Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
With Michael in Dean’s body, Sam leads the hunters and Apocalypse World refugees from the bunker while Mary helps search for Dean. Michael travels widely, testing people and recruiting followers while using Dean as his vessel. Sam’s search brings him into conflict with Michael’s forces, while Jack tries to live without his powers and Castiel pursues leads of his own. The season also reunites the family with John Winchester for one night, after a magical pearl briefly pulls him from the past.
Dean and his allies trap Michael inside Dean’s mind, but the archangel later escapes into Rowena. Jack, who has died and been resurrected using the power of his human soul, spends what remains of it to destroy Michael and absorb his grace. His powers return, but without his soul he becomes dangerously impulsive and accidentally kills Mary. The brothers trick him into the Ma’lak box, but he breaks out.
Chuck returns when Jack forces everyone to tell the truth, creating chaos, and offers a gun that will kill both Jack and whoever fires it. Dean cannot shoot Jack, and the brothers refuse Chuck’s offer to restore Mary in exchange for killing him. Chuck then kills Jack himself. Sam shoots Chuck and suffers the same wound, revealing that harm to one is mirrored in the other; Chuck answers by opening Hell and releasing its dead. Sam, Dean and Castiel face the rising souls as the season ends, with the danger now coming from the creator they had trusted.