Source: WSJ, 9-19-11

We ended the last season of “Castle” with a classic cliffhanger: Beckett was shot by a sniper at Captain Montgomery’s funeral. Castle had tried to knock her out of the way when he saw what was happening, but he wasn’t successful. As Beckett lay bleeding, Castle confessed his love for her.

The season premiere picked up exactly where it left off. Beckett is being frantically rushed into surgery. She is slipping away. We are taken back and forth between the operating room and the hallway where everyone has gathered.

In surgery, Beckett’s boyfriend Josh has to start the surgery to save her life despite protests from around the table. “You can’t operate on her, she’s your girlfriend.” To which Josh responds, “She’s dying.” And then he cuts in to stop her bleeding.

Outside in the hallway, Beckett’s father, Castle’s daughter wait. Josh, relieved by another surgeon, comes out of surgery and slams Castle into the wall, blaming him for forcing Beckett to investigate her mother’s death. Back in the room Beckett flat lines.

Castle admits, “I put her on the crosshairs.”

Meanwhile, an envelope is pulled out of a mailbox with the name Smith on it. Montgomery sent it before he was shot. Castle’s pictures, a news article about Beckett’s shooting and some other paperwork are inside and once Smith read’s it all, he places a call to someone who is high up in government.

Beckett doesn’t really flat line. She pulls through. Castle visits Beckett in the hospital while she’s recovering. He says, “I just never thought I’d see again.” Followed by “I heard you were opening a flower shop so I thought I’d pitch in.”

Jokes aside, he quickly realizes Beckett doesn’t remember anything about the day she was shot, including his confession of love. She says, “There are some things better not being remembered.” Not that it matters because Beckett tells Castle to leave. She tells him she’ll call him. But she doesn’t.

Then, with the magic of TV, it is three months later, Beckett returns to work, still not having contacted Castle. She learns Castle had worked tirelessly to figure out who shot her and that the new captain, Captain Victoria Gates (who prefers to be call sir) kicked Castle to the curb anyway. Castle has taken the files home so he can continue working on finding Beckett’s shooter.

Beckett gets into it with the new captain because her case has been closed and because she has to retrain to get her gun back even though she did okay on her psych examine. With no leads on her shooter the captain said it was a waste of time to keep pursuing.

Beckett finally decides to connect with Castle so she catches up with him at a book signing. He is furious she had let three months go by without a call, explaining that it was painful to watch her die on the ambulance, and then recover. He is angry, but softens when Beckett said she needed to work through some things.

“Did Josh help you with that?”

“We broke up.”

After some small talk, Beckett reveals she built up a wall inside after her mother’s death. She tells Castle she needs to put the murder to rest in order to have the kind of relationship she wants. Castle tells her he’s still mad, but says they will figure it out. He softly changes the subject and tells her he’s been working on the money trail to find her killer, but has no leads. He promises to get reinstated by Gates.

He goes around Gates to get back into the squad, having called his pal the mayor to pull strings. Gates is not happy. She threatens to bury Beckett if she ever lets Castle embarrass her again.

The team is in the middle of connecting some dots on a warehouse fire deemed accidental that might lead to some clues on Beckett’s mother murder, when Gates sends them all out on another lead. Becket is back in the saddle, but clearly isn’t ready. After a chase she hesitates to raise her weapon when faced with one pointing at her. Her hand is shaking and Esposito and Ryan come in and take down the bad guy before anything happens.

Back at the station, Castle confronts her on freezing and the shaky hand. She says it won’t happen again. The two of them go and talk to the fire investigator about the warehouse fire that might lead to her shooter. He insists the report is accurate. Beckett flips out and accuses the investigator of lying, and being pressured to falsify a report. He throws them both out of the fire station.

She and Castle go to her home to review the files and they disagree on the fire investigators guilt and the cause of the fire. Beckett can’t accept this because it would mean she has no leads in her mother’s murder.

After they part, Castle gets a call from someone claiming to be a friend of Montgomery’s. Presumably the high-placed official silenced by Montgomery’s mail. He’s got the envelope’s contents spread out in front of him.

“We need to talk.”

Here’s the crux of that call: the contents of that envelope are so damaging to people in high places that they ensure the safety of Montgomery’s family. Beckett was shot at the funeral because that envelope arrived late. She’s safe now and won’t be targeted again, as long as Beckett doesn’t pursue the case any further.

Castle decides to not mention the call to Beckett and instead decides to work to steer her away from the case. He convinces her to take a break until she feels better.

Beckett focuses on the killing of a debutant instead, that they thought had already been solved. She figures out who the killer is, which is not the guy in custody. This time, when they chase the suspect down Beckett doesn’t hesitate and she faces the second gun barrel of the show. This time she prevails and cuffs the suspect.

“We’ll figure it out. That wall inside won’t be there forever,” says Castle as they part.

And just when you think its over, the last few minutes of the show set up the season to come. Castle has, for the time being convinced Beckett to stop pursuing the case, but he is clearly still looking into finding her sniper. And Beckett, in an appointment with her shrink, acknowledges she actually remembers everything from the day she was shot.

Why do you think she lied to Castle about not hearing him say, “I love you”?

Castle Boss: Castle and Beckett’s New Secrets Are a “Ticking Bomb”

Source: TV Guide, 9-19-11

Stana Katic, Castle

[WARNING: The following story contains spoilers from the Season 4 premiere of ABC's Castle. Read at your own risk.]

Castle Season 4: What Happens After “I Love You”?

Source: TV Guide, 9-19-11

Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic

As the saying goes, you can’t unring a bell. So, can you unspeak the words “I love you”?

Fall Preview: Get scoop on your favorite returning shows

That’s the question looming over Castle, as the Season 4 premiere (Monday, 10/c, ABC) focuses heavily on how Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) will react to a profession of love from her mystery-writer/partner, Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), in last season’s finale. Of course, Castle’s “I love you” didn’t come over a candlelight dinner, but in the aftermath of Beckett being gunned down by a sniper. So, there are plenty of easy outs, right?

“My goals were to honor everything that we had done in the season finale and not sweep anything under the carpet,” creator and executive producer Andrew W. Marlowe tells TVGuide.com. “My intent was to confront all the issues that we brought up and deal with them in a way that … was going to be both satisfying to fans and also a little bit frustrating for the ones who want Castle and Beckett to get back right away. We’ve taken their relationship to the next level of complexity. … [There's] a lot more meaning in the Beckett and Castle relationship.”

Which Castle characters made our list of TV’s sexiest crime fighters?

Adds executive producer Laurie Zaks: “Once the genie is let out of the bottle, it can’t be put back in. Even if it’s not acknowledged verbally, psychologically there’s going to be a difference.”

It’s in those psychological and emotional corners of the story that things get a bit tricky. For example: Will Castle even be able to see past his own complicity in Beckett’s shooting — and by extension, the sacrificial death of former Capt. Roy Montgomery (Ruben Santiago-Hudson) — to move forward in a relationship with her?

“It was a very sobering event for Castle. Certainly he carries a measure of guilt,” Fillion says. “Here’s a guy who’s not very keen to grow up anytime soon. But he’s really been spear-heading this investigation. He’s been kicking this hornet’s nest around, thinking that solving it will get him closer to Beckett. But now he’s losing friends, literally. It’s going to force him to grow up a little.”

Castle exclusive: Meet Castle and Beckett’s new captain!

Also standing in the way of Castle and Beckett’s possible love connection is a decrease in face time, now that new Victoria “Iron” Gates (Penny Johnson Jerald) has assumed command of the 12th Precinct and promptly kicked Castle out.

“He’s not used to women being around him that aren’t disarmed by him immediately,” Fillion says. “Women love him, and when they don’t, he takes it really hard. … She won’t give him half a chance. Even when he deserves credit, she will not give it to him. That really bothers him, and it’s going to be a continuing battle.”

But the true obstacle preventing a Castle-Beckett hookup is secrecy, as both Beckett and Castle will be forced to hide significant information from each other at the beginning of the season.

Castle exclusive: Star Trek‘s Michael Dorn is Beckett’s shrink

“Everybody’s got secrets this year,” Katic says. “The first episode kind of explains how this next season will be directed. It explains in a really subtle way how the two characters feel about each other and what obstacles they might have to tackle in order to finally get to each other. I think it’s really sweet.”

Sweet, if not immediately satisfying to the show’s ravenous fans. Katic can only promise that Beckett, who will also share some her feelings with a police-mandated shrink (Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Michael Dorn) this season, is acting in the interest of her long-term happiness.

“She’s making an adult decision not to dive into something because she doesn’t want to screw it up,” Katic says. ” She has real, adult reasons for making the choices she makes. … She cares for him so much. She’s in love with him. She’s dated other guys, but he’s the only guy she’s been in love with.”

Castle premieres Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

[Warning: If you have yet to watch Thursday's season finale of Bones, run — don’t walk — to the nearest emergency exit. Everyone else, onward and downward….]

Tonight’s Bones season finale solved two major mysteries that had been looming over the series in recent weeks: Yes, Booth (David Boreanaz) and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) did engage in comfort sex in last week’s episode. And yes, Deschanel’s real-life pregnancy will be incorporated into the show.

Plus, viewers got an answer to the biggest cliffhanger hanging over the entire series: After six years of will-they or won’t-they foreplay, Booth and Brennan are heading into next season as both a full-fledged couple and expectant parents. Put in TV business terms, the show’s producers not only blew off that pesky (and outdated) Moonlighting curse, but they kicked it in the groin. And we kind of love them for it.

That’s not to say, however, that we don’t still have questions. Because we do. Luckily, exec producer Stephen Nathan agreed to jump on the phone this evening for a quick post mortem and a preview of what’s to come.

TVLINE | First, please assure me that this isn’t going to be some kind of bait and switch. Brennan is really carrying Booth’s child, right?
It was not a dream. There is no alternate reality. What you see is what you get. They are having a baby. She is pregnant with his child. She [slept with] him in the previous episode and this was the outcome.

TVLINE | What impact did Emily’s pregnancy have on this story? Would you have gone this route regardless?
Emily being pregnant certainly figured into it to a certain extent. But [series creator] Hart [Hanson] and I were leaning toward this independently of that. The biggest problem we faced going into Season 7 was how to get these two people together while keeping the integrity of Brennan and Booth’s characters in tact. By going this route, we didn’t have to have them go through the traditional love-dovey stage where everything was wonderful and they understood each other and they got past their differences. That’s never going to be the case. They now are together but are essentially the same exact characters. They’re going to disagree on everything they disagreed about before, including how to approach their lives together, religion, family and now how to approach having a child. So we lose nothing but gain a huge amount with the reality that they are now together sharing the biggest thing in their lives.

TVLINE | So this isn’t just two co-workers having a baby together after a one-night stand. This is a full-fledged couple starting a family?
They are as much of a full-fledged couple as two unique and difficult people can be. Brennan is not a fan of marriage. Booth is somebody who’s always wanted to get married. These issues still remain. The tension that has existed in their relationship up to this point will continue. They’re now sharing something and they’re committed to each other in a way they always wanted and there’s no way to avoid that. They have to deal with the reality that they’ve gotten what they secretly wished for.

TVLINE | Will they move in together?
That will be addressed in Season 7. When we open in Season 7, it’s not Ozzie and Harriet. It’s not a perfect little domestic family situation. They haven’t figured out where they’re living, how they’re living and what their future is. They just know that they’re together.

TVLINE | How much time will have passed?
That’s something we’re still deciding. We will probably pick up a couple of months down the line.

TVLINE | This is a very unconventional path to take. I mean, these two haven’t been on a real date together and now they’re having a baby.
The reality is, Booth has been with Brennan more than he ever was with [a real girlfriend like] Hannah. Which is always the case when people work together in a high-pressure job. [By making Brennan pregnant] we avoid all of the [trappings] that people commonly associate with the Moonlighting curse, which is, “Oh, now they have to date,” or “Oh, now they have to hug each other and kiss and share desserts.” They never have to share dessert. [Laughs]

TVLINE | When you and Hart concocted this story, did you go to Emily and tell her that if she’s ever thinking of having a baby with husband David Hornsby now would be the time?
[Laughs] Not really. Because we still have the [prosthetic baby bump] that we used on Angela. We already bought that. We could easily re-use it.

TVLINE | How did Emily and David react when you told them this was the direction you were going in?
They were very, very happy. It allowed them to take a big step forward as actors with their characters. And it allows us to keep them precisely who they’ve been for the past six years, and yet move them forward without getting into the stuff where you kind of go, “Eww, now they like each other; there’s no point in watching the show.” Nobody really wants that happy domesticity. And I can’t foresee that ever happening with the two of them. Their feelings for each other are clear. Everybody’s known it for years, even though Booth and Brennan haven’t always copped to it.

TVLINE | Any concern about embarking on another season-long baby story on the heels of the Angela-Hodgins pregnancy plot?
We did have thoughts about that. But then we realized it can be an advantage, because this is really what happens to most people. Friends have a baby, and then they have a baby, and then you hear from the friends about how they raised the baby, then you want to kill those friends because now they’re know-it-alls. So the idea of them sharing the experience of having a baby could actually help the show, because they are not going to raise their children in the same way. And then we’ll also have other characters weighing in on it. We have Max around, who we think would probably be a very good nanny. [Laughs]

TVLINE | You pointed out that Brennan isn’t the marrying kind. Are you ruling out a Booth and Brennan wedding?
No. Not at all. That will be addressed and not resolved in the season premiere.

TVLINE | Did Fox freak out about this storyline?
As a matter of fact, no. They were fabulous. They were great. Everybody realized the [challenge] of getting them together. And we had to do it in a way that hadn’t been done before. And I do want to say that Bones is still going to be Bones. There are still going to be dead bodies and revolting remains. And [Booth and Brennan] are still going to be solving crimes. It’s not going to turn into a soap. They’re [personal] lives will be ongoing and we will focus on that, but we’re still a crime-odey.

Jared Padalecki

Supernatural‘s war in Heaven is upon us as the series airs its two-part finale on Friday (8/7c on The CW), and showrunner Sera Gamble promises some deaths, Sam’s long-awaited breakdown and “a lot of Castiel” in both episodes.

Gamble wrote the night’s first episode, “Let It Bleed,” which introduces a new player — at least historically — into the series. Apparently, the late, real-life horror writer H.P. Lovecraft is somehow mixed up in the Winchesters’ battle to keep Purgatory at bay. Anyone familiar with his Chthulu mythos will recognize that his terrifying creations fit right in with the Supernatural world.

Supernatural: Castiel bends time and truth

In the second episode, “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” we see the culmination of what’s going on with Castiel and his season-long quest to oppose Raphael.

Check out what Gamble has to say about Season 6′s finale event:

What can you tease about the episode you wrote, “Let It Bleed”?
Sera Gamble: One of the big arcs we played this season for Dean, when we had first seen Dean (Jensen Ackles) this season, he had been retired for an entire year and was living with Lisa and Ben. He left them to resume hunting and be with Sam. While we’re glad he did that because we want to watch him on the show and this in many ways is clearly the right choice for everyone, I think there’s a part that he left behind with them. More to the point, just having been in their lives put them in danger. He has had this fear that something bad might happen to them. In Episode 21, basically long-story-short, that comes to pass. They are unexpectedly taken and he has to deal with that. He has to deal with the repercussions of having been in their lives. It’s basically Dean’s worst nightmare.

How does this part pair with the second half of the finale, “The Man Who Knew Too Much”?
Gamble: We have so many mythologies going on that when we heard that we were going to air Episode 21 and 22 on the same night, we talked about breaking it as one huge, two-hour episode with a short cliff-hanger in the middle, but what ended up happening was two distinct episodes. Episode 21 deals with a lot of Dean stuff, and Episode 22 deals with a lot of Sam (Jared Padalecki) stuff. That’s just the way it worked out. Both guys are very active in both episodes. There’s a lot of Dean in Episode 22 and there’s a lot of Sam in Episode 21. And there’s a lot of Bobby (Jim Beaver), a lot of Castiel (Mischa Collins) in both. But it kind of ended up being Dean-heavy in 21 and Sam-heavy in 22.

What is the Sam-heavy episode going to deal with?
Gamble: This season we structured it with a lot of mysteries and twists and turns, it’s kind of like this noir-style thing, so there’s like a couple of big bombshells. Here’s something definite I can say about Episode 22 that’s probably helpful. When Sam got his soul back, Death put this wall up in his mind. Behind the wall are all of his memories of hell, which are incredibly dangerous to him. We know that that wall could crack, and we know that that wall could break. We’ve been kind of threatening this all season. So Episode 22 deals with that, his amnesia, the wall breaking. We promised it all season.

What can we expect from Castiel now that he’s on his own without the Winchesters?
Gamble: The war in heaven becomes a more urgent, heavy thing for Castiel. That will come to the fore at the end of the season. You’ll see Castiel and Raphael face off as well. We have a lot to juggle.

TV Guide Magazine exclusive video: Behind the scenes with the Supernatural stars

In an interview, director Robert Singer had hinted that “everyone is not what they appear.” What kind of surprises can we expect along those lines?
Gamble: I think hopefully if we’ve done our job right, there will be a couple of gasps in the last few episodes. Not everyone is who they appear to be on the surface. But it’s not like anyone’s going to rip their face off and be somebody else underneath though. We’re really not that show. In certain ways we’ve always told those kinds of stories. We always have a thread of darkness and Sam and Dean worrying who they can trust. Their world has always been shaky in that way. We’ve derived a lot of interesting and kind of fun stories in a dark way because of that.

It wouldn’t be a Supernatural finale without some casualties …
Gamble: We definitely kill people. Characters will be killed and transformed. It’s safe to say that characters that people like will be killed. I find that usually when we kill somebody there’s a certain amount of blowback because they’re always characters that people likes. I usually don’t get thank-you notes for the people that we kill. But we have that small group of characters that we go back to because they’re precious. The reason we go back to them again and again and again is because they were cool.

Is there a possibility of seeing John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in these last episodes?
Gamble: You won’t see John Winchester in Season 6, I’m sorry;. There’s always a chance we’ll bring him back at some point in show. It’s a combination of the right story and Jeffrey Dean being available at that time because he’s a busy and popular actor, which we’re super-happy about for him.

Who do you think will die in the finale?

Simon Baker, The Mentalist

Did CBS cancel The Mentalist and forget to tell us? The smash-hit crime drama just wrapped its third season with Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) shooting and killing serial slayer Red John (Bradley Whitford) in the crowded food court of a shopping mall. But wasn’t Jane’s vengeful pursuit of Red John his raison d’être and the very point of this series? How could the plot wrap up so soon? Then again, did Jane kill the real Red John? Whether he did or he didn’t, he’s in deep doo-doo. “Patrick has just murdered a man in cold blood in front of hundreds of people and next season he will be tried in court,” creator Bruno Heller tells us. “We won’t dodge any issues. Patrick won’t wake up and discover it was all a dream. There will be consequences.” TV Guide Magazine spoke with Baker to get his take on the daring cliffhanger and where his show is headed from here. Will that impish little devil Patrick Jane ever be able to charm us again?

TV Guide Magazine: Those who follow The Mentalist might well be shocked by what Jane has done, but they can’t claim to be surprised, right?
Baker: Exactly! My character has always said, very coldly and matter-of-factly, that he would kill Red John if he ever got the chance. That was always his modus. And he’s told that to Agent Lisbon [Robin Tunney] many times. Of course there will be repercussions, but Patrick clearly doesn’t give a damn about that.

TV Guide Magazine: How will this murder change him? Is this closure? Can he get on with his life now, even if that life is spent in prison?
Baker: I think he feels great about finally getting revenge. But you never know. This could be the false bottom to the suitcase. Maybe this isn’t the bottom.

TV Guide Magazine: Meaning what? That Jane killed the wrong man? He certainly thought he had the right guy once Red John described how Jane’s wife and daughter smelled at the time of their murders — the exact soaps and shampoos they used. But, theoretically, the real Red John could have passed that information to Bradley Whitford’s character, no?
Baker: There’s a lot to play around with. I think it was a brilliant choice to have the murder happen in such a public place. Bang! Bang! Bang! Then Jane’s totally calm. People are running around in a panic. Jane just sits down and has his cup of tea. It’s done. He’s finally done what he needed to do. After this season, you’re going to have the lead character on a network TV series being a cold-blooded, vengeance-killing murderer. That’s heavy.

TV Guide Magazine: He certainly can’t claim to have killed in self defense.
Baker: And how do you get around that? There are too many witnesses who saw him go after Red John. I had some issues with the way the killing was originally written, which had Red John getting up and walking away and my character shooting him in the back three times. That wouldn’t have been fulfilling enough for Jane. The whole idea of vengeance is the fulfillment factor! Patrick had already said in a really powerful scene in Season 1, “When I find him I’m going to cut him open and watch him die.” A big part of the show — and the fan speculation — has always been whether or not Patrick really has what it takes to carry out that threat. Does he actually have it in him? So we played around with the scene. My idea was that Red John talks about how the wife and child smelled and it just cripples Jane. You see him go from this guy who’s this close to having his vengeance, having his closure, and he just crumbles into a bit of a paralyzed mess. Then Red John walks away. Jane says, “Please, wait.” Almost like he needs to hear more detail. I’ve always played the murders as still being so raw, so present, despite Jane’s bravado. I like the perverseness of him needing to hear more, as macabre as it is. So Jane goes up to him and looks like he’s shattered, then when he gets this close to Red John, the need for cold revenge kicks in. And he’s thinking, “Not only am I going to kill you, I am going to mind f–k you at the same time.” I wanted the audience to still think in that moment that, despite all Jane’s talk, he just can’t kill Red John. But then he does! It’s very operatic. Bruno loved the idea.

TV Guide Magazine: You two seem to have a remarkably close, almost symbiotic relationship. A lot of exec producers in town would freak if an actor wanted this level of creative involvement.
Baker: Believe me, I know! [Laughs] I get such profound satisfaction working with Bruno, because he understands me and I understand him. It’s really pure luck we found each other. It’s very rare. I can be a real pain in the ass with the wrong types of people. The last thing I want to do is come to work each day and not be challenged. What’s the fun in taking it easy? Let’s push it! I’m very happy that Bruno and I have been able to juggle the procedural and the serialized aspects of the show without swinging too much either way. Bruno appreciates the genesis of the Patrick Jane character, what drives him, and that he comes from a very tragic place. And you can’t fluff it off. You have to honor that. That hasn’t been easy because sometimes there’s been a lot of pressure from CBS to avoid the dark stuff, because the lighter stuff is so much easier to swallow. But without the dark, the light isn’t as enjoyable. The light can’t exist without the dark.

TV Guide Magazine: William Blake!
Baker: Exactly! One hundred percent.

TV Guide Magazine: Word is, CBS has been a bit uneasy with this finale.
Baker: There have been so many little arm wrestles to get this stuff through, but in the end I think we have the confidence and the support of the studio and the network. With Bruno and me there has been a lot of, “We can do this! We can get away with this!” Because this isn’t cable where you can do what you please. In network TV, you have to present the box before you can step outside it. CBS has always wanted the fun procedural stuff, and that remains a big element of The Mentalist. But this show has a lot of different personalities. I think there’s a sense with the network that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And I understand that because you can make some really bad mistakes that way. But we have to keep this show moving. I don’t ever want to mess up the experience for the audience. I want them to enjoy the show as much as they do, from the first episode to the very last. I don’t want to screw up that relationship at all. But at the same time, living and breathing this show every day, I have to challenge Bruno and he has to challenge me. In a way it’s so much easier to be subversive in cable: “Oh, look at us! We’re wacky! We’re daring! We say ‘f—k; a lot!” When you’re on a network, you have to slide the subversive in the back door. And you don’t have to be depressing in order to have gravity. A few episodes back we had Jane help the coroner kill himself. The guy had a terminal disease and the viewers were really touched and involved in that story. But it was all so subtle, I’m not sure they really realized what Patrick had done. And now we’ve moved on to total cold-blood vengeance. [Laughs] I know how this is going to play out. Trust me, this is a great setup for next season!

Michael Ausiello
Editor in Chief

House fandom, brace for impact: Dr. Cuddy is checking out.

Lisa Edelstein — whose long-term contract expires this month — has opted not to return for the show’s eighth and likely final season.

In a statement, the actress says, “After much consideration, I am moving onward with a combination of disappointment at leaving behind a character I have loved playing for seven years and excitement of the new opportunities in acting and producing that lie ahead.”

Fox and NBC Universal declined to comment.

Back in March — when the future of House itself was up in the air — Edelstein told TVLine, “Nobody at work seems to think it won’t [return]. Everybody wants to come to a deal, and I certainly am looking forward to a Season 8.”

In an interview last week with BlogCritics.org, exec producer Katie Jacobs said she would “not rest” until Edelstein was on board for an eighth season. “Lisa is such a valuable member [of the cast],” she said. “I challenge any other actress on TV to do what she does seemingly effortlessly. She goes between drama, comedy, intelligence, sex appeal… It’s certainly not my plan or David’s plan or the creative team’s plan to not have Lisa in the show.”

There’s talk Edelstein was a victim of belt-tightening at the show. In the aforementioned interview, Jacobs acknowledged that, “For seven seasons we managed to avoid getting the phone call to make cuts in our budget. But now we’re getting that call.” Perhaps she rejected a low-ball offer — hence her disappointment?

Earlier this month, Edelstein’s costars Robert Sean Leonard and Omar Epps inked new deals to return to the show. Hugh Laurie, Olivia Wilde and Peter Jacobson were already contracted for the recrently-greenlit Season 8, leaving Jesse Spencer as the only remaining question mark.

The news comes a week before the show’s current season — arguably Edelstein’s meatiest yet — comes to a close. It’s unclear if the finale sets the stage for a possible Cuddy departure, but that seems highly unlikely.

Julianna Margulies and Josh Charles

It’s been a busy — and heart-wrenching — couple of weeks on The Good Wife.

Moments after becoming Mrs. State’s Attorney, Alicia (Julianna Margulies) learned about Peter’s one-night-stand with Kalinda (err, Leila) and kicked him out. Last week, she drew enemy lines against Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) after two years of friendship. In the midst of the blow-ups, the tears and the divorce talk, has a chance for Alicia and Will (Josh Charles) to be together finally emerged?

“The nature of what’s transpired with Alicia and Peter, Alicia and Kalinda — these things push Alicia and Will closer together as friends,” Charles tells TVGuide.com. “I think — at its core — there is a deep love that Will has for her and I think he cares about her.

Watch full episodes of The Good Wife

“Whether that means they should be together or not is sort of irrelevant to the fact that I do think that that feeling is very real and true.”

After 15 years and their infamous issue of bad timing, it looks like Alicia will at least consider reuniting with her law school love. But it won’t be so easy. Yes, they shared a passionate kiss last season and had discussions about trying to make something work. However, when Alicia challenged Will to “show me the plan,” she never received his second voicemail, and Alicia tried to make things work with Peter.

The Good Wife: Will Alicia ever forgive Kalinda? Archie Panjabi isn’t ruling anything out

Now that her bad husband is definitely out of the apartment — and out of the picture — can Will finally show her the plan? “While some of the obstacles float away, such as her and Peter moving towards a separation, at the same time, that baggage that Alicia had expressed at the end of last season is still there. She may be right about a lot of that,” Charles says. “That doesn’t change the feelings, it just complicates them more. How that happens and how that will work out remains to be seen with what our writers want to do.”

The other big question is whether Will is really the best match for Alicia. It’s been years since they went to Georgetown together and now Alicia is a working mother of two teenagers and much, if not all, of Will’s life is devoted to his work. And then there are those references to Will’s checkered past (courtesy of Blake, natch): namely, secrets from his old law firm in Baltimore.

Although these revelations have surprised, and maybe frustrated, some fans, Charles appreciates that Will is “not just some white-knight alternative” to Peter.

The Good Wife: Alicia’s bad timing strikes again

“I’ll see fans and they’ll say stuff: ‘Hey, are you a good guy or a bad guy?’ ‘Hey, you’re really shady in that one,’” he says. “The reality, to me, is he’s not really interested in the morality of things as much as people want him to be. … We’re invested in him and possibly Alicia. How she feels about him affects us as an audience.”

Whether they want them or not, Charles says fans will begin to get answers about Will next season. “We’ve learned some, but we haven’t really learned a lot. We’ve been told a lot of things by a lot of different people that have a lot of different agendas,” he says. “I love where this episode leads us, leading into next year. We’ll start to learn more about Will’s backstory and when we do, I think it will be revealing and enlightening about the character.”

Charles says he’s ready for whatever direction the writers go. “Look at what they’ve just done with Alicia and Kalinda; some could say that’s a risky move but I think you take risky moves when you have strength in your own ability to sustain and create material,” he says. “These characters can sustain risky moves, risky moves that don’t feel arbitrary in my opinion. They feel right; they feel connected with what we’ve seen already.”

The Good Wife: Will Alicia Ever Forgive Kalinda? Archie Panjabi Isn’t Ruling Anything Out

Archie Panjabi

First, she took care of Peter (with help from some very tough packing tape). Then, on Tuesday’s episode of The Good Wife, Alicia (Julianna Margulies) dealt with the other woman, and her former best friend, Kalinda (Archie Panjabi). But will she ever be able to forgive and forget their tryst?

“The predictable thing about The Good Wife is how unpredictable The Good Wife is,” Panjabi tells TVGuide.com, “so I don’t rule anything out.”

Watch full episodes of The Good Wife

Panjabi says “there were a few tears” on set the day she and Margulies filmed the emotional scene in which Alicia confronted her. It was a moment fans had been anticipating — and dreading — since Blake first dropped the bombshell about her and Peter weeks ago: “You slept with my husband. You do not say anything after that, you do not,” Alicia said to Kalinda before beginning to tear up. “I swear I will scream at the top of my lungs if you don’t get out of my office right now.”

Of course the biggest question is, now that she and Alicia are stuck together, how the two will function in the office. One thing’s for sure: Panjabi says Kalinda won’t continue to explain herself. She’ll take a step back while Alicia cools down. “She knows there is nothing she can say,” Panjabi says.

The Good Wife: Chase’s Kelli Giddish to play a blast from Kalinda’s past

Although it’s unclear whether Alicia will ever really forgive her, Panjabi says she has been pleasantly surprised by the fan reaction in spite of the fallout.

“For some reason, people haven’t taken it out against Kalinda. I think they are surprised at what Kalinda’s done, but they don’t seem to be completely furious with her,” Panjabi says. “I think people are sort of let down, but they are not annoyed or angry with her. And if you think about what she’s done, she’s kind of broken up a whole family.”

The Good Wife: Alicia’s bad timing strikes again

On the flip side, Panjabi says Alicia and Kalinda’s separation will allow time for new friendships for both characters. And unlike her rival investigator Blake, Sophia (Kelli Giddish) will be much more of a friendly investigator who will bring out a “new side of Kalinda,” according to Panjabi.

Then there’s Cary (Matt Czuchry). He and Kalinda have always put their work before their personal lives, but Panjabi says that’s about to change. As for anything more between them? The actress isn’t saying, but let’s not forget that kiss from earlier this season.

Castle Boss: Castle and Beckett’s New Secrets Are a “Ticking Bomb”

Source: TV Guide, 9-19-11

Stana Katic, Castle

[WARNING: The following story contains spoilers from the Season 4 premiere of ABC's Castle. Read at your own risk.]

“I remember everything.”

With those words, spoken by Detective Kate Beckett in the closing moments of Castle‘s Season 4 premiere, the show kicked off what is sure to be a rollercoaster season of secrets.

Fall Preview: Get scoop on your favorite returning shows

After narrowly surviving the gunshot she suffered in the Season 3 finale, Beckett (Stana Katic) tells Castle (Nathan Fillion) that she doesn’t remember anything from the day she was shot — including the fact that Castle told Beckett he loved her. But in the premiere’s final moments, Beckett confesses to her police-mandated shrink (Michael Dorn) that she she’s been lying about her faulty memory.

But why? “She’s scared to admit that she heard him because she’s scared that the relationship is going to go to the next level and it could potentially ruin their friendship,” creator and executive producer Andrew W. Marlowe tells TVGuide.com. “She wants it but she’s not ready for it.”

However, Beckett, who is clearly still a bit shaken up from her brush with death, is able to admit that she wants to work toward a relationship with Castle — after she finally closes her mother’s murder investigation, which set this whole deadly chain of events in motion.

Castle Season 4: What happens after “I love you”?

“Beckett is struggling with some internal things that she really needs to put to rest,” Marlowe says. “She intimates that she wants Castle, but she wants it to be a real relationship. She knows she’s not as open and available as she wants to be in life, but she knows it’s for a particular reason. So, if they can resolve Beckett’s mother’s case, that [removes] one of their biggest obstacles.”

That’s where things get really sticky. Although Castle wants nothing more than to help Beckett crack the case, he’s got one problem: A mystery man (Geoff Pierson) with knowledge of Beckett’s investigation warns Castle that if she continues digging, she will certainly end up dead.

“Castle is in this terribly conflicted position,” Marlowe says. “It ends up being a huge sacrifice for Castle to ask Beckett to back off, because he’s actually asking her to back off of the relationship.”

Adds Fillion: “If she solves the investigation, she’s saying she can be emotionally ready for a relationship with Castle. But if she delves into this investigation, she will be killed. That’s very real. If you balance that with, ‘Well, I might have a chance at dating her,’ it doesn’t really weigh out. He can’t take that chance.”

Check out our list of TV’s sexiest crime fighters!

Marlowe says that Castle will continue to try to solve Beckett’s mother’s murder on his own in order to protect Beckett. Meanwhile, look for Beckett’s shrink to return at least a couple more times to offer a peek into Beckett’s head (and heart).

The bright side, Marlowe says, is that even though they’re not technically an item, their relationship is stronger than ever. “For all the people who keep saying, ‘When are they going to get in a relationship?’ they kind of already are,” he says. “It just comes with baggage and complications. [These] are two people who we deep down know love each other but there’s some significant secrets and significant obstacles that make it not the right time for them at this moment.”

And if those secrets are revealed? “[It's] a powder keg,” Marlowe says. “Either of those things can be a real ticking bomb in their relationship. So, there’s a little bit of a delicate dance for the characters.”

Castle airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.

What did you think of the premiere? Are you interested in the new dynamic between Castle and Beckett?

Castle Season 4: What Happens After “I Love You”?

Source: TV Guide, 9-19-11

Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic

As the saying goes, you can’t unring a bell. So, can you unspeak the words “I love you”?

Fall Preview: Get scoop on your favorite returning shows

That’s the question looming over Castle, as the Season 4 premiere (Monday, 10/c, ABC) focuses heavily on how Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) will react to a profession of love from her mystery-writer/partner, Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), in last season’s finale. Of course, Castle’s “I love you” didn’t come over a candlelight dinner, but in the aftermath of Beckett being gunned down by a sniper. So, there are plenty of easy outs, right?

“My goals were to honor everything that we had done in the season finale and not sweep anything under the carpet,” creator and executive producer Andrew W. Marlowe tells TVGuide.com. “My intent was to confront all the issues that we brought up and deal with them in a way that … was going to be both satisfying to fans and also a little bit frustrating for the ones who want Castle and Beckett to get back right away. We’ve taken their relationship to the next level of complexity. … [There's] a lot more meaning in the Beckett and Castle relationship.”

Which Castle characters made our list of TV’s sexiest crime fighters?

Adds executive producer Laurie Zaks: “Once the genie is let out of the bottle, it can’t be put back in. Even if it’s not acknowledged verbally, psychologically there’s going to be a difference.”

It’s in those psychological and emotional corners of the story that things get a bit tricky. For example: Will Castle even be able to see past his own complicity in Beckett’s shooting — and by extension, the sacrificial death of former Capt. Roy Montgomery (Ruben Santiago-Hudson) — to move forward in a relationship with her?

“It was a very sobering event for Castle. Certainly he carries a measure of guilt,” Fillion says. “Here’s a guy who’s not very keen to grow up anytime soon. But he’s really been spear-heading this investigation. He’s been kicking this hornet’s nest around, thinking that solving it will get him closer to Beckett. But now he’s losing friends, literally. It’s going to force him to grow up a little.”

Castle exclusive: Meet Castle and Beckett’s new captain!

Also standing in the way of Castle and Beckett’s possible love connection is a decrease in face time, now that new Victoria “Iron” Gates (Penny Johnson Jerald) has assumed command of the 12th Precinct and promptly kicked Castle out.

“He’s not used to women being around him that aren’t disarmed by him immediately,” Fillion says. “Women love him, and when they don’t, he takes it really hard. … She won’t give him half a chance. Even when he deserves credit, she will not give it to him. That really bothers him, and it’s going to be a continuing battle.”

But the true obstacle preventing a Castle-Beckett hookup is secrecy, as both Beckett and Castle will be forced to hide significant information from each other at the beginning of the season.

Castle exclusive: Star Trek‘s Michael Dorn is Beckett’s shrink

“Everybody’s got secrets this year,” Katic says. “The first episode kind of explains how this next season will be directed. It explains in a really subtle way how the two characters feel about each other and what obstacles they might have to tackle in order to finally get to each other. I think it’s really sweet.”

Sweet, if not immediately satisfying to the show’s ravenous fans. Katic can only promise that Beckett, who will also share some her feelings with a police-mandated shrink (Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Michael Dorn) this season, is acting in the interest of her long-term happiness.

“She’s making an adult decision not to dive into something because she doesn’t want to screw it up,” Katic says. ” She has real, adult reasons for making the choices she makes. … She cares for him so much. She’s in love with him. She’s dated other guys, but he’s the only guy she’s been in love with.”

Castle premieres Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

Exclusive Castle Postmortem: Creator on [SPOILER!]‘s Death and Castle and Beckett’s Future

Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic, Castle

[WARNING: The following story contains major spoilers from the Season 3 finale of Castle. Read at your own risk.]

Castle’s third season went out with a bang. More than one, actually.

Castle finale: Castle and Beckett put all their cards on the table

The action-packed final episode found Beckett (Stana Katic) once again drawn into investigating her mother’s murder after Hal Lockwood (Max Martini), the hitman who has killed all her previous leads in the case, escapes from prison. Beckett soon learns that Lockwood’s next target is none other than Captain Montgomery (Ruben Santiago-Hudson), who was the third cop involved in the kidnapping of a mob boss that ultimately led to Beckett’s mother’s murder.

Mongtomery’s betrayal and cover-up is a hard pill for Beckett to swallow, but ultimately the Captain risks his own life to take down Lockwood and protect Beckett from further harm. One problem: Montgomery dies without revealing the real mystery man who sent Lockwood to kill the conspiring cops in the first place. And that mystery man seems to have hired a new gunman, as in the closing moments of the episode, Beckett is gunned down by a sniper and left bleeding out as Castle (Nathan FIllion) professes his love to her.

Exclusive: Marvel and ABC team for Castle-inspired graphic novel

If you’re anything like us, you’re still in shock. And you have plenty of questions. (Of course Beckett is going to live, silly!)  Luckily, we chatted with Castle creator Andrew W. Marlowe to break it all down. Below in our exclusive interview, Marlowe reveals why the Captain had to die, what the next layer of mythology in the Johanna Beckett case involves, and just how Castle’s admission of love will play out next season.

Why did you decide to kill Captain Montgomery?
Andrew W. Marlowe:  It grew organically out of the series, out of who he is to Beckett and why he’s been such a mentor [to her]. We realized when we got deeper into Beckett’s mother’s murder mythology that somebody had to be protecting Beckett from herself when she was looking into this, so it made sense that the Captain was involved. It gave us this great sense of completeness and tragedy that I really responded to.

Were you worried that fans might be too jarred by the betrayal?
Marlowe: We wanted them to be jarred. Beckett’s jarred. But the reality is we all have secrets and things in our lives we don’t talk about that, when they come to light, we’re forced to deal with. I think there will be some fans who will be frustrated and angry and some fans will be interested in how this will affect Beckett. What’s Beckett’s life going to be like when she doesn’t necessarily always have somebody she works for in her corner?

Captain Montgomery at least got a little bit of redemption.
Marlowe: [The whole story] made the character of the Captain much more noble to me. He participated in something that was a sin in his youth, but he had done everything in his life to correct it, to overcome it. He’d done everything to serve and be a good man, but he could not outrun his sins.

Check out photos of the Castle cast

So will you be adding a new boss at the precinct next season?
Marlowe: That’s one of the opportunities we’re looking to take. Everybody’s getting along really well in the precinct, and we think there can be a little more conflict. We think it’s interesting to grow Beckett and Castle by having somebody who may not look as favorably on Beckett as the Captain did or may not look as favorably on the Castle-Beckett relationship. That’s all stuff we’re plotting out for next year as we speak.

The finale also reveals that there’s still a mystery man out there connected to Johanna Beckett’s murder.
Marlowe: We have a great concept of how we want to follow that up in the next couple of seasons. That’s going to be vital in some decisions I’m making going into next season.  We foreshadowed it a bit with Castle having to protect Beckett from herself at the end of the episode. Next season, with Castle knowing somebody is out there, [Beckett] becomes his responsibility. It changes the nature of their relationship and makes it significantly more interesting, especially given what happens the last 10 seconds of the show.

Indeed. Let’s talk about that cliff-hanger. Are you prepared for the hate mail?
Marlowe: I do have an expectation that certain fans are going to be really, really frustrated. We have really tremendous, loyal fans and to make them wait all those months I think is going to be really frustrating to them. Hopefully people will be interested to see how we deal with it next year.  I do think, for the relationship fans, having Castle admit his feelings to Beckett is a great moment for them.

Did Beckett hear and understand Castle say “I love you” before she went unconscious?
Marlowe: I think in that moment she does. I know exactly how I’m dealing with it next season, but it would be unfair to the experience of the audience to tell them right now.

What can you say about that relationship moving forward?
Marlowe: I think people will be frustrated until I do the next set of reveals at midseason. My feeling about TV audiences is that they love to be frustrated and then fulfilled. What we’re telling here is a great love story, and great love stories take a long time to resolve. Feelings ebb and flow, relationships are complicated, timing is wrong. I do know where I want to end up with these people. I know what the resolution is between them but there’s a lot of great storytelling between now and then.

Are you concerned with dragging it too long and losing viewer interest? You recently commented about Bones doing just that.
Marlowe: When I express some concerns about models of the other shows, it’s when the relationship becomes stagnant. When there is no movement, there is no growth and the characters start to feel like brother and sister because they lose the spark. My goal is to not lose the spark, and I know that’s a challenge when you keep people apart for a long time. Keeping them apart can be frustrating, but I also feel like moments at the end of the swimmer episode are enormously gratifying because of everything that’s come before. The hero’s journey is about going through all sorts of difficulty to obtain your prize and having little victories along the way. My hope is that at the end of the day, it feels like a hero’s journey.

Will there at least be some payoff to Castle’s admission of love?
Marlowe: During Season 4 there will be some payoff to what he said in that moment. It’s not going to necessarily come the way the fans like. And I’m sure some of them will feel like I’ve skirted the issue initially and then come to realize that I’ve dealt with it in an interesting character way. The questions are going to be answered. I think people felt like we dropped the kiss or we dropped the freezing together, but it was always my intention to bring it up as a relationship issue [in the finale]. Hopefully people will be interested to see how we deal with it next year, and how we overcome the argument they’ve had in the middle of this episode. The issue of “Why aren’t we talking about this? Why aren’t we confronting it?”

Is Beckett’s boyfriend Josh (Victor Webster) still a possible obstacle?
Marlowe: He’s still out there, and he’s somebody we’re going to have to deal with. He’s an element moving forward and it’ll be interesting to see how that functions.

What’s going to be the driving force in Season 4?
Marlowe: There’s going to be a real push and pull between Beckett and Castle. Beckett’s going to want to look into [this new mystery man] and Castle’s going to have very specific reasons why he doesn’t want her to. He’ll end up with a little more information than she has, and he can’t be honest with her about it. It’s going to cause a complexity in their relationship that’s going to be interesting.

‘Castle’ creator Andrew Marlowe on finale shooting: ‘She was not wearing a vest.’

Source: EW, 5-18-11

Image Credit: Stana Katic/ABC

While Castle fans were weeping over Monday night’s season finale (Beckett! Nooooo!), creator Andrew Marlowe was in Hawaii, oblivious to the emotional turmoil he’d just inflicted upon us. To get back at him (kidding!), EW interrupted the executive producer’s much-deserved vacation (not kidding…) to ask some of our — and your — burning questions.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I know you’re sitting sea side right now, but have you seen any of the Internet reaction to the finale?
ANDREW MARLOWE: Yeah, I was on Twitter and a lot of the fans were nice enough to leave their thoughts with me on Twitter, so that was very exciting.

I’m not getting the sense that they’re as angry as you thought they might be.
[Laughs] Well, I didn’t know. I knew that I was going to give them something emotionally satisfying, but I also wanted them to be prepared going in that it was going to end on a cliffhanger. But I think that for the ‘shippers, there was some sense of relief that Castle got to say what he wanted to say and that in the argument they were able to put their cards on the table. Then when we get to the final scene, he’s able to admit his feelings for her. So I think there was some really good resolution in that while we had all the other stuff. I think if we didn’t have that resolution, people would have felt a little unsatisfied.

Speaking of that last scene where he says the big ‘I love you,’ Kate’s alive… right?
I think people have to tune in this fall to see.

Well, I’m at least assuming she was wearing a vest …
You don’t expect to get shot at a funeral. I’ll tell you that she was not wearing a vest. I can tell you that, yeah.

So are we going to see Beckett recovery time next season or will we have a time jump when she’s back in action?
I have not fully finished constructing the season premiere episode for [season] 4. There are a lot of moving parts that I’m going to have to deal with. There may be a time cut, but we’ll probably most likely be picking up right after the events of the shooting and dealing with the aftermath. And then a time jump somewhere in the episode.

So, why did you decided to shoot Beckett?
Well, it felt like a natural extension of the storytelling that we’re doing, and this case is the case where Beckett is most vulnerable, and Castle is at his most mature. But it also comes with a complication, and the complication is this: It’s that if Castle hadn’t urged Beckett to look into her mother’s case in episode 10′s first season, none of this would have happened. You know, Montgomery wouldn’t be dead, secrets would still be buried, Beckett’s life wouldn’t be hanging in the balance. So you know, there’s certainly going to be some guilt he’s gotta work through, and with Beckett knowing what’s at stake, this is one case where rationality flies out the window, where she basically goes and runs out into traffic. She can’t help herself. So how that’s all going to resolve next season, we have a really good and interesting angle on it. That’s something that I think fans will be really interested in when they tune in to see how we’re going to conduct things next year.

Is part of that angle dealing with the man who shot Beckett? 
Yeah. In a way. But it has much more to do with the Beckett-Castle relationship.

So you said Castle is going to deal with guilt. Will part of that also come from him not being able to save her as he did in the midseason finale?
Mmhmm. Yeah, I think it’s only natural that anybody in that situation, if they aren’t able to do that, would feel that way. Absolutely.

Will this become a more personal fight for Castle now that Beckett was injured?
Well, what I’ll say about that — because I’m trying to keep some things a surprise for early next season — is that those questions are going to figure prominently in how we’re coming back and how we’re defining the next stage of their relationship.

Speaking of important stages: The “I Love you.” Is that going to be ignored next season?
No, it’s not going to be ignored. It’s going to be confronted, but it’s going to be confronted in a very Castle-ish kind of way. The show has a tendency, when it confronts things, not to go head-to-head with something. So we are going to deal with that in storytelling in a way that is really organic to this relationship and to their growth.

You really took on so many issues in this episode — which one of these steps did you consider the biggest?
For me, there were two big ones. The fight in her apartment — but the reason why that was so effective, to me, is that it’s been coming for basically two-and-a-half seasons. [They've had] to get to the point where they were both so emotionally raw that Castle could say, “I don’t know what the hell we are.” We’re doing this dance, and I think it’s really refreshing to have them acknowledge the dance and have the two of them interact with each other. And also him getting to the point where he didn’t want to wait ’til it was too late to say what was on his mind. [Even though] he may have been too late.

I was in love with the airport scene. How much was improv and how much of that was in the script? From him holding her against the car, to him mouthing “I’m sorry”…
I have to say that that is one of the great culminations of Will Beall’s great writing and Rob Bowman’s great directing, and two actors who are in excellent from. That was really a culmination of three tremendous elements, and everybody really had a hand in really crafting that moment.The attitude, the point of view, was all written down. The amount of emotion that Stana [Katic] poured into it and Nathan [Fillion]’s reaction to it… a lot of that happened on the day, and it was beautifully shot by the team.

I usually have some sense of composure, but I was, honestly, such a mess! It was shameful.
Good, we did our job. [Laughs]

Do you get emotional reading any of this?
My relationship to it is much different because, you know, I’m there helping to craft those moments, so I knew that we’re hitting the chord. I had that feeling. But my point of view was more how can we elicit the emotion from the scene, how can we really honor people. It was hard to be around for me emotionally when Montgomery’s character got shot. [He was] the first of the character that I created during the pilot who died. So it really did feel like to all of us that there was a significant death in the family, so we really mourned his loss. But the emotions of these moments that you guys are going through are mitigated by the fact that I know what the outcomes are. [Laughs]

Speaking of Montgomery — how long was this in the plan?
We knew for sure in January. We had been toying with the storyline. Will Beall came in with a really great angle on these mythology stories, and we all worked with him to craft this. It was coming at a point where I felt like some of the relationships needed to evolve, and we needed to challenge some of our core family. This was a really interesting way to do that, to help our relationships get to the next level. So it was a confluence of events where it just seemed to make absolute creative sense for the show. And it’s always really difficult because Ruben [Santiago-Hudson]’s been just a tremendous asset, and nothing but an enormous professional for us.

He did an outstanding job on his last scene.
He’s never been better. He is a tremendously talented actor, and he’s also a very gifted emotional actor. I think sometimes, you know, when he’s a guy who people download information into or he’s just giving the facts, it’s really not taking advantage of his enormous strengths as an emotional actor, and this was really an opportunity to have him shine, and boy, did he do a great job.

Next step would be a new boss. What kind of person are you looking for?
Well, that’s something I’m not going to think about until the end of the week. I’m going to relax for a couple of days. We are looking at bringing somebody in who’s going to present a little bit more of a challenge to our characters in the precinct. So we’re looking forward to having somebody show up who helps our characters grow and opens them up in new ways while continuing to make sure that the experience of the show, the Castle experience, remains the same for the fans.

Some readers suggested bringing on a female boss.
Yeah, I certainly would consider that. It actually would be very interesting. Not to get ahead of myself, but it’s something that has been considered, but I haven’t formally landed on anything yet. There are a lot of riches to that, but there are also some surprises in store for the fans.

(Stephan Lee contributed to this report)