ABC’s ‘Castle’ season 6 spoilers: How Stana Katic, Nathan Fillion’s characters perceive 3XK

You can call him the Triple Killer, 3XK, the guy that used to be Ted in “Pan Am,” or really anything that you want. The truth of the matter here with “Castle” is the same in that this guy is bad news. Along with Senator Bracken, this is probably one of the biggest villains that the show has out there; he’s a guy who goes after Castle like no one else, but there’s a little wrinkle here in that he may actually be dead already.

However, conspiracy theories are afoul already that on Monday night, whatever is happening to Lanie (Tamala Jones) may hav something to do with him. Is that really the case? For now, creator Andrew W. Marlowe is of course not saying, but he does tell TV Guide that Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic’s characters are going to each have their own perception fo what happened to this villain when we last saw him in season 5:

“Clearly, that’s something we’re going to talk about in the episode. From Beckett’s point of view, 3XK is dead; from Castle’s point of view, he’s still out there. The specter of that always hangs in the back of folks’ head when they see people targeted.”

If 3XK is alive, of course the show is going to use him again! It would be crazy not to, but it’s all about finding the right time in which to do it. The one good thing about potentially unleashing him now is that we’re in the November sweeps,  and now is the time to unleash some of your big stories if you are ever going to do. It also would be happening at a time when Castle and Beckett’s relationship is a little bit volatile; while they are engaged and in that sense happy, there are still dozens of issues to work through and things to talk about before walking down the aisle. What better way to stress them out in the process?

Even if 3XK doesn’t show up, we know that the characters are going to have enough stress on their hands from other sources. Just in case you haven’t seen the photos yet, the shots here from “The Good, the Bad, and the Baby” later this month prove that “Caskett” is going to get a crash course on being parents.

Photo: ABC