In news that surprised fans today, Castle’s Stana Katic and Tamala Jones are not coming back for season nine.
After eight seasons of playing Detective Kate Beckett and medical examiner Lanie Parish respectively, Entertainment Weekly broke the news earlier Monday that two of the show’s stars would not be returning. Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to be too much of a hinderance to ABC, as former ABC boss Paul Lee claimed he felt “optimistic” about Castle being on-air for a while, even if the leads didn’t return.
While the update at the network’s winter press tour seemed to be a solid hint that the show would definitely be returning for a season nine at the very least, fans were shocked when Castle was not included in the 15 shows ABC decided to renew for the 2016-2017 fall lineup. Despite this, the network is standing firm on the fact that no decision has been made on the show yet, regardless of the rumors that have been swirling about a shortened ninth season if one happens at all.
Regarding the news, ABC released a statement earlier Monday about the stars’ departure, claiming, “Kate Beckett has been a beloved character on our hit series Castle for the past 8 years. We are grateful for Stana Katic’s talent and dedication to the series and we hope to continue our relationship. Tamala Jones has also been an integral part of the series and we are grateful she was a part of Castle.”
Even after reports that she was not approached by the network to renew her contract at all, Katic also released a similarly amicable statement, thanking her fans. “Rather than distract from what was an amazing experience I would just like to say that I’m very grateful to ABC for giving me the opportunity to be a part of a much beloved show.”
With the show’s future still up in the air, fans can rest easy with two bits of good news regarding the show’s future. First, Castle’s showrunners have promised that the show’s leads are safe from being killed off. “We did that with Montgomery in season three. We’re not killing anyone else off,” they promised.
Second, the showrunners have a contingency plan if their show gets cancelled. Even though they’re still hoping to tie up all loose ends and start with a “clean slate” in season nine, “If we hear that we’re not coming back, we have shot something that we can put at the end of the episode as a way to put a button on everything,” executive producer Alexi Hawley said, hoping to provide viewers with closure instead of a cliffhanger if there is no season nine.
Castle airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.