Development
When Collins auditioned for the role, he read for the part of a demon, as series creator Eric Kripke did not want fans to know of the introduction of angels to the series. Once Collins got the part, the main direction Kripke gave him of the character was there is "an otherworldly quality to the character, and that he hasn't been up close with human beings. He's been watching human beings from a great distance for the last two thousand years, so angels haven't been on Earth mingling with human beings for the last two thousand years. So when interacting with human beings, there's a naive curiosity about their behavior. It's as if inspecting some sort of alien beings." As well, director Kim Manners wanted to see a "piousness" to Castiel. Kripke based Castiel's appearance on the comic book character John Constantine.
To prepare for the role, Collins read the Book of Revelation. As well, Collins has said he somewhat based his character around his younger brother, who has something "angelic about him", as he "has this way of, very calmly, just staring into someone's eyes" making one feel "like he can get into your soul." To avoid the biblically toned dialogue from sounding too "campy", Collins does his best to "play it as real as possible". Because Castiel's true voice shattered windows in his premiere episode, Collins decided to use a "gruff, resonant voice" for the character. However, when portraying the angel's host Jimmy Novak, he tried to create a distinction between the two characters, providing different physical and personality traits, as well as using a "more boyish kind of sound" for Jimmy's voice.
Speaking of the fifth season and Castiel's more frequent interactions with humans, Collins commented, "Obviously the big joke is that he doesn't understand human beings and how they behave. And there is something inherently funny in that, especially if he's the straight man." The actor noted he was a little hesitant at making the character into "the funny guy", and was apprehensive about some moments in the early episodes of the season. However, he believes the writers have found "the line", allowing for the jokes to be "more subtle" and "a little more believable".
Read more about this topic: Castiel (Supernatural)
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