Planet Comicon 2017: Idjits, Death and No Bobby in Season 12 of SUPERNATURAL

Jim Beaver is a beloved character actor who has been on two shows that I review for SciFi4Me.com, Supernatural and Timeless. His character on Supernatural is well loved and remembered. It’s obvious by how many questions were about Supernatural and how the questions kept coming back to his death on the show that he is sorely missed.

Jim Beaver came out looking at his phone. He said he was waiting for tickets to Hamilton. It was a funny line but could be true because he sees a lot of plays and musicals. The audience said, “Say it!” “Say it!” and Jim called us “Idjits’.

Jim said that the first time he came to a convention and got a response like the one we had just given him, he looked to see if Elvis was behind him.

Clare Kramer from GeekNation moderated. Clare asked him about his role on Supernatural, and he said he just showed up and said his lines and tried not to bump into the furniture. She said he was a father figure to Sam and Dean, and he said that they had a real father out there somewhere, that he didn’t meet until the seventh season. At San Diego Comic Con, which is where he met Jeffrey Dean Morgan. He said he was glad Jeffrey Dean Morgan (as John Winchester) deserted the boys and then died, because that way there was a need for a father figure instead of a father.

Clare asked Jim about Timeless, and he said he would do anything Kripke asked him to do. (Eric Kripke created both Supernatural and Timeless.) They discussed what historical figure he would be. He said he wanted to be Robert E. Lee, or Ulysses Grant, but he ended up being a guy from now.

He said of his recent role on Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders that they use a lot of Supernatural alumni.

He waxed eloquent about Deadwood. It’s one of his favorite things. He knew it was something special when he saw the script. Deadwood was “the most expensive drama pilot made” which is also why it didn’t last forever. It had a huge cast of twenty to twenty-five people. Deadwood is why Bobby has a beard. Jim was working on Deadwood when he auditioned for Supernatural. “Now I can’t ever shave,” he said. He added that he was afraid to because he didn’t know what was under there anymore.

When asked why he came to Kansas City, he said his best friend recommended it. He said Jim should go there if he ever had a chance. So when they asked if he wanted to do something in Kansas City, he said “Yup”.

Jim said that he just looks at the script and guesses how to play it. Usually someone will tell him if he gets it wrong. Writers create and the actor visually and orally interprets what they have created. Ninety-nine percent of what you love is the writer. “I’m happy to be here and take his (Kripke’s) money.”

Jim Beaver’s favorite episode is “Weekend at Bobby’s”, which was Jensen Ackles’ first directing experience. He said Jensen did a fine job. It was exhausting, being on screen ninety percent of the time. He said that you wouldn’t be an actor if you didn’t want to have people pay attention to you. “Look at me.” It’s not about the art at first. Probably only “Daniel Day Lewis is playing Rousseau in his kindergarten.”

One of the audience members said his sister cried when he died. “You should have seen my accountant.”

Clare asked if he ever took his daughter to the set. He took Maddie to the set of Supernatural on her ninth birthday, where she proceeded to rat him out to everyone and told them that Daddy didn’t learn his lines and that he stayed up all night watching TV.

He was asked what the difference was between going to a Supernatural Creation Convention and a convention like Planet Comicon. He said that the difference was that there weren’t as many scantily clad people. Probably because there weren’t as many scantily clad women on Supernatural. Actually, the main difference is that the Creation cons were just for Supernatural and Comicons are for all kinds of things. Jim said that he took his life in his hands and went out in the lobby at Dragon*Con once. “Great Bobby costume.”

The audience was curious about pranks, since the set of Supernatural is known for the practical jokes that the cast play on each other. “They don’t pull a lot of pranks on me because they know better.” He said that Misha had filled Jared’s trailer with coins because he owed him money from a bet, and Jared put the coins in Misha’s car and told him to donate it to his favorite charity. He did say that anytime he was in a scene in a bed, Jared would be twisting his toes, which makes the scene where Bobby died seem a little different.

One person asked if he had any trouble memorizing all the Latin. He said he had ALL the trouble learning the Latin, but the props people were good at putting what they had to say in the script into the books they were holding. The problem was that Jim Beaver couldn’t read without glasses and Bobby doesn’t wear glasses, so the books got bigger and bigger. Jared, on the other hand, was really good at the Latin.

The worst thing that happened: falling down the stairs in Bobby’s basement. The worst shoot: a night shoot where Bobby had to close his eyes and shoot something out of a tree. That night seemed to last for years, he said. Mostly because Jared was cracking them up (Episode 7.09, “How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters”).

He was asked about Bobby’s death more than once. He said the first time wasn’t so bad. It was a one page death and when he turned the page, he found out it was okay. Then he got the call that said they were killing him and if you weren’t on the CW you’d win an Emmy. He didn’t seem to think that was much consolation. When asked again later if he thought season seven was Bobby’s time to go, he answered no. “It was a punch in the gut. Dramatically effective. I’d much rather they’d killed someone else. It’s like real dying. I didn’t like it.”

Since Bobby’s death, the character has appeared in every season of Supernatural, whether as a ghost or a flashback or in some other magical way. Except this one. Of course someone asked if Bobby would make an appearance this season. He won’t. The series has wrapped and Jim Beaver said they did not have him back this season. He offered to break into the set and take some selfies. Do his own video. The audience offered to help him.

Welcome to Kansas City, Jim Beaver. We hope you enjoyed it and can come back soon.

(Disclaimer: None of the photo captions are actual quotes from either Jim Beaver or Bobby Singer.)