Author: Sarah Huggins

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

 Mitchell Haaseth/ABC

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. 

Castle

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

 Mitchell Haaseth/ABC

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. 

Castle

September 18, 2015 10:30am PT by Sarah Huggins

 Courtesy of ABC/Richard Cartwright

New bosses Terence Paul Winter and Alexi Hawley talk with THR about what to expect from the veteran Nathan Fillion-Stana Katic drama.

When Castle returns for its eighth season premiere Sept. 21, the long-running ABC drama will feature major changes both on and off-screen.

Season eight will be overseen by new showrunners who both have long, varied histories with the show: Castle writer Terence Paul Winter and former The Following co-showrunner Alexi Hawley. Season seven boss David Amann, as well as series creator Andrew Marlowe are not returning. In addition, the series has added some new blood to mix things up for Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), newly appointed Capt. Beckett (Stana Katic) and the crew. Neighbors star Toks Olagundoye joins the cast as Hayley Shipton, a stealth security specialist with a shady past. So what do all the changes mean for the series and will season eight be Castle’s last? The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Winter and Hawley to answer all the burning questions ahead of the premiere.

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New showrunners generally means a shift of some sort. How has it been collaborating so far?

Hawley: It’s been fantastic. Terence and I worked together for three seasons back toward the beginning. We have a real shorthand with each other and we have a lot of fun breaking story and writing scripts.

Will fans be able to see big changes because of your collaboration throughout the season?

Hawley: I’m a little biased, but I really enjoyed my time here. Our storytelling — especially in seasons two and three — was a bit more fun, character-based stuff and a little less procedural. Terence was excited about that idea as well — to simplify the cases a little bit to give us room to tell character stories. Coming into this season, we had shot 151 episodes … we’ve pretty much done every kind of case you can do, so it’s really more about the characters and how they interact with each case.

Winter: And how the cases affect our characters and change the relationships and move our guys forward.

In the first part of the season eight premiere, titled “XY,” Beckett goes missing and the episode is shown through Castle’s perspective. What else can you tease about the premiere?

Hawley: It’s a very dynamic episode. We wanted to engage on every level that Castle engages in. The great thing about the show is, tonally, we get to be really funny. We get to be serious, emotional, scary and all those things. So we put all of that into the pot on this. We also need to redefine a few things at the beginning of the season with Castle and Beckett and the P.I. office with [Beckett] being captain and Alexis (Molly Quinn)working there [and] introducing new characters. We want to do it in a really dynamic way.

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Toks joins the cast this season. What can you say about how she is will interact with Castle, Beckett and the rest of the cast?

Winter: It’s exciting because she brings such a new dynamic. Toks really brought some new flavor to the show. What’s exciting is Hayley is not paired with Castle. She’s not paired with Beckett. However, we have episodes where she’s working with Castle. She’s working with Beckett … she’s working with the boys. She’s become like a big sister to Alexis as Alexis is playing around with this idea of becoming a P.I.

Will viewers find out what happened when Castle disappeared last season?

Hawley: Yes! That’s one of our missions this season: to delve into that and complete that storyline. Part of the fun of the season — and you see it a little bit in the first episode — is [Sen.] Bracken (Jack Coleman) comes in a very unexpected way and it is ultimately connected to something with Beckett’s time in the Attorney General’s Office, which is unexpected. We play that out in episode two and you get more information on that. We liked the idea of being able to connect some dots throughout the season.

In a larger sense, how are you approaching the season if this year is more focused on character development?

Hawley: We came in with a conscious idea of telling a complete story this year. The majority of Castle episodes are stand-alones … they’re cases of the week. We want to start a storyline in these first two episodes that we revisit as we go through the season. We are constantly changing the character dynamics and there are new things to discover. We’re excited about it because we think this allows us to dig deeper into our characters on the show in a new, exciting way.

There have been rumblings this could be the final season. How much longer do you see the series running?

Hawley: If you ask us, the show would run forever. I do think there are still stories to be told. The strength of the show is its characters and its actors and we’ve got that like crazy. Part of what we are trying to do this season is add fresh energy … by picking things up a little bit to infuse it with a bit more character all across the board is set ourselves up hopefully to go for a long time — but that’s not our decision. We hope we are talking about season nine next year.

Castle returns Monday, Sept. 21 at 10 p.m. on ABC. Are you excited about this season? Sound off in the comments below.

Castle