User blog comment:FTWinchester/Season 9 concepts/@comment-1509826-20130908231102/@comment-11331875-20130911095515

I can't go out and find the link for you because I'm trying REALLY hard not to see any spoilers, but I got the impression from another SPN board that they really are bringing Alaina back for Abaddon. I think it was that she showed up in the latest promo or something, but since I didn't watch it...

I'm pretty sure they gender-swapped Abaddon because they've been consistent in using female pronouns and female-based insults about her; if not, they probably would have mentioned by now that it was actually a dude and probably worked that into a few insults for Dean (and maybe Crowley) to use like they did with Raphael.