Castle (TV series)

Castle
Genre	Police procedural Crime Comedy-drama
Created by	Andrew W. Marlowe
Starring	Nathan Fillion Stana Katic Susan Sullivan Molly Quinn Jon Huertas Tamala Jones Seamus Dever Ruben Santiago-Hudson Penny Johnson Jerald Toks Olagundoye
Composer(s)	Robert Duncan Kim Planert
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	173 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Andrew W. Marlowe Rob Bowman Armyan Bernstein Laurie Zaks Barry Schindel René Echevarria David Amann David Grae Rob Hanning Terri Edda Miller Terence Paul Winter Alexi Hawley
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	43 minutes
Production company(s)	ABC Studios Beacon Pictures Experimental Pictures The Barry Schindel Company Milmar Pictures
Distributor	Disney–ABC Domestic Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 720p, HDTV 1080i
Original release	March 9, 2009 (2009-03-09) – May 16, 2016 (2016-05-16)
External links
Website

Castle is an American crime-comedy-drama television series,^[1] which aired on ABC for a total of eight seasons from March 9, 2009 to May 16, 2016. The series is produced jointly by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios.

Created by Andrew W. Marlowe, it primarily traces the lives of Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), a best-selling mystery novelist, and Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), an NYPD homicide detective, as they solve various unusual crimes in New York City. Detective Beckett is initially infuriated at the thought of working with a writer and goes to great lengths to keep him out of her way. However, the two soon start developing feelings for each other. The overarching plot of the series focused on the romance between the two lead characters and their ongoing investigation of the murder of Beckett's mother.

On May 12, 2016, it was announced that despite some cast members signing one-year contracts for a potential ninth season, the show was canceled.

Premise

Richard Castle (Fillion) is a famous mystery novelist who has killed off the main character in his popular book series and has writer's block. He is brought in by the NYPD for questioning regarding a copy-cat murder based on one of his novels. He is intrigued by this new window into crime and murder, and uses his connection with the mayor to charm his way into shadowing Detective Kate Beckett (Katic). Castle decides to use Beckett as his muse for Nikki Heat, the main character of his next book series. Beckett, an avid reader of Castle's books, initially disapproves of having Castle shadow her work, but later warms up and recognizes Castle as a useful resource in her team's investigations.

Cast and characters

Main

• Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle/Richard Rodgers, a best-selling mystery writer, who shadows and assists the NYPD. Castle's unusual theories sometimes irritate his coworkers, but often help solve the case.
• Stana Katic as Katherine "Kate" Beckett, an NYPD homicide detective who is promoted to captain in Season 8. She becomes the inspiration for Castle's bestselling Nikki Heat novels.
• Jon Huertas as Detective Javier "Javi" Esposito, a former Army Special Forces soldier who now works in the homicide division as part of Beckett's team.
• Seamus Dever as Detective Kevin Ryan, a former narcotics detective who works as part of Beckett's team. He is best friends with Detective Esposito.
• Tamala Jones as Dr. Lanie Parish, a medical examiner and a friend of Beckett and on-again-off-again love interest for Esposito.
• Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Captain Roy Montgomery (seasons 1–3), Beckett's boss and captain of the 12th Precinct.
• Molly Quinn as Alexis Castle, Castle's daughter by his first wife, Meredith
• Susan Sullivan as Martha Rodgers, Castle's mother, an actress on and off Broadway
• Penny Johnson Jerald as Captain Victoria Gates (seasons 4–7), Captain Montgomery's replacement, formerly with Internal Affairs
• Toks Olagundoye as Hayley Shipton (season 8), a quick-witted, free-spirited former MPS cop and MI-6 operative who now works as a security specialist

Recurring

• Maya Stojan as Tory Ellis, an NYPD Tech officer who assists on Beckett's cases
• Arye Gross as Dr. Sidney Perlmutter, a medical examiner who assists on some of Beckett's cases and does little to hide his dislike of Castle
• Juliana Dever as Jenny Ryan (née O'Malley), Ryan's wife. In the sixth season, she gives birth to their daughter Sara Grace. In the eighth season, she gives birth to their son, Nicholas Javier.
• Michael Trucco as Detective Tom Demming, a handsome robbery detective with whom Beckett briefly becomes involved
• Monet Mazur as Gina Cowell, Castle's publisher and second wife
• Victor Webster as Dr. Josh Davidson, Beckett's motorcycle-riding, cardiac-surgeon ex-boyfriend to whom Castle repeatedly refers as "motorcycle boy" and "doctor motorcycle boy"
• Ken Baumann as Ashley, Alexis' steady boyfriend
• Scott Paulin as Jim Beckett, Kate Beckett's father
• Jonathan Adams as Vulcan Simmons, a ruthless Manhattan drug lord
• Bailey Chase as Will Sorenson, an FBI agent and Beckett's ex-boyfriend who wants to reconcile but immediately recognizes Beckett's attraction to Castle
• Michael Dorn as Dr. Carter Burke, a psychiatrist who helps Beckett overcome her shooting and also deal with her various hidden emotions
• Geoff Pierson as Mr. Smith, a friend of Captain Montgomery's, who holds evidence that keeps the murderer of Beckett's mother away from her
• Darby Stanchfield as Meredith, an actress who was Castle's first wife and Alexis's mother. She is regularly portrayed as self-centered and dramatic.
• Michael Mosley as Jerry Tyson/the Triple Killer (3XK), a methodical and meticulous serial killer who returns to New York every few years to terrorize the city. He was believed to be dead, but has supposedly "resurrected" numerous times.
• Jack Coleman as William Bracken, a popular and charismatic senator representing the State of New York with ambitions of one day becoming president
• Phil LaMarr as Dr. Holloway, a psychiatrist who evaluates the mental stability of suspects
• Myko Olivier as Pi, Alexis's boyfriend (at the beginning of season six) with whom she shares an apartment for a while
• Lisa Edelstein as Agent Rachel McCord, Beckett's partner during her brief time working for the Attorney-General's Office
• Annie Wersching as Dr Kelly Nieman, a respected plastic surgeon with a secret life as Jerry Tyson's partner in crime
• Matt Letscher as 'Henry Jenkins' (real name unknown), an impostor purportedly with the CIA who is involved with Castle's disappearance
• Sunkrish Bala as Vikram Singh (season 8), a high-strung tech analyst with the Attorney General's office in Washington, D.C., where Beckett briefly works. He now works as a computer analyst for the NYPD.
• Kristoffer Polaha as Caleb Brown, an idealistic public defender found to have links to the LokSat conspiracy.

Real-life writers Stephen J. Cannell, James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, and Michael Connelly appear as themselves during periodic games of poker at Castle's apartment. Typically, they discuss Castle and Beckett's current case and tease Castle about his involvement with Beckett. Following Cannell's death on September 30, 2010, an empty chair was kept at the poker table for a year in his honor.

Broadcast history

Castle premiered as a midseason replacement on ABC on March 9, 2009. ABC renewed Castle for a second season with an initial order of 13 episodes (later extended to 24 episodes).^[2][3] The second season premiered on Monday, September 21, 2009.^[4] In March 2010, ABC renewed Castle for a third, 22-episode season, which began on September 20, 2010.^[5] On November 11, 2010, ABC extended the episode order to 24.^[6] On January 10, 2011, ABC announced Castle had been renewed for a fourth season for 22 episodes.^[7] Season four premiered on September 19, 2011.^[8] On December 8, 2011, ABC ordered an additional episode bringing season 4 up to 23 episodes.^[9] On May 10, 2012, Castle was renewed for a fifth season by ABC,^[10] which started on Monday September 24, 2012.^[11] Two additional episodes were ordered on October 19, 2012, and February 5, 2013, respectively, which brought season 5 up to a total of 24 episodes.^[12][13][14] On May 10, 2013, ABC announced via Twitter that Castle had been renewed for a sixth season.^[15] On May 8, 2014, ABC renewed the series for a seventh season,^[16] which premiered on September 29, 2014.^[17] On May 7, 2015, the series was renewed for its eighth season,^[18] which premiered on September 21, 2015.^[19] On April 18, 2016, ABC and ABC Productions announced that Stana Katic and Tamala Jones would not return for Castle's ninth season, should it be renewed.^[20] Despite several other cast members having signed on for a ninth season, on May 12, 2016, it was announced that the show would be cancelled instead; the final episode aired on May 16, 2016.^[21]

Reception

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Awards and nominations

Other media

DVD releases

Syndication

In June 2011, TNT acquired exclusive cable rights from Disney-ABC Domestic Television to air the first two seasons of Castle beginning in the summer of 2012.^[85] In advance of the series' fourth season, TNT broadcast an eight-hour marathon of episodes on September 15, 2011, including five from season 3.^[86] Castle began airing on TNT every Wednesday beginning September 26, 2012.^[87] Castle also began airing in broadcast syndication on weekends beginning September 29, 2012.^[88]

Tie-in works

In the series, Castle writes a novel titled Heat Wave. As a tie-in, ABC and sister publisher Hyperion Books released that novel as a real book (ISBN 978-1-4013-2382-0) with "Richard Castle" as the author. It is entirely in character from the dedication to the acknowledgments, although the latter mentions the principal cast and the show's creators by first name.^[89] ABC released the first half of the novel in weekly increments on their website.^[90] The complete novel was published in September 2009 as a hardcover, debuting at No. 26 on The New York Times Best Seller list.^[91] In its fourth week on the list, Heat Wave broke into the top 10 at No. 6.^[92] Heat Wave was released in paperback (ISBN 978-1-4013-1040-0) on July 27, 2010 and debuted at No. 34 on The New York Times Best Seller Paperback Mass-Market list.^[93] It once again appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list on May 27, 2012 at No. 19.^[94]

Naked Heat (ISBN 978-1-4013-2402-5), the sequel to Heat Wave, was released on September 28, 2010.^[95] Naked Heat debuted at No. 7 on The New York Times Best Seller list.^[96] As they did with Heat Wave, ABC released a series of the early chapters online as a promotional tool.^[97]

A third novel, titled Heat Rises (ISBN 978-1-4013-2443-8), was released on September 20, 2011.^[98] It debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list on October 9, 2011^[99][100] and at No. 5 on the USA TODAY Best-Selling Books list.^[101]

The season three finale introduced a graphic novel based on Castle's previous novel character, Derrick Storm. Castle: Richard Castle's Deadly Storm was published by Marvel Comics on September 28, 2011.^[102] It debuted at No. 3 on The New York Times Best Seller list on October 16, 2011.^[103] This has been followed by three more graphic novels, published a year apart.

A fourth novel, titled Frozen Heat (ISBN 978-1-4013-2444-5), was released on September 11, 2012,^[104] and debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list at No. 7 on September 23, 2012.^[105]

The fifth Nikki Heat novel Deadly Heat was released September 17, 2013 and debuted at No. 8 on The New York Times Best Seller list.^[106]

Raging Heat, the sixth novel, was released on September 16, 2014. It landed on No. 6 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list^[107] and on No. 17 on New York Times Combined Print and E-Book Fiction bestseller list^[108] on October 5, 2014.

The seventh novel, Driving Heat,^[109] was released on September 15, 2015.^[110] It debuted on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list at No. 13^[111] on October 4, 2015.

On May 20, 2016, it was announced that two more novels would be published in the Nikki Heat series, even though the show itself had been canceled. The eighth book in the series, High Heat, is due for publication on October 25, 2016. The ninth, Heat Storm, is scheduled for early 2017.^[112]

In February 2012, Hyperion announced three e-book novellas as part of Richard Castle's famous Derrick Storm series. The first novella of the series, A Brewing Storm, was released in digital media on May 1, 2012. It debuted at No. 13 on The New York Times E-Book Fiction Best Seller list,^[113] as well as No. 18 on The New York Times Combine Prints & E-book Fiction list^[114] on May 20, 2012.

On July 3, 2012, the second novella of the new Derrick Storm books, A Raging Storm, was released in e-book format. It landed on The New York Times Best Seller e-books list at #19^[115] and at No. 31 for the combined Prints & E-book list, both on July 22, 2012.^[116]

The final Derrick Storm novella, A Bloody Storm, was released on August 7, 2012. It debuted on The New York Times Best Seller e-books list at #20^[117] and at #34^[118] on the combined Prints & E-book list on August 26, 2012.

Derrick Storm television series

On August 20, 2014, ABC announced that the early development stage has begun on a television series centered on Derrick Storm. The series will be a CIA procedural written by Gregory Poirier, who will executive-produce with Castle's Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller.^[119]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Castle (TV series)

• Official website
• Castle at the Internet Movie Database
• Castle at TV.com
• Castle at TV Guide
• Castle ratings at TV by the Numbers