November 23, 2015 11:00pm PT by Sarah Huggins

Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter talk with THR about the midseason finale.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the season eight midseason finale of ABC’s Castle.]

Castle fans have been put through a lot in the show’s eighth season, but Monday's midseason finale, “Mr. & Mrs. Castle,” made the Richard (Nathan Fillion)/Beckett (Stana Katic) breakup completely worth it. After a fun cat and mouse chase, Beckett realized she would rather team up with her husband on her LokSat mission than keep lying to him.

Now the couple is back on and stronger than ever, but the decision to team-up is certainly a risky one. What does it mean for the pair going forward? THR spoke with showrunners Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter to get the scoop.

Things ended with Beckett asking for help from Castle and the two agreeing to work together despite the great risk involved. What can you say about how this is going to play out in future episodes?

Hawley: It’s going to be really fun! Because of the risks and everything to Castle, Beckett still wants to keep the public face of their separation. It allows us to have fun with it now and the audience is in on the joke so we can do scenes like we will do when we come back in February where they are yelling at each other in the precinct. The audience knows it’s just an act, so it’s delightful. It allows us to have fun that we couldn’t have otherwise.

Does this mean Beckett will be moving back in?

Hawley: No, the public face of them is still broken up, so she’ll be sneaking in to see him. They will be spending time together. We will now return to scenes at the beginning and end of episodes with them ...

Winter: ... In bed.

Hawley: Yes, in bed, but she’s sneaking in through the back door because the public face is still they are broken up. She’s trying to keep this public idea that Castle is out of her life.

Winter: The two of them have been married for a year so it adds a new, sexy twist to their relationship. Now it’s a little naughty. It’s a little forbidden, which adds a little jolt of fun. It’s like the old days where they have to sneak around. We [Castle and Beckett] can’t share with everyone we are together. That’s one of the delightful things we have been able to do that you’ll see in the new year that we wouldn’t have been able to do if we hadn’t started this whole thing off.

Hawley: I think it [the breakup] gave us the opportunity to do things we couldn’t do otherwise. I think it was important to dig into their character a little bit in ways you can only do through obstacles.

Winter: These are two characters that have been through a lot over the last eight years. A lot of emotionally tense, traumatic experiences. Some of the things we’ve put these folks through … There’s going to be stuff both Beckett and Castle have to work through. Right now we’re all able to rejoice because they are back together. It’s fun and it’s sexy.

The breakup was really hard on Castle, is there going to be any lingering effects moving forward?

Hawley: When we come back in February, he does test her a little bit just to make sure … I don’t want to give anything away, but he’s checking to make sure there’s no more secrets but to have this journey we’ve taken people on for the first eight episodes have meaning there needs to be actual change. The realization that Beckett had when she was confronted in that interrogation room when he says, "You like being broken" … Ultimately that realization means that she can move on. She can change. The days of her lying to him, the days of her keeping secrets are behind them because now she knows that no matter what he’s with her. It’s not like she didn’t know it before but there’s part of her that was trying to push him away. There’s a part of her that feels like she had to do it herself.

Winter: I don’t think Beckett could stand someone else close to her dying. Beckett is who she is because her mother was killed back when she was 19 years old and put her on this path she is on now. I don’t think she can handle the idea of Castle being harmed. That’s one of the motivations that put her down this path. It was all out of love. Now that we are past that point, we can twist it in some different ways. When people start seeing our episodes we have in the new year they will see the payoff of this new arrangement.

What else can you tease about what’s to come when the show returns in February?

Hawley: We have a very fun episode when we come back in a sort of Pitch Perfect kind of world where we get to see one of our characters do a little singing in an unexpected forum. It’s a really fun episode when we get back. Fans will be sad about the two months off, but we have some delightful stuff when we come back.

Are you excited about the “naughty” things on the way for Beckett and Castle? Sound off about the midseason finale in the comments below. Castle returns in February to ABC. 

November 23, 2015 11:00pm PT by Sarah Huggins

Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter talk with THR about the midseason finale.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the season eight midseason finale of ABC’s Castle.]

Castle fans have been put through a lot in the show’s eighth season, but Monday's midseason finale, “Mr. & Mrs. Castle,” made the Richard (Nathan Fillion)/Beckett (Stana Katic) breakup completely worth it. After a fun cat and mouse chase, Beckett realized she would rather team up with her husband on her LokSat mission than keep lying to him.

Now the couple is back on and stronger than ever, but the decision to team-up is certainly a risky one. What does it mean for the pair going forward? THR spoke with showrunners Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter to get the scoop.

Things ended with Beckett asking for help from Castle and the two agreeing to work together despite the great risk involved. What can you say about how this is going to play out in future episodes?

Hawley: It’s going to be really fun! Because of the risks and everything to Castle, Beckett still wants to keep the public face of their separation. It allows us to have fun with it now and the audience is in on the joke so we can do scenes like we will do when we come back in February where they are yelling at each other in the precinct. The audience knows it’s just an act, so it’s delightful. It allows us to have fun that we couldn’t have otherwise.

Does this mean Beckett will be moving back in?

Hawley: No, the public face of them is still broken up, so she’ll be sneaking in to see him. They will be spending time together. We will now return to scenes at the beginning and end of episodes with them ...

Winter: ... In bed.

Hawley: Yes, in bed, but she’s sneaking in through the back door because the public face is still they are broken up. She’s trying to keep this public idea that Castle is out of her life.

Winter: The two of them have been married for a year so it adds a new, sexy twist to their relationship. Now it’s a little naughty. It’s a little forbidden, which adds a little jolt of fun. It’s like the old days where they have to sneak around. We [Castle and Beckett] can’t share with everyone we are together. That’s one of the delightful things we have been able to do that you’ll see in the new year that we wouldn’t have been able to do if we hadn’t started this whole thing off.

Hawley: I think it [the breakup] gave us the opportunity to do things we couldn’t do otherwise. I think it was important to dig into their character a little bit in ways you can only do through obstacles.

Winter: These are two characters that have been through a lot over the last eight years. A lot of emotionally tense, traumatic experiences. Some of the things we’ve put these folks through … There’s going to be stuff both Beckett and Castle have to work through. Right now we’re all able to rejoice because they are back together. It’s fun and it’s sexy.

The breakup was really hard on Castle, is there going to be any lingering effects moving forward?

Hawley: When we come back in February, he does test her a little bit just to make sure … I don’t want to give anything away, but he’s checking to make sure there’s no more secrets but to have this journey we’ve taken people on for the first eight episodes have meaning there needs to be actual change. The realization that Beckett had when she was confronted in that interrogation room when he says, "You like being broken" … Ultimately that realization means that she can move on. She can change. The days of her lying to him, the days of her keeping secrets are behind them because now she knows that no matter what he’s with her. It’s not like she didn’t know it before but there’s part of her that was trying to push him away. There’s a part of her that feels like she had to do it herself.

Winter: I don’t think Beckett could stand someone else close to her dying. Beckett is who she is because her mother was killed back when she was 19 years old and put her on this path she is on now. I don’t think she can handle the idea of Castle being harmed. That’s one of the motivations that put her down this path. It was all out of love. Now that we are past that point, we can twist it in some different ways. When people start seeing our episodes we have in the new year they will see the payoff of this new arrangement.

What else can you tease about what’s to come when the show returns in February?

Hawley: We have a very fun episode when we come back in a sort of Pitch Perfect kind of world where we get to see one of our characters do a little singing in an unexpected forum. It’s a really fun episode when we get back. Fans will be sad about the two months off, but we have some delightful stuff when we come back.

Are you excited about the “naughty” things on the way for Beckett and Castle? Sound off about the midseason finale in the comments below. Castle returns in February to ABC.