Nashville is one of my favorite Supernatural conventions. It’s usually around the holidays, and it’s usually at the Gaylord Opryland, which is a ridiculous Disneyland of a hotel with a river running through it and a boat you can take from one side to the other and so much walking that it makes my still-messed-up knee hurt just thinking about it. But I kinda love it too – also it’s a con that a lot of my good friends go to, and that alone makes it special.
This year the con was in a different hotel (sans inside river and boat) and Alana didn’t make it, but Kim and I had a lovely room and I was thrilled to have her beside me taking photos – I’ve missed her photos but I’ve missed her being my partner in crime at cons even more! She didn’t make it to many panels but the ones she did make, whew, there are some pretty pretty pictures from them! So this con gets two posts, this one for all the Friday people fun and Saturday with the Saturday Night Special concert, and stay tuned for the Sunday festivities and the Radio Company debut concert wrap up – it was a busy and awesome few days!
I caught a little of Osric Chau and Adam Rose’s panel – when I walked in they were reminiscing about how they initially bonded over Osric’s Goku cosplay. I remember that! I loved the early days of the cons when Os would show up in some incredible cosplay and Gil or Misha or Jared or Jensen would have no clue what to say in response. Priceless!
The two got along famously, and were soon busy planning a joint birthday party – which would inevitably be amazing.
Adam has become internet famous for being the blue cardigan guy on TikTok. He said it’s always funny when someone knows him as that and then suddenly is like, wait, you’re on Supernatural??
A fan asked how he convinced Jensen to do the cardigan TikTok.
Adam: I said, wanna do a TikTok? And he said…okay…
Of course Adam was planning a new TikTok with Jensen – maybe an evil red cardigan? Or maybe one with Jared?
Osric: Do they make them in Jared size??
They were asked what Supernatural’s tag line would be, and pondered.
Osric: Bitch…jerk?
Seems legit.
Osric was asked about doing the first Supernatural HIllywood Show video and said he loved doing it.
Osric: How many casts are so down for doing a parody of their own show??
They talked about writing, which Osric is doing a lot of recently. He also wrote an insightful chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood about his experience playing Kevin on Supernatural, which I love. He said that he was so sad about his character dying that he snuck out after filming that scene without even saying goodbye, he was so emotional.
Briana Buckmaster and Kim Rhodes also had a panel on Friday.
Kim got some questions about autism and had some great advice: if you want to know about autistic people, ask autistic people!
They both talked about how much they loved working on supernatural, with how collaborative and respectful an environment it was for an actor.
Briana: It’s wonderful to work on a show that makes you feel like an artist.
She had a harder time adjusting to conventions and having fans, something she writes about in her chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood.
Briana: My first con, I didn’t know what to do. I was staying at the con hotel and I got into an elevator with some Supernatural fans and a guy asked if I was here for the Supernatural con. I was like, uh, never heard of it!
Kim also writes about her appreciation of fans in her chapter in the book.
Kim: I don’t see any of it as weird fan interactions. It’s having big feelings – and I also have big feelings.
I love Kim. She said that recently she was out with Richard Speight, Jr. when she was guest starring on Kung Fu and he was directing. A guy asked for a selfie with Richard, saying he was the biggest Supernatural fan (and not recognizing Kim).
Richard as he left: Clearly that’s a lie…
They reminisced about how much fun they had on the Supernatural set.
Briana: When I was on set, the crew would all start speaking in a Minnesota accent. And they were all horrible at it!
The pranks on set extended to the conventions too. Kim said that for a while she and Ruth and others pranked Jared and Jensen for months on the con circuit by putting tiny clothespins on their clothes.
OMG you can’t make this stuff up! There will seriously never be another cast like this one.
Also have a few more photos because Kim was able to shoot this panel and these ladies are gorgeous.
Friday night was Uber Eats takeout in the room and lots of catching up for me and Kim after a few autographs and some very nice chats. It was so nice to see Osric again, I’ve missed him and it’s great to have him back at cons. So excited for all the cool things he told me he has coming up!
And then it was Saturday. There was a ladies panel with Kim, Briana, Samantha Smith and Cindy Sampson – it was a treat to hear from Cindy, who hasn’t been to very many cons. She fit right in and I loved hearing some of her stories of her time on Supernatural.
Someone asked if Ben was indeed Lisa’s kid, but Lisa said even she didn’t know.
Lisa: We need to go straight to the source to find out if Ben was Dean’s kid. Director Phil Sgriccia. I’ll ask him – stay tuned!
Cindy admitted she’d never played Cards Against Humanity though.
Briana: Get out!
Lol
Favorite Cards Against Humanity answers? (Or possibly this was Supernatural Cards Against Humanity)
Briana and Kim: Using Castiel as a tree topper!
What would each of them change about their characters?
Samantha: Dying a few less times.
Cindy: What happened to Lisa and her big house that she could afford on a yoga salary?
Kim and Briana: A spinoff!
It was a wonderfully chaotic panel full of “that’s what she said” jokes, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When I came in they were arguing about frosting on cookies.
Kim: And so I eat Briana’s frosting…
(That’s what she said…)
They all agreed that the show and the fandom have had a big impact on their lives.
Kim: Everything I care about most has been brought to me or expanded on by you (this fandom).
That’s exactly what she writes about in Family Don’t End With Blood in fact.
Samantha: None of us expected this, it’s not something you can plan, it just happens. I feel so lucky.
They all had warm words for the show and its female characters. Cindy said she was a fan of Supernatural even before she was cast.
Cindy: I was so excited to be on a show I had loved, so I shrugged off a lot of the negativity as just passionate fans. I think things are changing a little with more female directors and producers.
Samantha: Supernatural was a testosterone heavy show but the female characters they wrote were strong women, and not all the same character.
Kim: Female characters are often defined solely by their relationships. Supernatural actually made progress in not doing only that.
Saturday also had a Rob Benedict and Richard Speight, Jr. panel. I will always miss Matt Cohen and the days of the R2M panel, but Rob and Rich never fail to amuse me and everyone.
Rob told the classic story of how, in the early days of the SPN cons, when they all stayed at the con hotel but under an alias, Richard gave him a note of the alias to check in under. And he did – cluelessly. The note read: Heywood Jablowmie.
Oh, Rob.
Richard shared the classic story of when Rob tried to call him in his room by dialing his room number – but unfortunately it was Room 911.
The 9-1-1 operator was less than happy with Mr. Benedict, who was once again clueless.
I can’t remember the entire context of this conversation, but somehow they were talking about Gabriel being with Rowena and Chuck maybe and…
Richard: Let’s say you’re a plumber and you’re like, my son already laid all this pipe…
OMG
Both Rob and Rich talked about how much they were enjoying Supernatural now that they’re watching it from the beginning on the Supernatural Then And Now Podcast. If you haven’t caught it yet, check it out – they have fascinating guests who were both cast and crew on the show, plus R2’s trademark sense of humor. And I love hearing them discover just how GOOD this little show actually is!
Saturday is always Misha day, so we had a Misha panel in the afternoon too.
He always tells some heartwarming stories about his kids, including a Christmas one where they decided not to do gifts for Christmas and to donate to charity instead. Then on Christmas Eve an unworried young Maison said ‘after all, we’ll still get presents from Santa…” Oops.
Misha tum!
There was also that time Misha told the kids a story about elves in the walls – and woke up to West trying to smash the walls to find them. Oops.
And another story about a food fight that definitely did not go his way. Oops.
On a more serious note, Misha talked about starting Random Acts, sharing the story of the time when he was a child and a friend’s mom gave his mother $100 to buy them Christmas gifts when they had no money. That has inspired him, he said, his whole life.
He said that the past year has been challenging for him with a divorce and filming a new TV show away from his kids.
Misha: I try to use the challenging times as teachers.
(He also had a very tough time trying NOT to spoil what’s happening with his character’s arc on Gotham Knights, saying “my character is going from a crime fighting…damn…his arc is tragic and heartbreaking and it’s getting hard to keep rooting… )
He said he was about to get fitted for prosthetics that were too scary for Maison to see (that we’ve all now seen the video of and… ewwwww!)
Misha: I’ve had two sex scenes on the show….and it’s a CW show, so we can show everything…
lol
He said that he’s considering a tattoo finally, perhaps in keeping with getting through those challenges.
Misha: I perpetrated a lot of awful tattoo designs on people as part of Gish, so now I’m amalgamating ideas for one on my shoulder…or on my ass…
There will forever be controversy about the final episodes of Supernatural, I fear, but Misha was practical in his answer about being in 15.19 only as a voice message on Dean’s phone.
Misha: I did get paid the same thing for recording a line for 15.19 on my iPhone as for filming for eight days…
Not too shabby.
He navigated a question about why Dean didn’t reciprocate in 15.18, first joking that it’s because “Dean is a dick, of course” and then revisiting the infamous Spanish translation that is “not in the English version”.
Looking back, Misha described what Cas taught him.
Misha: No matter how it worked out, he was always trying to do the right thing. Supernatural gave us hero archetypes, so it was instructive for me.
And for a lot of us, too. He did say that if he could have changed anything about Castiel’s story line, he would have made him human longer.
He had warm words for the show and his fellow cast and crew.
Misha: Everyone on Supernatural always pulled their weight, and delivered for each other. There was an ethos of camaraderie and no one complained, and I learned that.
He went on to say that everything on a set is set up like the actors are all prima donnas, and you have to not let yourself think you’re any better than anyone else – something they seemed to do well on Supernatural.
Also Phil Sgriccia and Richard Speight, Jr. apparently had an ongoing regifting war of leaving a banana for each other and you cannot make this stuff up. No wonder there’s still a whole lot of laughter going on when Misha, Richard and Rob are all onstage together!
After the Misha panel, I caught some of Adam Fergus and David Haydn Jones’ panel. They both talked about watching television when you’re an actor, and how that changes the experience.
Adam: You watch TV and movies from a different perspective when you know how they’re made.
David: You know it’s some great media when you can still get lost in the story.
Then they stopped being serious and played a game of two truths and a lie.
David: I’m trying so hard to be dirty because Adam is here…
He finally came up with one.
David: I’ve put my penis in mashed potatoes…and that’s not the lie!
Adam talked about singing at the Saturday Night Special a few times, saying he felt like a rockstar. Honestly, he sounded like one too!
It was a panel full of no fourth wall, so they were also asked about shipping and said they were fascinated by the idea of it.
David: The first fic I read was me…and Ketch…and Dean!
Now there’s an interesting threesome…
They are both down to do some live fic readings onstage, which if you study fandom you know has not gone well in the past when others have tried. However, David assured us that he does not make fun of it at all.
David: No shame.
I actually believe him, having talked to him at length in the process of putting together There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done. Adam and David both have great chapters in that book that are both humorous and insightful.
Saturday night is of course time for the Saturday Night Special, and Louden Swain never fails to put on an amazing show. They were joined by Nashville native and frequent collaborator Emma Fitzpatrick, who joined Rob for a duet of one of my old favorites, Cool If I Come Over.
Tyler James, who collaborated with Rob on some of his solo work, also joined in the fun.
Louden Swain was on point, everyone perhaps extra excited about the upcoming Radio Company show that they were to play on Monday night too.
Everyone voted for Rob to take off his beanie and rock his mostly shaved head, which he did with a laugh.
Jason Manns and Rob sang a gorgeous ‘Hallelujah’ and the audience sang along to the chorus, which I always enjoy even with a scratchy throat that made it challenging. How adorable are these two?
Rob: I feel like your son…
Also I never get tired of seeing the look on their faces when the audience begins singing the chorus back to them – they are so clearly touched by how much we love their performance and how familiar many of us are with the traditions that have been forged over a decade of Saturday Night Specials and Louden Swain shows.
It really is special.
Briana Buckmaster did a number that, as always, brought the house down.
If you haven’t picked up her solo album, treat yourself!
The fandom came through with finger lights for ‘Amazing’, with the whole ballroom in sync, the emotion palpable in the giant ballroom.
You can see how much it impacts Rob, and it always warms my heart.
And then Louden Swain did an Elton John encore, since they all had gone to see him in concert recently, joined by many of the guests onstage.
I think Elton would have been honored.
That was an amazing show, and it really whetted my appetite for the Louden Swain and Radio Company show that was coming up in a few days too.
Stay tuned for all the Sunday and Monday happenings from Nashcon, and some more gorgeous photos from Kim of Jared and Jensen…
Every time I think I’m done with cons, you give another recap and I start planning to go. See you in Jacksonville.
Excellent article Lynn! And of course the pi s Kim took are beautiful. I simply LOVE Adam and of course Osric.
Those cardigan tiktocs are sooo good! Adam’s such a good sport.
I had absolutely no idea that Kim Rhodes is autistic. She is one amazing person and an inspiration!