‘Supernatural’ Spoilers: What Happened In The Season 10 Finale? Recap Before The Season 11 Premiere

The Winchesters are back! And they’re ready to take on more, deadly paranormal entities when “Supernatural” airs its Season 11 premiere on Tuesday. But before Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) go toe-to-toe with their most lethal foe yet, check out the chaos that went down in the Season 10 finale of the long-running CW drama.

Dean, who was cursed with the pesky Mark of Cain, continued his hunting stint in episode 23, “Brother’s Keeper” – even aiding in the death of a fellow tracker. After the death of the supernatural hunter, Dean knew he had gone too far, which is when Sam’s black-eyed brother called upon Death (Julian Richings) for help.

Dean wanted the horseman to put him out of his misery but Death refused to kill the eldest Winchester. See, if Dean was to die without passing the Mark of Cain onto another innocent life, well then the Darkness, a primordial and powerful entity, would be released back into the world from the conferment God had sealed it in thousands of years ago.

Instead of passing on the menacing mark, Dean and Death agreed that the next best step was to relocate the cursed Winchester somewhere to a place where he couldn’t hurt the people around him. But of course, a deal with the devil comes at a cost – and a deadly one at that. Death noted that Sam will spend the rest of his life trying to free his brother. So, if Dean wanted to move forth with his plan, he needed to kill Sammy.

Meanwhile, Sam had entrusted in Rowena (Ruth Connell) to conjure up a spell that would remove the mark from Dean (unbeknownst of the repercussions) – in exchange for her freedom. But the only way to complete the enchantment would be destroying Rowena’s heart or something that she loved. Rowena initially scoffed at the idea of her caring for something other than herself… that is until Crowley (Mark Sheppard) uncovered her weakness: A Polish boy whose family once cared for her.

So as Dean picked up Death’s scythe and prepped to swing it, Rowena killed the only thing she cared for. But instead of Dean killing Sam, he turned Death’s own weapon on the grim reaper himself.

“I think I just killed Death,” Dean said nonchalantly.

But the Winchesters had a much bigger problem on their hands than the blood of Death: the release of The Darkness. After Rowena completed her spell, freeing Dean of the Mark (per Sam’s request), she escaped imprisonment – but not before casting a spell on Castiel (Misha Collins) that caused him to attack a defenseless Crowley.

The finale ends with Crowley’s fate in the air – as well as the world’s. In the final moments of “Brother’s Keeper,” Sam and Dean witness The Darkness emerge from its captivity, swallowing the Earth whole with a black wave of gloom.

“Supernatural” will airs its Season 11 premiere on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 9 p.m. EDT on The CW.