Castle was one of ABC's steadiest performers for years, but not anymore. Following a flurry
of head-scratching headlines and behind-the-scenes problems, the network abruptly canceled the
crime drama after an eight-season run. Where did things go wrong? Well...
It's just it's complicated.
Stana Katic was kicked off the show
The first sign that something was amiss on the set of Castle came in April of 2016. ABC
abruptly opted not to renew star Stana Katic's contract for a ninth season. According to
Deadline, the decision was made due to "budgetary reasons." To add more fuel to the fire, sources
claimed that Katic wasn't even approached to renegotiate her contract.
Even the occasional Castle viewer was shocked by news of Katic's departure. Although the
show was named after Nathan Fillion's character, Richard Castle, Katic's Kate Beckett had become
an integral part of the show's storyline. Moving forward without Beckett made absolutely
zero sense.
Sure, high-profile cast members leave shows all the time, but considering the timing of
the news, plus reports that Katic didn't have a say in her exit, the whole thing felt strange,
if not suspicious.
Tamala Jones got the boot, too Katic's departure from the show was shocking
enough, but things got crazier when another one of Castle's top female stars, Tamala Jones,
left the show as well. In all fairness, having Jones continue to appear on Castle without
Katic didn't seem plausible, since her character, Dr. Lanie Parish, was Beckett's close friend.
The duo's departure seemed to suggest Castle was preparing for a major storyline shift
in Season 9. Which never would have worked because…
The show had changed too much In its coverage of Katic's shocking departure,
The Hollywood Reporter noted that the shake-up could allow Castle to focus more on the show's
weekly crime procedurals. Instead, the show had been focusing on larger character arcs,
relationship troubles, and general drama. The show had already hinted it was heading
in that direction when Castle and Beckett separated at the top of Season 8.
Castle grew out of its procedural shoes a long time ago and had since become a show
that many viewers were invested in because of its characters. Returning Castle to a run-of-the-mill
procedural drama would have set the show back years, when fans were expecting it to move
forward. Given how the firings upset fans, and the show's own cast, it's impossible to
imagine Castle returning to its roots without losing viewers.
Did Fillion and Katic hate each other? Amid reports of Katic's exit, word got out
that she and Fillion did not get along on set, much to the heartbreak of Castle fans
everywhere. In fact, things allegedly got so bad that Fillion would often make Katic
cry. "Stana would cry on set because Nathan was such a bully to her," a source told Us
Weekly just days after Katic's departure hit the wires. Added a second source: "Stana would
go in her dressing room and cry. A lot of people who work on the show don't like Nathan.
It's not just her. Nathan has been nasty to Stana for a long time. Stana was a pro, just
wanted to get in there and do her job."
A rep for Katic denied any on-set tension. Fillion dodged the rumors, but his tepid "I
wish her well" reaction on Twitter led many to wonder if the reports were actually true.
Ratings were sluggish When you remove all the behind-the-scenes
drama from Castle, ABC's decision to cancel the show might have been a lot more rational
than we initially thought. The show simply had not been pulling in the kind of ratings
it used to. The Season 8 premiere debuted to just under 7 million viewers, down about
4 million viewers from the previous season. Those numbers were likely an especially tough
pill for ABC execs to swallow, since Castle once averaged more than 12 million viewers.
But the bleeding didn't stop there. In February 2016, Castle aired its midseason premiere
to 5.72 million viewers, a series low, according to TV Line. By that point, the show was already
in ABC’s crosshairs.
New showrunners were brought in Another obvious sign that Castle's time was
running out. The series hired new showrunners Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter to take
the reins in Season 8. Hiring new people to run a show that late in the game is never
a great sign. It's even worse when they make risky changes to the storyline only to backtrack
a few episodes later.
Such was the case with Castle and Beckett's separation. Amid outrage from fans, Hawley
and Winter were forced to go on defense, assuring everyone that nobody was actually getting
divorced. But when Castle and Beckett got back together, by taking their relationship
on the DL, even that felt forced, unnecessary, and uncreative. It seemed like Castle's new
showrunners were running with scissors.
The show could not survive the negative press Between Katic's exit, rumors of bad blood
on set, and ratings in the toilet, Castle limped to the finish line with the kind of
bad press that no show could shake. Even if Castle had returned for a ninth season, the
show would have spent the entire time dealing with the fallout of getting rid of their main
characters. It also would have spent a good chunk of time contending with bad press, which
no doubt would have ballooned the moment the show took another dip in ratings. In other
words, by pulling the plug on Castle now, ABC saved itself from fighting a battle it
was never going to win. Sad as it may sound, it was safer to go out on a low note rather
than while scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel.
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