Eileen Leahy: Conflicting Commentary from Robbie Thompson + Shoshannah Stern

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Hypable: Before now, love interests for Sam and Dean have been introduced as that and only that, usually to serve a plot where romance gets in the way of duty or family. There hasn’t ever really been room for the more natural romances of your typical ensemble drama, where two fully-formed characters may fall in “endgame” love incidentally along the way. However, if Supernatural was ever able to integrate real romance into their story -- perhaps one day when the show’s drawing to a close, if they choose to give the boys a happy ending – Eileen would be a lot of people’s number one choice to end up with Sam. It helps that not long before they met him, he mused over the possibility of finding a “something,” some day, with another hunter who knows the risks of his life. How do you feel about Sam’s chemistry with Eileen -- and more importantly, how do you think Eileen feels about it, after spending the last year getting to know him better?

Stern: I can see where that comes from, particularly because I think Sam and Eileen have been written as almost a mirror image of the other. They have so many shared experiences and interests that sometimes they’re almost eerily identical. I mean, she even has a car that’s like the girl version of Baby that we didn’t get to see. That’s a shame because that car was really, really hot. At the same time, when we look in the mirror, we’re not really seeing ourselves, we’re seeing ourselves in opposition. And I think that’s true for them too. While Eileen has always been alone, Sam has always had Dean. While I think Eileen probably has had, and still has, people in her life, I think she most certainly has never had anything that even compares to what Sam and Dean have.

As a viewer, I would love to see Eileen open herself up to something else, whatever that is, be it a deeper sort of friendship or the possibility of something more, because you can’t spend your life without any meaningful connections. At the same time, as the actor who plays her, I think that would be unfamiliar and maybe even frightening in terms of the world of the show. When you open up to someone, you’re taking a risk. And every time you take a risk, you’re making yourself vulnerable. For Eileen, as a hunter, that could be dangerous. But I think she has a lot of experience with unexpected things happening to her that sometimes throw her for a loop. While her capacity for change might be slower, I think it’s definitely there, and change is always exciting, whether you’re a hunter or not. Sometimes it’s worth the risk.

Source: Fisher, Natalie. 2017. Shoshannah Stern on deaf representation and her return to ‘Supernatural.’ Hypable, April 10.

Nerds and Beyond: So, Into The Mystic.

Thompson: So, Into The Mystic, which is a strange title, because that song’s not in it. One of my fondest memories of that is getting to work with John Badham and getting to work with Dee Wallace who is just an absolute treasure. And a terrific actor. We all know her from ET and Cujo, and she is a really gifted and dedicated actress. But the biggest treat was great to work with Shoshannah again. I knew Shoshannah from Jericho. She had a really tough part on that show, and I thought she just blew everybody away whenever she was on-screen, like your eye just kind of went to her. And I always wanted to collaborate with her again. I’d never met her in-person on the show, our paths never crossed. But there was an opportunity here to work with her here. I had this idea about a character who was deaf, and was a hunter. That’s sort of where the emphasis of the story sort of started from, and as we kind of started to shape the story, I said, “Hey, it would be really great to work with a deaf actor, would it be possible if you could see if Shoshannah’s available?” Because you know, she’s an actor, she’s working, and she may not be available. And casting and my bosses watched her reel, and they were like, “Yeah, she’s great!”

Fortunately the timing worked out and she was available, and then I reached out through her representation, “You probably don’t remember me, but I was a big fan of your work in Jericho, and I wrote this episode.” This was before I had written the actual script. I’m not deaf, I’m not hard of hearing. I wanted to get her perspective on the character. I told her about basically what the episode was going to be about, a little bit of a history of the character, and then we just kind of bounced emails back and forth for a couple weeks as I was writing. And it was invaluable. Her contributions were invaluable to creating that character. And little moments within scenes that only come from the perspective of someone who is deaf. She’s a great storyteller, just by her nature, and she’s just a great actress. So it was great. When the script came out, I was like, “Hey, if there’s things that don’t work, let me know and I’ll get another pass of the script. This isn’t written in stone.” And so, again, we just continued the dialogue throughout the whole process. And then, you know, she had a great relationship chemistry-wise with the boys right away. And then she and Dee had great chemistry, and they were great. Shoshannah taught her a lot of the signing and things like that, and Dee really was dedicated to getting it right and making sure it was right. John was great, our director, he wanted to make sure that it was shot in a way that we could see the actual signing. Because a lot of times it gets cut around, and if you are a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, you miss what’s there. So we wanted to make sure that we got that stuff right. But you know, a lot of actors would be like, “oh, whatever, whatever,” but she was awesome. She was a great, great partner. I’m also grateful to, I can’t remember if it was Shoshannah’s agent or her manager, who made the introductions that set us on that path. Shoshannah’s a fantastic storyteller, and I’m excited about the writing that she’s doing now, too.

Nerds and Beyond: Yeah, I think there was a lot of outrage over the death of Eileen. Especially this past season, and I know that she’s also a character that we love. Characters can always potentially come back in Supernatural.

Robbie: It’s always a weird thing. You know that everyone has a ticking clock on that show. It’s a tough thing, because I wasn’t on the show when that happened, and people were like, “Oh, I’m bummed out that this character got killed.” And it’s a weird thing internally because I’m bummed too, but then also, well, if you’re bummed that means you cared about the character, and hopefully that means that we did our jobs. But Shoshannah is great, and you know, you never know with that show. And I think with the premise they have now for the new season there’s an opportunity to bring back a lot of people. And allow a lot of actors to really stretch themselves. I’d love to see her and a whole slew of another people brought back in. But yeah, that was a special one, to get to work with her.

Source: Paulina. 2018. Exclusive Interview with Robbie Thompson: Nerding Out & Discussing Every Supernatural Episode He Wrote. Nerds and Beyond, March 19.

Nightsky: Yes, he is! Next up: Eileen and Shoshannah. Did they specifically want a woman hunter?

Robbie: No, it was just, they were looking for standalone episodes. So what will happen is the showrunners will come around and say, “Hey, we need a myth-arc episode. Please deliver X, Y, and Z, but build an episode around it. Or [do] a standalone.” I had this idea for this character and I had worked with Shoshannah, sort of tangentially, because I was the writer’s assistant and I wrote an episode of Jericho. She wasn’t in the episode that I wrote but she played Bonnie on that show and (this is a spoiler if you haven’t seen Jericho) her character has an untimely death. But Shoshannah was so good in the series, and she was so terrific in that episode. She’s a badass in that episode, with a whole infiltration thing and she’s blowing dudes away with a shotgun, and I was like, “Oh, I wanna see her kick some ass.” I always wanted to work with her again. So I pitched the episode with that character in mind, and then I was like, “I’d love to work with Shoshannah again.” They reached out and she fortunately had a window in her schedule; she was available.Then I reached out, I think originally through her manager, to say, “Hey, can you put us in touch because I’m not deaf and I want to make sure I’m getting an authentic experience for the performer.” So she and I exchanged a bunch of emails. She’s since gone on to be a showrunner and a writer in her own regard. She’s a really, really brilliant writer and a brilliant actor as well. It was great being able to get her the script early so she could help me fix the parts that didn’t work. Then, on the day, she and Jared had really great chemistry and John Badham, who was the director of that episode ("Into the Mystic" 11.11), they really played around and found a lot of fun moments that weren’t scripted at all. That was just them having fun and building moments.

I think being able to have that early dialogue with, whether it was Shoshannah or Tim, was extremely valuable in helping create the character.

Nightsky: Made it authentic.

Robbie: Yeah.

Source: Nightsky. 2020. Exclusive Interview with Robbie Thompson: A Supernatural Memoir from B. G.'s Canteen - Part 3. The Winchester Family Business, February 17.

Variety: When Eileen is paired with Sam, do you consider her a good balance/counterpoint to him? Or do they make a good team because of their similarities?

Stern: Their origin stories are basically the same. I’ve never verified this with Robbie, but I’ve always felt that Eileen was written as a mirror image of Sam. The audience was first introduced to Sam as a baby, way back in the first episode with his mother burning on the ceiling, in the same way that Eileen was introduced in “Into the Mystic.” They both have or have wanted to study law and get out of hunting, they both hunted down the monster that killed their parent and found it lacking. They’ve died, gone to hell, and come back. Character wise, they both have this stubborn sense of morality they cling to, and are fiercely loyal. But I also think that Eileen, being more newly reborn, has a bit more hope at the moment that maybe Sam has, but because of that I think she may be making him feel a bit lighter. And I think one major difference between them is that while Eileen has always been alone, Sam has always had Dean. I think that’s why Sam feels more comfortable being a bit more unsure of things. Sam might be the most important person Eileen’s ever had in her life, and that’s a lot of responsibility to place on someone. So while I like this new and refreshing free-spirited side of her, I think Eileen should probably do what Sam is doing now and evaluate her new lot in life a bit more.

Source: Turchiano, Danielle. 2020. 'Supernatural's' Shoshannah Stern on Eileen’s Time in Hell and Her New Relationship With Sam. Variety, January 29.