The Winchesters: Richard Speight Jr. to reprise the role of Loki

The Supernatural fanbase has been wondering when they are going to see familiar faces of the past in The Winchesters. Luckily, they won’t have to wait too long.

Richard Speight Jr. famously known as Gabriel in the stellar hit Supernatural will be making an appearance in The Winchesters this season. The CW confirmed last week that Speight Jr. is set to reprise his role as Loki on the eighth episode of the first season.

No stranger to The Winchesters, Speight Jr. as he has already directed an episode this season and looks to direct even more. Robbie Thompson, the showrunner for the series told TV Insider that it was a matter of when and not if, for Speight Jr. to come back into the fold of the Supernatural world.

"“It felt like (they’d come up with) an opportunity for us to welcome a friend that we’ve seen before, but maybe not in a way that folks are, are expected.”-Thompson told TV Insider about the return of Loki."

And if we know anything about Loki, it’s that you can expect the unexpected. He’s an entertainingly chaotic mess.

The original Trickster is sure to please the audience and keep the fans on their toes. As a director Richard Speight Jr. started by co-directing North Beach.

Later on, he directed an impressive 11 episodes of Supernatural. He has also directed 4 episodes of The CW’s Kung Fu and two episodes of Jared Padalecki’s Walker.

Not to mention 7 episodes of his own show with co-star Rob Benedict, Kings of Con.

Who is Loki?

The original Loki was a Pagan god who Gabriel once befriended thousands of years ago and rescued.  He was bound in chains by his father in a cave with a snake dripping venom into one of his eyes.

The two became friends after that event. In an effort to hide from his family and protect himself, he took on the role of Loki.

Along the way he killed people who he deemed were unfit for this world. Bad people who shouldn’t go on living on Earth.

However, Sam and Dean put a big blockade into his plans more often than not. Under Loki we see Gabriel live a life of self-indulgence, not only hiding from his fighting family but enjoying the fine pleasures of life while he did it.

Also known as The Trickster, he enjoyed the lovely company of beautiful women while having a superior quality sweet tooth.

What do we know about Gabriel?

It took some time for his true identity to be revealed. As delightfully cunning as he could be as Loki, we got to see such human emotions as Gabriel.

He is an archangel who was surely the outcast of the family. He was the first archangel introduced to the series back in season 5.

However, he appeared first as Loki in season 2. We got to see Gabriel/Loki almost make fools out of The Winchester boys time and time again (even though it was Sam and Dean who discovered his true identity).

While it was delightfully fun and chaotically humorous it was never done for fun alone. He was always teaching the boys some kind of a lesson.

A lesson he felt they needed. Gabriel tries to show Sam that he has too much co-dependency with his brother.

What we came to find is he’s not that much different from the brothers. He loves his family more than anything else.

Gabriel also has a deep care for people. But he is also so complex that so many people can relate to him.

He knows humans have flaws and he is the only angel I believe, that lives up to the name. Gabriel also held humans to a higher standing than that of his archangel brothers.

There was a human side to him that the audience could connect with. Which is probably because he spent so much time on Earth to get away from his fighting brothers Lucifer and Michael.

Though he loved his family immensely, he did want to choose sides. Actor Speight Jr. may have had limited screen time in this hit show, but that never diminished his popularity.

He had an outpouring of fans despite his insufficient amount of time. People loved Gabriel and it was a shame the fans couldn’t see much more of him.

Because what they did see was an entertaining, disarray, of simply powerfully fascinating television. With those whiskey eyes and smile that could melt you even if there was deviousness behind it.

Will The Winchesters be returning for a Season 2?

The Winchesters have done very well for The CW standards but cutbacks continue to loom large for the network. There was no order for a full season from The CW.

There is no official word when or if there will be a season 2 for The Winchesters. We all hope there will be as there is so much that can be told.

There are so many characters of Supernatural that could come into play. Supernatural fans are still there in abundance.

I believe the more connections that are had with the main show, the more excitement and thus more fans will flock to this new series, if they haven’t already. While Supernatural may be off air now, its social media presence is still huge.

Fans are still crowding to all the conventions they can, just to get a glimpse of the ones who made the show one of the biggest franchises of all time.

How do you feel about Loki making a return to The Winchesters? Let us know!

Be sure to watch The Winchesters on Tuesday at 8 PM ET on The CW.