After a six-week winter hiatus, Supernatural is back for the second half of season 13. When the show last aired, Sam and Dean were trapped in an alternate universe, the Bad Place, filled with some scary-sounding creatures. The mid-season premiere, “Wayward Sisters,” will bring together a group of women to save the boys.

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The episode serves as a backdoor pilot for a potential new spin-off that would center on Sheriff Jody Mill’s pseudo-family of female Hunters. There are the two young girls who came to live with her after being saved by the Winchesters, Claire Novak and Alex Jones. There are also two new characters from season 13, psychic Patience Turner and dreamwalker Kaia Nieves, plus Jody’s sheriff pal from Minnesota, Donna Hanscum. Together, these six women will try to rescue the Winchesters while also battling some new threats of their own.

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Here are three things you should know about the episode before it airs.

It’s All About Claire

While Jody may be the matriarch of this group, actress Kathryn Newton as Claire Novak is the real star of the episode and is set up as the main character of the potential spin-off. Claire became a recurring character in season 10, the rebellious daughter of Castiel’s human vessel. She was a juvenile delinquent who teamed up with Cas and the Winchesters to find her missing mom. However, after her mom sacrificed herself to save Claire, Sam and Dean sent her to live with Jody Mills.

Claire and another girl who the Winchesters saved, Alex Jones, became like daughters to Jody. However, Claire was eager to become a Hunter and eventually left on her own to pursue her mission. In “Wayward Sisters,” Claire’s story is at the center from the beginning to the end and her relationships with Jody and Alex are explored in some more depth.

There’s Not a Lot of Sam and Dean

This episode does a good job of really giving fans a preview of what a Wayward Sisters series would look like, which means there isn’t a whole lot of Sam and Dean. They’re trapped in the Bad Place and while they do have a few scenes, they only show up for about five minutes of total screentime in the entire episode. There’s also no new information on Castiel and Lucifer, or on Jack traveling to Apocalypse World to rescue Mary. This episode is all about the women.

The Bad Place Has Many Creatures

The mid-season finale set up the Bad Place, an alternate universe that Kaia travels to when she dreamwalks. While the episode doesn’t spend a lot of time in the Bad Place, it is still a major part of “Wayward Sisters” and the spin-off if the CW orders it. The winter finale ended with Sam and Dean standing in a giant footprint as a dinosaur-like sound came from the forest. Fans will get a good look at the thing that made that noise, but that’s not all.

The Bad Place is a whole new world and this episode starts to explore it by introducing several different creatures that live there. It’s not just whatever made that loud noise, the Bad Place is filled with a lot of mystery, setting up a brand new mythology for the potential spin-off. And as you might expect, some of the creatures are unlike anything we’ve ever seen on Supernatural before.

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Which of the “Wayward Sisters” characters is your favorite: Jody, Claire, Alex, Donna, Patience or Kaia?

Supernatural airs Thursdays at 8/7c on the CW. For more SPN updates, like BuddyTV’s Supernatural Facebook page.

(Images courtesy of the CW)

John Kubicek

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire DiariesSupernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.