Castle Was Back at the Paley Center for Media

Earlier this week nearly the entire cast and the creative minds behind one of the most popular TV shows of the current age – that would be the TV show Castle – made a return visit to the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills for a moderated panel with a packed (and anxious) room of fans; some of whom were literally camped outside the center since the wee hours of that morning.

The evening got started with Rene Reyes, Director of Programming, greeting the audience of one of the most-anticipated panels of the year; and then introducing moderator Rachel Smith, the host of ABC half-hour weekly entertainment news series On the Red Carpet, to the podium. Rachel got the crowd pumped up by immediately welcoming the cast members and executive producers to the stage.

The panelists included the following:
Penny Johnson Jerald, who plays Captain Victoria Gates
Jon Huertas, who plays Javier Esposito
Seamus Dever, who plays Kevin Ryan
Stana Katic, who plays Detective Kate Beckett
David Amann, one of the executive producers and writers
Andrew Marlowe, creator and executive producer
Rob Bowman, one of the executive producers and directors
Nathan Fillion, who plays Richard Castle
Molly Quinn, who plays Alexis Castle
Susan Sullivan, who plays Martha Rodgers

The discussion got started by talking about the memorable achievements the show has reached so far, including making it to their 5th season, the 100th episode as well as Kate saying “yes”! The show even saw a growth in ratings to which Andrew attributed to the syndicated airings of Castle on TNT. He also mentioned that the ratings spike was due to the remarkable writers for the show, several of whom were in the audience.

Of course, talk then turned to the fact that Castle proposed and Kate said yes, with moderator Rachel asking Stana and Nathan their reactions to that specific scene. Nathan, in his normal affable manner, shared that, “One: The show is called Castle so maybe I’m the boss” (to which everyone laughed whole-heartedly), Two: He is very happy to be employed and Three: When he read the script, he thought to himself “that’ll keep us on the air for another year”.

The talk the moved over to what was going on in New York and DC during the two month time jump of the proposal and Kate being seen in her DC training. Jon and Seamus joked that Espo and Ryan were taking over the precinct and reducing the crime rate. Meanwhile, Molly joked that no one told Alexis anything and Susan quipped that Martha “redid her room and hoped they didn’t realize she was still there” (in Castle’s apartment, that is).

After years of the “will they/won’t they” scenario between Kate and Beckett was brought up, Andrew shared that the new theme for the current sixth season is “how will they?”. He further shared that the couple are “on this journey together and how do they navigate their lives” now that they are engaged.

This led to Stana being asked about the different preparation involved with working with the new team in DC with her sharing that she has enjoyed this change for her character, as it is a “nice change to see (Kate) fighting to prove herself” after being so “in charge” at the New York precinct.

The subject then shifted to the relationships of the other characters, including:

• Lanie (missing cast member Tamala Jones, who had a scheduling conflict making her unable to attend the event) and Javier – Sadly, no definitive explanation could be given on whether they will or should get back together;
• Alexis and Pi (guest star Myko Olivier) – Molly thinks that Pi is “the real thing” for Alexis because he brings joy to her life;
• Kevin and Jenny (recurring cast member Juliana Dever, Seamus’s real life wife) are gearing up for the soon-to-be pitter patter of little feet; and,
• Susan would love to learn more about Martha’s history with “Mr. Brolin”, who – as fans know – played mysterious spy and Richard’s biological father James Hunt.

That all being said brought the conversation back to Beckett and Castle’s impending wedding with Stana sharing that her ideal wedding for the couple would be for them to elope while Nathan would love to see Kate and Rick get married “in space”. {Cue the Firefly music here, right?!}

The cast members then talked about storylines that they would like to see happen on the show in the future with the following giving their ideas:

• Nathan would like to see previous guest stars brought back to see where they are now in one or more big episodes and he would also like to see one whole episode happen in the morgue from Lanie’s perspective;
• Seamus has pitched the same idea every year: Castle pays for the team to go to a mansion for one of those murder mystery nights where they are dressed in character and have to stay in character to solve a real murder; and,
• Jon wants an episode to focus on a murder that takes place at a Medieval Times reenactment, allowing Esposito to go undercover as a knight.

The audience was then welcome to join in the Q&A with a handful of questions being tossed out to the panelists, ending with Stana sharing that “the show would not have lasted the first two seasons without the fans” and “it’s an honor for us to be here”.

Before ending the night, each of the panelists were asked to describe season six in one word:

• Susan – Complicated
• Molly – (Season 6 has left her) Speechless
• Nathan – Finally
• Rob – Fresh
• Andrew – Classic
• David – Evolving
• Stana – Growth
• Seamus – Ch-Ch-Changes
• Jon – Memorable
• Penny – Rebirth

Fans have a great deal to look forward to as the sixth season of Castle rolls out on ABC with new episodes airing every Monday night at 10/9c. Make sure to tune in to see what’s coming next.

(Photo Credit: Kevin Parry Photography/The Paley Center for Media)