‘Supernatural’ season 8: A holiday gift via Jensen Ackles

There may be no new “Supernatural” season 8 episodes coming up until January 16, but why not smile a little bit more now courtesy of the latest poster that is being shown off now courtesy of The CW? It is the holiday season, after all, and this image basically follows up the tradition of the one we showed featuring Candice Accola, Michael Trevino, and Joseph Morgan of “The Vampire Diaries.”

Of course, we’re sure that there are probably some people out there who are going to frown right away about the fact that this is basically the same image of Dean that has been used in other promotional efforts. However, we’d rather have a re-purposed image than no image at all, especially when it reminds us about a beloved show at a time when there is nothing on the air.

The CW traditionally takes longer holiday hiatuses than the rest of broadcast television, and the reason for that is simple: they want to ensure that you have as many new episodes consecutively as possible. Given that the season also started a little bit later than usual, it is possible that we could be looking at here is a case in which the show returns, runs through the entirety of the February sweeps, and then just takes one more hiatus before returning in the middle of April to close off the season. (This is at least what we are hoping for, since there is nothing that we hate more than an extremely long hiatus in the middle of spring.)

As for what will be coming up in the new year, be prepared to see plenty more of Amanda Tapping as Castiel’s new “associate” Naomi, and the tension between Sam and Dean is probably going to boil over after the Amelia stunt Jensen Ackles’ character pulled at the end of the midseason finale.

If you want to check out a promo for the next “Supernatural” episode, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: The CW