The Arresting Charm of CASTLE at PaleyFest 2012

Nathan and Stana Photo by: Kevin Parry/The Paley Center for Media

When the cast and creative team of the top ABC drama Castle takes the stage in front of a packed audience, you never know what to expect; and the audience for the Castle panel at PaleyFest 2012 were not disappointed.

The event opened with a clip from the Paley Center’s archives especially chosen for the night – a scene from the online sensation Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which, of course, starred Castle lead Nathan Fillion (pop culture God himself) – and then Castle actress Tamala Jones took the stage to sing the tune her 1940’s counterpart from the Castle episode entitled “Blue Butterfly” sang. I must say she is one talented lady and received a standing ovation from the fans.

Susan Makes Her Grand Entrace Photo by: Kevin Parry/The Paley Center for Media

As moderator William Keck from TV Guide took the stage he informed the audience that the cast was actually celebrating an anniversary: Castle debuted on ABC that very day (March 9) three years earlier and that the audience was in for a number of special sneak peeks and a few other surprises. But first, he introduced series creator Andrew Marlowe to the stage, who thrilled the audience with sneak peeks at the new Derek Storm graphic novel and the new cover art for the next Richard Castle book about Nikki Heat called “Frozen Heat”. The audience was then treated to a screening of the next new episode of Castle entitled “A Dance with Death” that will air on ABC on March 19 at 10 PM.

The panel was an extremely entertaining one for the packed audience, filled with lots of laughter and silliness, but also sincerity and heartfelt joy with the entire cast – Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Seamus Dever, Jon Huertas, Tamala Jones and Penny Johnson Jerald as well as series creator Andrew Marlowe all taking part in the panel.

Molly, Jon, Seamus & his wife Juliana Photo by: Kevin Parry/The Pale Center for Media

Some of the highlights from the night were:

The cast re-enacting numerous scenes from the “Blue Butterfly” episode, showing off their prowess with the accents used by their 1940 counterparts;

Jon and Seamus showing how their 1940 counterparts from the “Blue Butterfly” episode beat up Nathan’s 1940 counterpart from the episode;

That because of the events that took place in the latest two-part episode – “Pandora” and “Linchpin”, Richard Castle will dust off his Derek Storm character with new e-books being released with the first story being called “A Brewing Storm”;

The cast giving out autographed scripts, Richard Castle books, TV Guide magazines featuring Stana and Nathan on the cover and many other great memorabilia items to every audience member who asked a question; and,

Tamala and Penny Photo by: Kevin Parry/The Paley Center for Media

Revealing some interesting tidbits that would otherwise not be known, which are the fantastic parts about PaleyFest. What are some of those tidbits, you may ask? Well, how about these:

• Andrew knows exactly when Castle and Beckett will finally get together, but of course he wouldn’t tell the audience;
• That the new photo shoot that was done with the Castle cast, featuring them in 1940’s attire was done prior to the culmination of the “Blue Butterfly” episode and did provide some inspiration for that episode, but Andrew shared that he knew Castle would need a big episode that night because they were up against the debut of the NBC series Smash;
• That Nathan and Stana were handcuffed together for hours in the thrilling episode entitled “Cuffed” (the one that featured the tiger); and Nathan shared that “heights, sharks, bears and tigers are the things that he does not want to be killed by”;
• Andrew shared that secrets will start to come to light among the characters and that all of the characters will have to deal with the emotional ramifications of those reveals; and,
• More will be touched on about Beckett’s mother’s murder by the end of this season and that will put Kate in an emotionally raw situation.

Cast Photo by: Kevin Parry/The Paley Center for Media

Regretfully, the panel had to come to an end with plenty of interesting questions from the audience and the cast being really sweet sticking around for as long as they could to give out autographs to the clamoring fans.

As mentioned earlier, the next new episode of Castle is expected to air on ABC this coming Monday, March 19 at 10 PM. Make sure to tune in for the next thrilling adventure of Castle and Beckett and the rest of the team.