Yesterday I attended my last panel of this year’s Comic-Con, which was for ABC’s Castle. Almost the entire cast was there, including stars Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic. We got some details on the future of the show, as well as backstage antics and the new Twitter campaign starting now.
Let’s get the business out of the way first. One of the first things that happened at the panel was that saw a video of Richard Castle saying he couldn’t make it to the panel since he was still in the Hamptons working on his new book (more on that later). In the video, Castle stumbles upon a body that seems to have wings. Thus starts the new Twitter narrative “The Case of the Fallen Angel”, which you can follow through Castle’s Twitter account. The Castle account did something similar last sumer, and is often updated even where there’s no narrative, so it’s definitely worth a follow.
As we mentioned before, the second novel from Castle will be released this fall, but on the show, the first book, Heat Wave, is being made into a movie. We got to see a teaser for the Heat Wave movie, though it didn’t show any “footage” of said film, and the actors are still unknown. Executive producers Andrew W. Marlowe and Laurie Zaks confirmed that the movie would have a big impact on the next season.
One of the highlights of the panel was Fillion and Katic reading a passage from Heat Wave that featured the build up to the novel’s sex scene. It was quite hilarious, as you can see in the video below. Fillion also brought up “Double Rainbow” multiple times, even having the audience participate in saying “All the way” and such. During the Q&A Fillion gave away random things that he signed to questioners, including rainbow maker and his name card from the Super panel.
Some aside things we learned included the cast’s affinity for pranks. One of the biggest pranks they played was on Seamus Dever (Detective Ryan), in which the cast and crew made him believe he was going to have to strip for an upcoming episode. The cast talked about what books they were currently reading, and Fillion said he was re-reading World War Z often. Also, in case you were wondering, it takes about eight days to shoot an episode, and at any one time, they are editing one episode, shooting another, and writing the next.
So, what about the future of the show, especially next season? We saw a sneak peek of the season 3 premiere, which showed Castle getting arrested for murder. We also got a lot of juicy details on possible characters and plot lines, mostly coming from the Q&A. Despite Fillion’s musical talents, there are no plans for a musical episode at moment, though there could possibly be one in season 4 or 5. However, they may do a karaoke episode soon. When asked if Fillion’s Dr. Horrible co-star Neil Patrick Harris might guest star, the musical episode seemed like the best place to put him. Unfortunately, Harris is so busy he hasn’t been able to accommodate the show. Fillion suggested a social network campaign called “The Neil Patrick Harris Challenge” to get him on the show.
Other possible future guest stars included Jennifer Love Hewitt and the return of Alyssa Milano, though maybe not until season 4 or beyond. We should finally see Chet this season, the boyfriend to Castle’s mother. However, there are no plans to show Castle’s estranged father, as the producers like the mystery of the character. Fillion said he’d like to see Christopher Walken play the part, and gave a great impression. Future episodes will include more undercover work, and the mystery of Kate’s mother’s murder will continue to be a background story, though don’t expect it to get solved anytime soon. We will see a serial killer who matches wits with the partners, and it will play out over several episodes, if not the full season.
A questioner brought up the idea of doing a Comic-Con episode, and everyone (audience, cast, producers, the world) seemed to like that. There could be a future episode set in sci-fi convention or Comic-Con specifically, though anything outside of the show’s New York setting would be difficult given jurisdiction issues (even though the show is shot in Los Angeles). Someone asked if there would be a game based on the show, but the panel pretty much laughed it off, as it wouldn’t be an exciting game.
This was one the best panels of the convention, as it was funny, revealing, and simply electric. The audience was full-on double rainbow fans of Fillion and the show, and as a fan of both myself, it was great to be in that environment.