‘Supernatural’: Mark Sheppard On Crowley’s Mom Situation, Cain’s Return

Ruth Connell as Rowena and Mark Sheppard as Crowley (The CW)

Since she cropped up earlier this season on “Supernatural,” Rowena has been doing quite a bit of scheming and meddling in the King of Hell’s life.

While Mark Sheppard’s character Crowley has been out there handling King of Hell business, like dealing with the First-Blade-needing Winchester brothers, she’s been eavesdropping and manipulating his entourage to do her bidding.

“She has a fantastic character to play — it’s a great character to play with and it’s actually been a lot of fun watching how fast the fans have picked up on the character and enjoyed the character so much,” Mark told Access of his latest co-star, Ruth Connell, who plays his character’s mom, Rowena. “[It’s a] testimony, to what she’s bringing to it. I think it’s a delicious character, and obviously, more to come.”

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So, for more on Crowley’s mom situation, the complexities springing up courtesy of the return of Cain (Timothy Omundson) and Dean being near the First Blade again (Cain has it in the promo pics), Access Hollywood turned to Mark for some clues ahead of Tuesday’s new episode (9/8c on The CW).

Access: Let me just go back in time and ask you about when you got the renewal news back in January, and if there was time for a celebration on set?
Mark Sheppard: Yes. I mean, it was a wonderful thing to get such an early pickup. I think everybody celebrated, but I think the biggest deal is that… we know that the crew has a job to come back to and it gives you a chance to plan, it gives you a chance to think about what you’re gonna be doing for the next year. I think it gives the writers and the showrunners a chance to form a story with some real meat in it, so I’m looking forward to seeing where this is gonna play out and how this is gonna play into next season. It’s a celebration for everybody, really. An early pickup is a fantastic thing. How many shows go to 11 seasons? I mean, seriously? It’s a rare and wonderful thing. It’s a testimony to the fans — a huge shout out to the fans, and The CW, and Warner Bros., again, backing a show regardless of the appearance of its size, understanding what its fan base is. Now, with the new content delivery systems that we’re dealing with, we’ve got so many new viewers and so many people watching, and a whole new audience has joined in, which is just so fantastic. Our web presence and our social media presence is so high. If you think of everything that used to happen 10 years and 11 years ago, it’s just a completely different world in that context. We knew it was gonna happen, but we didn’t know it was going to happen that way. … And I think it’s fascinating that our network is so ahead of the curve in that way, in so many ways.

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Access: I wanted to ask you about the relationship between Crowley and Rowena. Do you see him as being more vulnerable when she’s around?
Mark: I mean, that’s the nature of parents. … They installed the buttons, so they can definitely push them. I’ve said I have to call my mom after every episode and say, ‘I’m really sorry, it’s not the way I feel about you, you know.’ It’s such an uncomfortable dynamic, if you really think about it. You don’t expect the King of Hell to have a mom, or a mummy, and I just think it’s a great idea. The writers have created a problem for Crowley that is, again, Crowley is absolutely certain he can handle anything that happens, and we’ll see whether he’s correct in that assumption or not. I mean, after all, she is a witch. It never ends well with witches — you know that.

Access: This is definitely true. Before the next episode airs, how is he feeling about her at this point, because she’s there and she’s in the fold, but he knows she’s doing stuff. She’s sneaky!
Mark: I’m glad you spotted that. You don’t think Crowley’s that stupid that he doesn’t know that something’s going on. I just think… you know, [keep] your friends close, keep your enemies closer, is one concept. … Two, I don’t know. I think Crowley’s working so much stuff out at this point that maybe he’s not paying so much attention, maybe he is. Maybe he’s waiting to see what the agenda is. I mean, we haven’t really seen what Rowena wants yet. We’re getting an idea, but we have to see exactly what her play is, what it is that she’s after. And then, we’ve gotta see whether that suits Crowley or not.

Access: The conflict in [Tuesday’s] episode has to do with the Mark of Cain, which looks like it’s finally coming to a head [for Dean]. How is Crowley involved in it? Obviously, Cain is back.
Mark: Cain is back and… Crowley’s the custodian of the First Blade. We see in the trailer that the Winchesters will need to get the First Blade from me in order to deal with what the Cain issue is, so the question is, is Dean, with the blade, more dangerous than Cain, or what is Crowley up to? What’s the plan, where is this going? Ad then, obviously the issues he has alongside that is Rowena and his position as King of Hell, and how happy is he in that job and is he reevaluating his life? Is he gonna continue the way he’s going? [There are] a lot of things going on this season. Very fabulous group of episodes in the last eight or nine episodes. I think they’re really good.

“Supernatural” airs Tuesday at 9/8c on The CW.

— Jolie Lash