Love that they're reuniting but I kinda just want Castle to end so that Nathan can go on to something else :S
Liked this when it started but even quirky procedurals like this are just the same thing every week, I lose interest quickly. But glad Nathan's working anyway.

Fivewordsorless | April 17, 02:58 CET

I bet there will be NO Firefly references in the ep, because they stopped doing those years ago.

aitchbee | April 17, 10:04 CET

What Fivewordsorless said. I stopped watching Castle a few years ago.

Nebula1400 | April 17, 14:42 CET

Love Castle, and can't wait to catch up, and see Summer and Jewel in their respective eps! And I don't think there needs to be Firefly references, really, however fun they might be.

Jocelyn | April 17, 16:29 CET

Hope Jewel gets more screen time than Summer did. Seriously, Summer got three whole scenes, then got put on a bus for most of the episode. Might as well not have even been there, such a waste.

Batman1016 | April 17, 17:55 CET

I never missed an episode of Castle up until this season, but a few weeks ago I quit watching. The infuriating "fake fights" between Castle and Beckett; Beckett's lame and pointless slow-motion crusade against some undefined and uncompelling enemy; the tortured "Castle as private eye" storyline and the apparent intention to turn him into a complete buffoon, just undid all my goodwill for the series from all the previous seasons.

AndrewCrossett | April 18, 05:20 CET

I quit after S5 as well, Andrew, as the buffoonery had already become too rampant then. Nathan plays a doofus well, but then he also plays far more compelling characters at least as well. Here's hoping he is on to something new soon, as I think the show did great things at first, but the storylines have all been played out.

jclemens | April 18, 06:17 CET

News today is that Stana Katic was not asked back for the final season of the show, which will be foreshortened.

Dana5140 | April 18, 08:46 CET

Without Stana Katic another season will be a pointless waste of money for the network. I don't know why they're doing it.

AndrewCrossett | April 18, 09:45 CET

It appears to be due to cost reduction: http://deadline.com/2016/04/castle-stana-katic-exit-season-9-tamala-jones-out-1201739022/

Dana5140 | April 18, 10:08 CET

I've watched every Castle episode all the way until the end of S7, nothing of S8 yet, and I thought S7 still had quite a lot of perfectly enjoyable episodes, but the procedural format already annoyed me for a while now, and for a long time I thought that the show was a sad waste of Nathan Fillion's talent. He's always entertaining enough, but watch one of his Whedon roles and you see what he's truly capable of, I find that's rarely brought out in Castle.

I have a theory that the main problem with Castle is: 'Ryan and Esposito'. Nothing against the actors. Nothing against their characters, even. But it's the fact that these two precinct detectives are regular cast members. This means that the show always has to make room to include them. They can never make any kind of big change and always have to return to the status quo of Castle and Beckett working on NY police cases. Kate gets a job with the FBI? Old precinct is involved with the case, Kate's job lasts for a whole of three episodes after which she's conveniently allowed back into the exact same position she left, which still happened to be vacant. Castle can't work with the police anymore and starts a PI business? Lasted for five episodes, all his work involved the precinct and then he was allowed back.

When Kate got that job with the FBI, she moved to Washington and Castle made a big deal out of that. But why couldn't they just move there together? He's a writer - nobody requires him to stay in New York! They never even addressed this possibility, because the show would not allow for a change like that to truly happen. They had to return to the precinct status quo, with all of the regulars included.

Valentijn | April 18, 10:09 CET

I watch Castle every week out of a sense of loyalty to Nathan. But I haven't enjoyed the relationship between Castle and Beckett in forever. And right after season 1 they dumbed him down. I hated that. If you go back and watch the very first episode, the pilot perhaps, you'll see a much more playful guy that is a bit of a geek but smart as a whip. Even Martha was more fun.

TPTB should do a time-jump and send Beckett to Washington, leaving Rick, Martha, and Alexis to take care of the 3 kids they were predicted to have by the time-traveler in season 3.

And Ryan and Espo should have their own spin-off. I love those two. They bicker like an old married couple but they would take a bullet for each other, and they have.

madmolly | April 18, 11:14 CET

I liked Ryan, Esposito and Lanie a lot, even if their presence and popularity kept the show from expanding much beyond the precinct room. I still like them, but their presence isn't enough anymore to cover up the stuff that's bothering me.

AndrewCrossett | April 18, 12:51 CET

I still watch and enjoy Castle but everyone who praised last week's episode "Death Wish" did so because it returned to a much earlier formula and ignored that ridiculous big conspiracy ongoing story. But Castle is not Castle without Stana Katic on it.

Lioness | April 18, 15:07 CET

I started watching Castle out of loyalty and appreciation for Nathan Fillion. What kept me watching was the chemistry between all the cast members, especially Nathan and Stana. Keeping them separate-or separating them permanently- just isn't the show I used to love. Looking at reactions around the Web today, many (if not most) of the show's fans feel the same. Bad move, showrunners. #nostananocastle. IMHO, ABC needs to force a rewrite on the finale, give Beckett and Castle their happily-ever-after together that the fans crave, end the show, and let Mr. Fillion and Ms. Katic find jobs with shows where their talent will be respected and appreciated. And those showrunners should be given new work commensurate with their ability-- managing a streetside lemonade stand, perhaps.

[ edited by Darkest Wicca on 2016-04-19 00:43 ]

Darkest Wicca | April 18, 15:41 CET

My (educated) guess on this whole kerfuffle is the network/studio mandated cuts to production cost and the absolute fastest way to cut production cost on a show this long in the tooth is to cut main cast. No one knows who asked to be let go or was let go but I seriously doubt this is anything anyone did on a whim or for personal or even creative reasons. This was pure financial necessity. The cuts. Not the "who they cut."

Shows have to be doing great overseas and in secondary markets to afford how crazy expensive they get in later years. Every writer/producer/actor/crew member gets (deservedly) automatic contractual increases every season. That adds up fast and as a show gets older, secondary revenues decline (most of the time). You notice I'm not talking about ratings because they really don't matter that much anymore when it is a ABC show selling to an ABC network. It's all right hand/ left hand. The secondary markets are what matters.

Replacing Castle with a new show will cost ABC about 50% (or less) of what they are paying now.

The showrunners probably had an impossible decision in order to keep the show afloat for just a bit longer and to give everyone enough time to find new jobs for the next year. A short order will keep everyone (except Stana and Tamala *sadface*) getting a paycheck and will end about the right time for people to jump to new midseason shows or jump into pilot season.

Just my limited perspective. YMMV.

IrrationaliTV | April 18, 16:14 CET

Retool the show with the same title as a young detective show starring Quinn. Fillion guests only now and then. Budget solved!

@theonetruebix | April 18, 16:49 CET

From what I understand, Stana Katic has wanted off the show for some time, and it was a hard fight to get her to agree to a one-year contract a year ago. Part of the stipulation was that she didn't have to be in every episode, which is why they had to invent this tiresome conspiracy storyline to keep her sidelined.

Rumor has it that she and Nathan don't get along at all, but I don't know whether that's true or not.

I just think it's time for Nathan to get free so he has time to make Dr. Horrible 2 and Serenity 2. :-)

AndrewCrossett | April 18, 17:14 CET

Of course, that whole report about Stana leaving completely goes against my comments about the show always returning to a certain status quo. I would not have thought such a change to ever be possible.
However, I doubt such a 'yanking the heart out of the series' move can truly be a good change. It reads more like a desperate stretch to still have another season even when cast and budget availability wouldn't allow for much.

Valentijn | April 18, 23:18 CET

ABC should have learned this lesson from its disastrous handling of Scrubs. Hey, we're going to continue the show, but drop half the main cast, shorten the season, completely change the location, and introduce a whole bunch of new characters . . . hey, why aren't you guys watching anymore?

Stana goes, the show ends. Period. It's not the same series, and there's no damn point.

Batman1016 | April 19, 00:10 CET