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Well, in the face of rumors and cryptic suggestion from cast members, it appears that the motley Winchester boys, Sam and Dean, are going to get one more season (at least) to drive off in that Impala and battle the forces of darkness.

The news comes from a source over at Cinema Spy that claims the CW is in the midst of talks that will extend Supernatural into a sixth season next fall. While this is no doubt good news for Supernatural fans (the two leads, Jared Padalacki and Jensen Ackles have contract requirements for a sixth), it does raise an important question.

What happens next?

Currently well into its fifth season, the horror-centric show is facing a looming apocalypse, brought on by the fallen angel (Lucifer), the Winchester boys  fighting to stop it with the aid of angelic warrior Castiel and the Armies of Heaven.  Things are quickly spiraling out of control for all involved, and there are even signs that the brothers may find themselves pitted against one another before it’s over.

Showrunner Eric Kripke has long suggested that he imagined the storyline as a five season arc that would build towards Armageddon and see Sam and Dean facing off with the Father of Lies in an epic showdown. In recent podcasts, he and the writers promised that we would see a ‘sustained dramatic apocalypse’ occur on the show and there’ve been whispers about the latest and greatest prospective guest star: God. Once the Almighty wanders into your story, where else do you go?

There are, of course, a few potential options. One of them is that the current end-of-days storyline will just push on into the next season. There have been an unusual number of one-off, standalone episodes recently  for a series trying to draw a massive storyline to a close. It’s possible, then, that this was done on purpose, and Kripke has left enough suspense for one more season, with the narrative’s end as he originally envisioned.

Then again, it might be more interesting thematically if Supernatural simply wraps the battle with Lucifer and continues on, much like Buffy the Vampire Slayer did with its fifth season back in 2000/2001. The Whedon-helmed show wrapped a major battle with an all-powerful heavy and even featured the death of its titular hero (there were uncertainties about renewal) at the close of its fifth season, and then returned with a sixth that was all about living in the aftermath of cataclysmic events.

If Sam and Dean do defeat Lucifer, what does life look like afterward? If the apocalypse has body-slammed the world, what does society do with the remnants? Or will we get the start of an entirely new storyline with Sam and Dean back on the road, vampire-slaying, demon-smashing, and ghost-busting just like the good ol’ days of seasons 1 through 3.

All of that remains to be seen, but it’s unlikely that the CW is ready to part with one of its tentpole dramas. What the future holds will no doubt be interesting. The good news is that now there’s a future for fans to speculate about.

The show returned last week with the episode ‘Sam Interrupted’ and is currently airing on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on the CW.