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 Laurie Zaks Nathan Fillion Stana Katic Barry Schindel David Amann Armyan Bernstein
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, 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	March 9, 2009 (2009-03-09) – May 16, 2016 (2016-05-16)
External links
Website

Castle is an American crime-dramedy television series, 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 several cast members signing one-year deals for a potential ninth season, the show would be cancelled instead.

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 article: List of Castle characters

Main

• Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle/Richard Rodgers, a best-selling mystery writer, who shadows and assists the NYPD. His coworkers sometimes appreciate and sometimes despise his unreal theories that, sometimes, turn out to be the real case, but usually only help out 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 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
• 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
• 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. Now he works as a computer analyst for the NYPD.

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

Main article: List of Castle episodes

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; ABC later extended the order to 22, then 24 episodes. The second season premiered on Monday, September 21, 2009. In March 2010, ABC renewed Castle for a third, 22-episode season, which began on September 20, 2010. On November 11, 2010, ABC extended the episode order to 24. On January 10, 2011, ABC announced Castle had been renewed for a fourth season for 22 episodes. Season four premiered on September 19, 2011. On December 8, 2011, ABC ordered an additional episode bringing season 4 up to 23 episodes. On May 10, 2012, Castle was renewed for a fifth season by ABC, which started on Monday September 24, 2012. Two additional episodes were ordered on October 19, 2012, and February 5, 2013, respectively. This brings season 5 up to a total of 24 episodes. On May 10, 2013, ABC announced via Twitter that Castle had been renewed for a sixth season. On May 8, 2014, ABC renewed the series for a seventh season, which premiered on September 29, 2014. On May 7, 2015, the series was renewed for its eighth season, which premiered on September 21, 2015. On April 18, 2016, ABC and ABC Productions announced that Stana Katic and Tamala Jones will not return for Castle's ninth season, should it be renewed. 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.

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	10	March 9, 2009 (2009-03-09)	May 11, 2009 (2009-05-11)
	2	24	September 21, 2009 (2009-09-21)	May 17, 2010 (2010-05-17)
	3	24	September 20, 2010 (2010-09-20)	May 16, 2011 (2011-05-16)
	4	23	September 19, 2011 (2011-09-19)	May 7, 2012 (2012-05-07)
	5	24	September 24, 2012 (2012-09-24)	May 13, 2013 (2013-05-13)
	6	23	September 23, 2013 (2013-09-23)	May 12, 2014 (2014-05-12)
	7	23	September 29, 2014 (2014-09-29)	May 11, 2015 (2015-05-11)
	8	22	September 21, 2015 (2015-09-21)	TBA

Reception

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Season	Timeslot (ET)	Episodes	First aired		Last aired		TV season	Rank	Avg. viewers (millions)
			Date	Viewers (millions)	Date	Viewers (millions)
1	Monday 10:00 pm	10	March 9, 2009 (2009-03-09)	10.76	May 11, 2009 (2009-05-11)	9.96	2008–09	41	10.19
2		24	September 21, 2009 (2009-09-21)	9.26	May 17, 2010 (2010-05-17)	10.07	2009–10	30	10.25
3		24	September 20, 2010 (2010-09-20)	10.70	May 16, 2011 (2011-05-16)	12.93	2010–11	30	11.44
4		23	September 19, 2011 (2011-09-19)	13.28	May 7, 2012 (2012-05-07)	12.36	2011–12	22	12.18
5		24	September 24, 2012 (2012-09-24)	10.45	May 13, 2013 (2013-05-13)	11.16	2012–13	19	12.26
6		23	September 23, 2013 (2013-09-23)	11.48	May 12, 2014 (2014-05-12)	10.59	2013–14	13	12.63
7		23	September 29, 2014 (2014-09-29)	10.75	May 11, 2015 (2015-05-11)	8.44	2014–15	37	10.69
8		22	September 21, 2015 (2015-09-21)	6.84	May 16, 2016 (2016-05-16)	7.65	2015–16	44	9.10

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominee(s) / episode	Result	Ref.
2009	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Music Composition for a Series	Castle / "Flowers For Your Grave"	Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Series, Drama	Nathan Fillion	Nominated
		Best Actress in a Series, Drama	Stana Katic	Nominated
2010	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single Camera Series	Castle / "Vampire Weekend"	Nominated
		Outstanding Makeup for a Single Camera Series		Nominated
		Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special		Nominated
	Golden Reel Awards	Best Sound Editing – Short Form Music in Television	Castle / "Famous Last Words"	Nominated
		Best Sound Editing – Television Episodic	Amber Funk (music editor)	Nominated
	Shorty Awards	Entertainment	CastleTV	Nominated
		Entertainment	WriteRCastle	Nominated
		Celebrity	Nathan Fillion	Won
2011	TV Guide Magazine's Fan Favorites Awards	Favorite Couple Who Should	Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic	Won
		Favorite Drama Series	Castle	Won
	Shorty Awards	Best Actor	Nathan Fillion	Nominated
		Writer	Richard Castle	Nominated
		Best Actress	Stana Katic	Won
2012	People's Choice Awards	Favorite TV Crime Drama	Castle	Won
		Favorite TV Drama Actor	Nathan Fillion	Won
	PRISM Awards	Performance in a Drama Episode	Stana Katic and Jon Huertas	Won
		Drama Series Episode – Mental Health	Castle / "Kill Shot"	Won
	TV Guide Magazine's Fan Favorites Awards	Favorite Couple	Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic	Won
	Shorty Awards	TV Show	Castle	Nominated
		Best Actress	Stana Katic	Nominated
		Best Actor	Nathan Fillion	Won
		Fashion	Luke Reichle	Won
	ALMA Awards	Favorite TV Actor Supporting Role in a Drama	Jon Huertas	Won
2013	People's Choice Awards	Favorite TV Crime Drama	Castle	Won
		Favorite TV Drama Actor	Nathan Fillion	Won
		Favorite TV Drama Actress	Stana Katic	Nominated
	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing – Short Form Music in Television	Castle / "The Blue Butterfly"	Nominated
	TV Guide Magazine's Fan Favorites Awards	Favorite Couple	Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic	Won
	Imagen Awards	Best Primetime Television Program	Castle	Won
		Best Actor	Jon Huertas	Won
2014	People's Choice Awards	Favorite TV Crime Drama	Castle	Won
		Favorite TV Drama Actress	Stana Katic	Won
		Favorite TV Bromance	Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito	Nominated
		Favorite On-Screen Chemistry	Richard Castle and Kate Beckett	Nominated
	TV Guide Magazine's Fan Favorites Awards	Favorite actor	Nathan Fillion	Won
		Favorite actress	Stana Katic	Won
2015	People's Choice Awards	Favorite TV Crime Drama	Castle	Won
		Favorite Crime Drama TV Actor	Nathan Fillion	Won
		Favorite Crime Drama TV Actress	Stana Katic	Won
		Favorite TV Duo	Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic	Nominated
	Imagen Awards	Best Primetime Television Program – Drama	Castle	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Show: Drama	Castle	Nominated
		Choice TV Actor: Drama	Nathan Fillion	Nominated
2016	People's Choice Awards	Favorite TV Crime Drama	Castle	Nominated
		Favorite Crime Drama TV Actor	Nathan Fillion	Won
		Favorite Crime Drama TV Actress	Stana Katic	Won

Other media

DVD releases

DVD Name	Release Dates			Episodes	Discs	Additional information
	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Season 1	September 22, 2009	May 6, 2010 (German) November 21, 2011 (UK)	March 10, 2010	10	3	Misdemeanors: Bloopers & Outtakes, Whodunit: The Genesis of Castle, Castle's Godfather, exclusive audio commentaries and Write-Along with Nathan Fillion
Season 2	September 21, 2010	March 24, 2011 (German) April 16, 2012 (UK)	December 1, 2010	24	5	ABC Starter Kit, On Set with Seamus and Jon, On Location with Nathan, Manhattan's Most Unusual Murders, Misdemeanors: Bloopers & Outtakes, deleted scenes and music videos
Season 3	September 20, 2011	November 24, 2011 (France) August 6, 2012 (UK)	October 12, 2011	24	5	Deleted Scenes and Bloopers, Murder They Wrote, Castle Goes Hollywood, Murder Board 101, Cast and Crew Commentary, Music Video – "Get on the Floor"
Season 4	September 11, 2012	December 5, 2012 (German) March 25, 2013 (UK)	November 14, 2012	23	5	"Nathan & Friends: Castle Goes Radio", "Anatomy of a Stunt", Audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and bloopers.
Season 5	September 10, 2013	November 11, 2013	November 6, 2013	24	5	Deleted Scene: Are We Dating?, Martha's Master Class, Lot Cops, Your Home is Your Castle, Gag reel.
Season 6	September 16, 2014	November 17, 2014	November 12, 2014	23	5	Character Commentary (Need to Know episode) with Detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan, Castle Karaoke, Castle in a Day with Stana Katic, A Few of Our Favorite Things (including debut an unaired Castle and Kate moment from the season 4 finale), Audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and bloopers.
Season 7	September 1, 2015	November 16, 2015	November 11, 2015	23	5	Cast and crew commentary (Driven episode), Cast and crew commentary (Reckoning episode),Raging Heat Webmercial, Definition of Love music video, The Cast Behind The Cast featurette, deleted scenes, and bloopers.
Season 8	August 23, 2016	TBA	TBA	22	TBA	TBA

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. In advance of the series' fourth season, TNT broadcast an eight-hour marathon of episodes on September 15, 2011, including five from season 3. Castle began airing on TNT every Wednesday beginning September 26, 2012. Castle also began airing in broadcast syndication on weekends beginning September 29, 2012.

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. ABC released the first half of the novel in weekly increments on their website. The complete novel was published in September 2009 as a hardcover, debuting at No. 26 on The New York Times Best Seller list. In its fourth week on the list, Heat Wave broke into the top 10 at No. 6. 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. It once again appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list on May 27, 2012 at No. 19.

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

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

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. It debuted at No. 3 on The New York Times Best Seller list on October 16, 2011. 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, and debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list at No. 7 on September 23, 2012.

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.

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 and on No. 17 on New York Times Combined Print and E-Book Fiction bestseller list on October 5, 2014.

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

Nikki Heat series

Book	Title	Release date	Debut on New York Times
1	Heat Wave	September 2009	No. 26
2	Naked Heat	September 28, 2010	No. 7
3	Heat Rises	September 20, 2011	No. 1
4	Frozen Heat	September 11, 2012	No. 7
5	Deadly Heat	September 17, 2013	No. 8
6	Raging Heat	September 16, 2014	No. 17
7	Driving Heat	September 15, 2015	No. 13

Derrick Storm series

Book	Title	Release date	Debut on New York Times
1	Storm Front	May 21, 2013	N/A
2	Wild Storm	May 13, 2014	N/A

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, as well as No. 18 on The New York Times Combine Prints & E-book Fiction list 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 and at No. 31 for the combined Prints & E-book list, both on July 22, 2012.

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 and at #34 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.

External links

• Official website
• Castle at IMDb
• Castle at TV.com
• Castle at TV Guide
• Castle ratings at TV by the Numbers