I was going to throw back to one of my interviews with Osric that have happened over the past seven years, but then I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to include, so I thought, why not just write up a new happy birthday post and revisit a few of those favorite times? I am incredibly nostalgic right now, with Supernatural’s wild ride coming to an end soon, so looking back and appreciating the wonderful people I’ve gotten to know over the past fifteen years is one of my favorite things to do. And Osric Chau is one of those wonderful people.
Our first interview was way back in 2013, during which Osric refused to start eating his lunch before ours arrived even though I kept fretting that his was getting cold, and I realized for the first time what a very nice person he was.
In some of the more serious parts of our chat, Osric explained his hesitation initially about even putting the role of Kevin Tran in his reel because it was such a stereotypical character, and his delight in being able to watch the character evolve and be fleshed out over time (into Kevin Freakin’ Solo!)
In a less serious moment, I gushed about Osric’s cosplay of Princess Bubblegum and we laughed about the rest of the cast’s reaction. Come on, though, he can rock a dress!
Osric also gushed about his love of Mark Sheppard, and he patiently fixed my camera. Tech problems have been a theme of my interviews all my life, with no sign of that changing. Luckily the Supernatural cast all seem to be technologically skilled. And endlessly patient. That was one of Osric’s first cons, and he was eager to experience what a Supernatural convention was all about – from the perspective of a fan, which he was accustomed to. After our chat and lunch, we walked him back to the ballroom – where we were allowed in thanks to our wristbands, and he was not! Somehow our ‘but he’s one of the guests’ wasn’t initially taken seriously, but eventually he was allowed inside. Like everything else, he took that in stride. That was our first chat, and I already knew by the end of it what a nice person Osric Chau is, and how savvy he was about all things fandom.
It was also his first time performing at the Saturday Night Special. When we had lunch on Saturday, he was extremely nervous about singing and playing the guitar for the first time onstage, so we got a chance to calm him down a little for a change. He killed it, and proceeded to kill it many other times at many other Saturday Night Specials. Damn, I miss Saturday Night Specials!
Our next actual interview was the following year, at Van Con in 2014. It started out with me unable to make my iPad record, and immediately handing it over to Osric to fix. He did.
Osric: (graciously) That’s all right, we all have our strengths…
That interview, Osric walked me through what it was like to film his final scene (at the time) as Kevin, as he’s killed by Gadreel. I wasn’t surprised to hear that he was so emotional, he couldn’t bring himself to come back to the set and say goodbyes, or that there were tears behind that thick burnt-out-eyes makeup.
On a less serious note once again, I wanted to hear the real scoop on how Osric managed to (unintentionally) dislocate Jared Padalecki’s shoulder – I have to say, the blow by blow account of what really happened was fascinating (and occasionally hilarious), but left me scratching my head and muttering “boys…”
There have been other interviews over the years, which apparently included at one point a standing-on-your-head contest in the green room with Osric and Matt Cohen and presided over by Alaina Huffman, if I recall correctly.
But my favorite memories with Osric have been not in an interview, but at San Diego Comic Con. We’ve spent time together at a few Comic Cons, but in 2015 we had some adventures that are some of my favorite memories of any Comic Con. I was an associate producer of the documentary series ‘Squee’, so I spent much of my time at Comic Con that year coordinating film shoots, including one with Osric.
After that was done, we planned to get together later that day for dinner, but then I got a call from Osric saying that Misha Collins was going to buy pizza for the thousands of people in line for Hall H who would be spending the night outside to get into the Supernatural panel the next day. Misha needed help, so Osric wanted to pitch in and asked if I could help out too. I think this may have been the first year of Misha’s traditional bring-sustenance-to-the-Hall-H-line tradition. It was a wonderful, generous, and very Misha idea, so of course I said yes. What I didn’t realize was that the place where we were getting the pizza was FAR away from where we were, way up in the Gaslamp district, which I had never quite realized was on a hill. Let’s just say Osric and Misha are in way better shape than I am and have fewer years of accumulated fatigue, so I was woefully out of breath by the time we finally reached the pizza place. Were there no pizza places CLOSER to the convention center??
The GISH mascot met us there and we all loaded up pizzas – and then made our way back down the long walk to the convention center. It was a lot more fun going down, gotta say. People started to recognize Misha (our pizza caravan was a bit conspicuous) and trailing along behind us, so we looked a bit like some strange parade. Osric gave me his camera and asked me to film it, but he should have known by then that my tech skills are nonexistent – there’s a reason you never saw him post the impromptu parade footage.
We finally made it down to the convention center. Misha loaded pizzas on a pedicab and took off pedaling down to the place by the water where fans were waiting, like the pied piper with us following and giving out pizza to hungry and grateful fans. It was so much fun watching the expressions on people’s faces when they had the sudden realization that it was Misha himself bringing them pizza!
Osric suggested that he and I grab a couple of pizzas and bring them to the ADA line, which had a big group of waiting fans also, but was in an entirely different place. The fans there were equally surprised to see Osric handing out pizza, and were happy to have not been left out of the free food. We chatted a while, and then decided to try to go visit a mutual friend who works for Comic Con and was inside getting ready for the next day. By this time it was close to midnight or maybe later and the convention center was closed up tight. Nevertheless, we followed our friend’s instructions for where to go – only to be stopped by security, who were none too happy to see us where no one was supposed to be. By this time, Osric and I were over tired and kind of silly, which did not endear us to the security person. We giggled our way through that interrogation and finally were permitted inside after some back and forth phone calls, where we stayed until the wee hours of the morning catching up and talking about all things fandom and Supernatural and Comic Con. We were all tired the next day, but even now, that remains one of my favorite memories ever of Comic Con. Thanks, Osric.
The following year, Osric wrote a chapter for the new book I was putting together, Family Don’t End With Blood, in which he talks about his personal struggle with feeling anxious and awkward and trying to figure out his own identity, and how the validation and acceptance of the SPNFamily contributed to his own evolution (with cosplay, conventions and concerts all contributing). He concluded his chapter with:
Knowing all this and tabulating the wealth of experience I’ve collected and adventures I’ve had that I would otherwise have missed without the safety net of this fandom, I can only be grateful. I receive amazing messages from fans every single day thanking me, but it really is a two-way street and a wonderful symbiotic relationship. Because of you, I allow myself to do the things that I do, and then you thank me for it. And so I respond with the most honest and straightforward answer I know: “No, thank you.”
It has been such a pleasure watching Osric’s evolution and success over the past seven years. I love what he wrote in Family Don’t End With Blood, and many fans have told me how much his chapter inspired them.
I’ve loved so many of the creative projects he’s been in over that time too, from (another favorite) Dirk Gently, to Ryan Choi on Arrow/DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Eric in the feature film Empty By Design, Damien on the fabulous indie film Demon X, and numerous brilliant Hillywood Show parodies including, of course, both of the Supernatural ones – and more!
Kevin Tran’s return to Supernatural in Season 15 was bittersweet, but I was grateful to have a conclusion to his powerful story.
And yes, I cried like a baby as Sam and Dean waved goodbye.
Thank you for bringing such an important character to life on Supernatural, Osric. And even more, thank you for being you. I’m honored to have your inspiring chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood, and cannot wait to see what new successes and adventures you’ll be off to next!
Here are the links to just a few of our chats and adventures with Osric, and you can read his chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood, available at the links at the top of the page here.
Kevin’s Death and the Perils of Wrestling with Jared
Dirk Gently and Writing for Family Don’t End With Blood
Comic Con Adventures with Misha
— Lynn
Family Don’t End With Blood and the newest
book written with the cast of Supernatural,
There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done, are
available at the links on the home page here!
