Castle's unexpected cancellation nearly left fans and the creative
team with nothing but a cliffhanger. What the heck happened and why?
The writers of Castle planned on getting the greenlight for Season 9. Because of this,
they created a story where Beckett and Castle are attacked and gunned down
in their home. The season was meant to end with both Castle and Beckett
lying in a pool of their own blood, with their fate left up in the air.
While that would have made for a good season finale, the fate of
the cliffhanger was already revealed. Beckett would succumb to her injuries,
as Stana Katic was not slated to return for Season 9. The actress had been unceremoniously fired.
"Goodnight, Castle."
This came as a surprise. The entire premise of the series was built around
the relationship between Castle and Beckett.
"I'm still amazed at the depths of your strength and your heart. And your hotness."
It's because of her that there are murders to solve at all. Katic's firing wasn't received
positively by long-time Castle fans, as the entire point of the show would change with her death.
"You're the best that I've ever trained. Maybe the best I've ever seen.
But you weren't having any fun before he came along."
Luckily or not so luckily, depending on whom you ask, Castle was
canceled, so audiences never saw a season without Beckett.
Before it was revealed that Season 8 would be the final season for "Castle," the series was gearing
up to go in an entirely new direction. With the death of Stana Katic's Detective Beckett,
the premise of the show was going to shift. Season 8 had already laid the groundwork for this change,
as Castle stopped working with the NYPD homicide department. In order
to appease his interest in all things murder, he opens his own PI business,
where his daughter Alexis, played by Molly Quinn, works with him.
"Oh my God, this turned out so much cooler than I thought it would!"
He's also working with a new female protagonist, Hayley Shipton, played
by Toks Olagundoye, a former MI6 operative who's moved into the security business.
"Hope you don't mind. I'm just giving her some PI lessons."
"Hayley was teaching me the art of manipulating men."
She was clearly meant to be a Beckett replacement for the show if it continued into Season 9.
According to Entertainment Weekly, had Castle been renewed, it would have revolved around
Castle's PI business as he hunts his wife's killer. It's likely that Castle would have
uncovered a larger conspiracy revolving around Beckett's death. Everyone in the show would be
out for blood, which would allow "Castle" to include all previous main characters,
such as Detective Javier and Detective Ryan, in the reconfigured series.
Season 9 could have shown how Castle's search for vengeance would take him down a dark path,
but it's likely that, by the end of the season, Castle would have found some form of closure.
It's been suggested that Castle stars Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic didn't get along,
and that friction is why Katic was fired.
"Your inspiration might strike you sooner than you think."
An inside source spilled to Hello! magazine just how bad the castmates'
relationship was. The actors wouldn't speak to each other outside of filming,
and Katic could often be found in tears in her dressing room. According to the insider,
the crew encouraged the co-stars to go to therapy to resolve their intense dislike of
one another. US Weekly also reported the on-set tension. Another insider claimed that Fillion
was horrible to his co-star, while Katic just wanted to get her job done without complications.
"Yeah, well, things have never been easy between you and me."
While neither Katic nor Fillion has ever commented on these rumors, the fact that they haven't
refuted the reports speaks volumes, especially in light of Katic's surprise firing from the series.
Katic was reportedly blindsided by Castle's decision to terminate her contract. At the time,
however, the actress remained professional and didn't comment
on her relationship with co-star Nathan Fillion or the show's sudden ending.
After some time had passed, Katic shared with News Corp. that she was
proud of her work on the show and how special her character, Beckett, was,
and that she was hurt and confused by the way it all ended. She told The Daily Mail,
"It would be a disservice to the work that I did, which I feel partly contributed to the
success of the show, if I looked back on it and was anything but grateful for the awesome run."
Katic shared with Entertainment Weekly that she found her ending with the series "harsh" and
that she was still unclear as to what happened between her and the network. However, she chose
to look back fondly on her experience and on the people that she met while working on set.
Just tell us, Stana: what was the drama between you and Nathan Fillion? Spill the tea!
Castle executive producer Alexi Hawley says they always had a contingency plan just
in case the show didn't get renewed. While Season 8 of Castle was airing,
the network had yet to announce there would be a Season 9. In fact, the cast and crew were not
made aware of the network's decision to pull the plug until close to the Season 8 finale.
Hawley told Entertainment Weekly,
"If we hear that we're not coming back, we have shot something that
we can put at the end of the episode as a way to put a button on everything."
It wasn't something the crew wanted to do. They were hopeful Castle would be renewed,
which would allow the series to tackle the characters' pursuit of vengeance
over Beckett's death. According to Hawley, they shot a final time jump scene to appease fans,
as they didn't want to leave them with questions, but co-showrunner Terence Paul Winter shared with
Entertainment Weekly that his "hope [was] that it [would never see] the light of day."
Sadly, it did. The clip jumps seven years in the future and features
voiceovers from Castle and Beckett. The two are very much alive, thriving,
and still in love. They even have a house full of kids, proving that they still make a great team.
At the end of Season 6, Castle's original showrunner, Andrew Marlowe, stepped down.
"We have a great lead producer, Andrew Marlowe,
who loves women. And so I think he loved letting her shine as a woman in the end."
Marlowe went out with a bang. The Season 6 finale showed Castle being kidnapped on
his wedding day. It was a punch to the gut. Audiences thought they were finally getting
a happy ending only to have the dream snatched away. Season 7 was the beginning of the end for
Beckett and Castle's relationship, as they were constantly tested and pulled apart,
almost as though the writers were no longer planning to have them end up together. Which,
well, they weren't. The writers planned to kill Beckett off.
Before leaving Castle, Marlowe described the series as "a love story wrapped in a
procedural." However, Seasons 7 and 8 veered drastically from that concept. The show began
to focus more on the character of Castle and how he flourished without Beckett.
Will they/won't they relationships are staples in television; think The Vampire Diaries, Scandal,
or even Friends. Audiences yearn for these couples to wake up and get together. From
the first moment of Castle, it was clear that Richard Castle was into Detective Kate Beckett.
"The guy is crazy about you, and despite your little act, you're crazy about him."
Whether she was interested in him remained to be seen. While it was obvious that the two would be
the endgame, their romance wasn't necessary. While Castle and Beckett were the glue holding
the series together, their relationship didn't need to turn into Bones and Booth from another,
similar cop drama, Bones. They could have followed the Mulder and Scully model instead.
The two didn't need to become a couple for the show to work, especially since they're
separated by other romantic partners, by the fear of admitting their feelings,
or by jobs in different cities. Beckett and Castle hardly ever share scenes in Season 8,
as Beckett's off taking part in a secret mission. And don't even get us started
on that time Castle straight-up disappeared on their wedding day.
"Kate. Kate, why are you shutting me out?"
"Castle, I love you."
Because of all this drama, the couple's happy ending feels rushed. Audiences rarely saw them
happy together over eight seasons, so it's hard to believe that, seven years later, things are
picture perfect. Maybe the writers had the right idea when they planned to kill Beckett off.
The seven-year time jump tacked on at the end of Season 8 meant to make
fans happy. After everything Beckett and Castle go through,
the show does a 180 and lets them live out their lives together happily ever after.
"Every writer needs inspiration. And I found mine."
This was the original concept for Castle's first showrunner Andrew Marlowe. Marlowe
stepped down after running Seasons 1 through 6. He had some standout episodes during his time,
but it's Season 6 Episode 5 that shines when considering the series end.
The episode is titled "Time Will Tell" and plays into one of Castle's
fantastical ideas surrounding a case. He and Beckett encounter Simon Doyle,
who claims he's a time traveler sent back to stop a terrible event from unfolding.
"Look. I'm a temporal anthropologist. What we
do is we travel back in time and we study culturally significant eras."
Naturally, Castle is all in, while Beckett has no time to engage with Doyle's apparent delusions.
By the end of the episode, Doyle shares with Castle that he and
Beckett are married in the future with three kids.
"Real charmer, that one. I can't believe you marry her."
Beckett is a Senator and Castle is now an author of "serious literature." While this is a fun way
to end the episode, the time jump in the series finale seemingly confirms Doyle's prediction.
At least, on the kid front, as Beckett is seen chasing around three kids in her home with Castle.
Poor ratings are usually the biggest driver for giving a show the ax. If a series isn't bringing
in enough viewers, it's not doing its job, and networks use that as an excuse to cut ties with
a series. While this can sometimes happen too soon, as with Firefly, Castle is lucky enough
to have run for eight successful seasons, even if some were praised more highly than others.
According to CBR, the lower ratings from Castle Season 8 heavily contributed to the
series being canceled. In fact, viewership had been declining over the previous few
seasons. It seems as though Season 8 was the final straw for the network,
as they no longer had faith that the show would bring in the big numbers that it used to.
"I thought that you would –"
"Just take you back, in spite of what you put me through."
Season 8 of Castle was averaging under 10 million viewers per episode. And if that
sounds like a lot, the highest viewership for the network at the same time was over
13 million. Season 8 saw the show's lowest ever numbers, which had been dropping significantly
since the new showrunners took over. This could be a direct result of the show moving
away from the Castle/Beckett romance and more into a Castle-centric story.
"It is time to get back in the Richard Castle business."
"Oh well, thank you. I'm flattered."
Due to the decline in viewership, Castle was slated for major budget cuts if Season 9 were
to move forward. According to CBR, the only way another season of Castle would have been greenlit
was if the show were able to significantly reduce the amount of money it was spending on production.
"The studio goes and casts the "braless coed in blood-soaked t-shirt" from Knife 2?"
This may have contributed to Stana Katic's dismissal from the show,
as both Katic and co-star Tamala Jones, who played Dr. Lanie Parish,
were asked not to return for Season 9. According to CinemaBlend, in 2016 Katic was revealed to be
one of the highest-paid actresses on television. This would have been right around the time Season
8 of Castle was filming. Katic's negotiated salary landed her at approximately $12 million
per season, based on the one-year contract she signed after filming wrapped on Season 7.
With budget cuts looming, and plans on moving the story away from Castle
and Beckett's romance, cutting out a $12 million+ salary is one sure way to do it.
Unfortunately for the crew, this wasn't enough, and Castle was still canceled. Luckily,
Beckett and Castle got the ending they deserved — which happens to
be the one that original showrunner Andrew Marlowe always envisioned.