information?

Everything Amara is saying is further insight into what she ultimately wants. As you said, no one knows anything about her. What we're hoping to do here is to bring this character, this entity Amara, into a fully-realized character. She may be known as "The Darkness," but there's a lot more going on. There's a lot more built up frustration and sibling rivalry and resentment. Episode 6 and 9 were all building blocks in terms of building what we hope is a pretty complicated character who may be pegged as the big bad, but, by the end, folks may be empathetic towards her.

Crowley attempted to groom a young Amara until he realized she was a loose cannon. Lately, he's been teaming up with the Winchesters. What is his agenda now and whose side is he on?

The question of agendas and partnerships is something that is constantly coursing through the back end of the season in that it's very twisty and turny. We have several people here -- not just Crowley, but Rowena as well -- who are nothing if not political animals. As they see the winds change, their alliances will change as well. That's part of the fun of the back half of the season.

"Supernatural" typically ends its season with a cliffhanger. Are you approaching this year's finale as a season finale or series finale?

Our mindset is definitely a season finale. We're not done telling the Winchesters' story yet.

"Supernatural" returns at 9 tonight on The CW.