The Winchesters: Bianca Kajlich on Millie fighting alongside John and more

The Winchesters, the prequel to the beloved Supernatural series, made its land in October on The CW and has found an audience hungry for its story. Part coming-of-age drama, part love story, the show tells John and Mary’s tale in a way that’s never been done before.

To do so, the show has diverged from what fans of its parent series have known for years about the characters to present a story that’ll somehow link up to canon. This divergence, however, has also given new and old fans alike the opportunity to delve into the backgrounds and histories of characters that didn’t play a prominent role in Supernatural.

One such figure is Millie Winchester, John’s mother. As his parent, she’s an essential piece of his story, but she didn’t have a presence in The Winchesters‘ predecessor. That’s not the case in the prequel where Millie’s increasingly becoming a vital part of the tale unfolding on our screens weekly on The CW.

Ahead of episode 4, I had the opportunity to chat with Bianca Kajlich, who plays the strong willed mechanic and single mother who’s very protective of her son. As viewers will see in “Masters of War,” Millie gets pulled into the monster of the week case. And, as Kajlich explains, this is only the start of her time helping John and his friends save people.

We’re going to be on a season long journey with Millie Winchester as she wrestles with her own fears, clashes with her son who’s trying to find his own path forward, and kicks some serious supernatural tail as she learns more about the world her husband, Henry, kept her in the dark about.

Read the interview below.

Bianca Kajlich on Millie’s journey on The Winchesters

You’re along for the ride this time in [episode 4 “Masters of War”] not as a monster but as Millie. What was that like being involved in the monster of the week case?

It’s awesome. Initially, when we were shooting the pilot, Robbie Thompson had said that at some point Millie will start to join in on the fun which was music to my ears as an actor. It’s so fun to play the parent but sometimes the parents get relegated to the backseat. They’re at the house, giving the kids a pat on the back or giving them life lessons. So, to get to literally jump into the passenger seat was awesome and so much fun.

Millie is a reallt great mom to John, but you have gotten to do more than parents get to do especially in supernatural shows where they get fridged. Will we be seeing Millie join along on more adventures with this Scooby gang?

Definitely. As we go, she does get more involved. It is a point of contention with John because as any normal child would feel frustrated with their parent suddenly coming into their private world. But I think that they have such an interesting dynamic already between the two of them being that Millie wasn’t ever really a normal mother. Especially in that time period to be a mechanic and to own her own garage. She was typically more of a masculine, father type role than she was a mother role. So it’ll be interesting to see how that dynamic plays out as we move forward.

For sure because we’ve also gotten moments where John is bringing his friends over to meet his mom and there’s different dynamics already happening there as well.

Absolutely. I think also Millie is worried about John and part of that is the trauma of having lost Henry and not wanting to lose her son. So, even though she’s stepping into a world that she has been so adamantly against, it’s kind of the last ditch effort because I think it’s the only way in her mind that she can somewhat oversee and ease the worry in heart.

There’s this great moment that you and Drake have as John and Millie at the end of episode 4 where he finally breaks down and it was wonderful getting to see Millie be there for him in a way that he hasn’t really allowed her to be.

I loved that moment. I loved that moment as it was written. I loved it as an actor getting to embody it. I felt that it spoke to a greater call for all of humanity that we all just want to be held in our most heartbreaking moments, don’t we?

Millie’s usually the rock. She’s had to be because Henry left and she’s had to be there for her son. Will we get to see Millie lean on someone herself this season?

I don’t know about this season. I’m not quite sure. The writers do hold things close to their vests as we move forward. But, we have talked about that for the character as a whole, Millie has held it all together really from the beginning and you have to wonder what that means for her in her own inner journey because clearly there’s probably her own needs that she’s not been attending to. And what is that really? Because so far the focus has been so much on John. So, I’m really excited about approaching that at some point.

I am, too, especially because [Millie] is going to be in the fray anyway. It’s one thing for her to have some what of an understanding when he was out on mission and not at home. And it’s another thing for her to be a part of the fray and really seeing the toll it takes.

I think the question for me always was “How much did Millie know and how much did she believe was actually real?” And I think in order to love Henry and to be with Henry, there had to be a part of her that trusted that there was truth to what he was doing and that there actually was purpose to that.

We all hold secrets close to our hearts, and I think that it’s the tip of the iceberg of the stories that she probably told herself to survive the entire time. That’s the beauty of getting to play with monsters. Monsters are literally mirrors to our own inner, darkest secrets and everybody in this show has them so it’s going to be a lot of fun as those get to be revealed.

It’s nice to see the little revelations that Mille has gotten.

That will continue as we get to know all of these people better. I think, too, what’s beautiful is that we’re not pretending that these relationships are perfect. We’re not pretending that the love story between John and Mary was a smooth ride. We know that it wasn’t. And the same can be said for Henry and Millie. She’s not mourning over this perfectly orchestrated love story. It was very complicated as real love tends to be.

Will we be unpacking her relationship with Henry and, of course, her relationship with her son, but also who Millie is as a woman outside of being a mom and a wife?

Absolutely. I don’t know how quickly we get to all that. It’s more of a slow burn but it is absolutely one of the destinations that we will be arriving at for sure.

Did you get to do any stunts yet?

Yes! When I got to play Monster Millie [in episode 2], it was the first time that I ever got to do stunt fighting. I have a lot to learn. It’s an incredibly challenging art form. We have an incredible stunt team that’s more than willing to walk us through the steps and help us get there. I have the utmost respect for them, and I’m so excited to continue to develop that side as an actor and as a character.

So we’ll see more Millie in action then. That’s exciting.

Heck, yes! If I have anything to do with it, absolutely.

What was your favorite episode to film so far of The Winchesters?

They’re all my favorites for different reasons. I loved episode 1×04 as somebody who really loves humanity, I just loved that moment with John to get to be there in that moment. Episode 7 is a doozy and I’m very excited to reveal everything that happens in that one, so I would say overall episode 7.

Episode 7 is when Henry is back.

Maybe. [Laughs]

We’re going to pocket that one then because that’s very exciting. Besides episode 7, is there another episode [for Millie] that you’re looking forward to fans seeing?

Episode 9. It has Millie confronting one of her biggest fears.

Can you elaborate a little bit more? That’s exciting!

I can’t really without giving anything away. Let’s just say she is an active participant in one of her greatest worries.

This interview was edited and shortened for clarity and time.

New episodes of The Winchesters air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. Next day streaming is available on cwtv.com and the CW App.

Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more The Winchesters news and coverage! Looking for reviews of the series? The CW Spiral podcast does weekly deep dives into the show’s new episode. Subscribe to their Youtube for CW content.