ABC’s ‘Castle’ season 7 spoilers: When will Rick’s disappearance finally be addressed?
Last night, “Castle” pretty formally opted to shut the door on the saga of Jerry Tyson and Kelly Nieman, deciding after so long that they were better off moving forward than continuing to prolong a story that really had reached its peak. It is never easy to dispatch something that has been such a long-term part of the show. Consider it almost as more of a necessary evil for the show to try out something new for the future.
Now that this case is revolved, though, and Senator Bracken seems to done for the time being, it seems to be an appropriate time to ask another question: What happened to Rick? His disappearance now is the biggest remaining question mark, and when asked about how the show will touch on bringing this back into the folks, showrunner David Amann said the following to TV Guide:
“We’ll revisit it in Episode 20. It’s an episode that’s going to deal, to a large degree, with Castle’s missing time from the beginning of the season. It’s fair to say that we’ll get some clarity on what exactly happened to him, though we may not get the entire story.”
Amann also said that he is optimistic that everything is going to be taken care of in terms of getting another season; while the ratings are down this year, they are still at an acceptable level. The main thing that needs to be focused on here is making sure that Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic have new contracts. Without the two of them on board the show, there really is no show at all. This will probably not be cheap, but it will definitely be worth it.
Head over here if you want to take a quick look at what should hopefully be a fun and different sort of “Castle” episode airing next week. Also, sign up if you are interested in some further TV scoop on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)
Leo
February 21, 2015 @ 5:15 pm
Gina Torres- Suites, Morena Baccarin-Gotham. Alex Baldwin- the last ship.
Michael Goldman
February 21, 2015 @ 10:39 pm
I didn’t Morena was in Gotham. Christina Hendricks was still in Mad Men(last I checked) and I know Jewel Staite is in something. I listed all those names because they were all in the original FIREFLY.
Leo
February 21, 2015 @ 5:06 pm
Incidentally quite a few of those actors you named, Firefly alums, are regulars on other series.
Michael Goldman
February 21, 2015 @ 10:41 pm
The point of mentioning all the names is because a lot people not only want the show to come back, They want ALL the actors and actresses in the show to come back, which would be impossible without a humungous budget.
Leo
February 21, 2015 @ 5:02 pm
I don’t think it can be called blackmail, his working on a series of his own conception was mentioned in the trade papers last year. The fact that a studio was interested in his idea and asked him to develop it is far from extortion. If he assumed he would be unencumbered by a contract and began planning for next year and the only way to make it worth altering his future schedule is to ask for a max contract, it would be up to the ABC to see how badly they wanted him to stay.
Michael Goldman
February 21, 2015 @ 10:47 pm
If a studio was interested in his idea and asked him to develop it, that makes things different. Many actors/actresses develop things on their own and then want someone to buy their idea or help them develop it. You didn’t tell me someone asked him to develop it. I have no problem that he wants to take advantage of his own marketability. I happen to like the other people in the show(and their characters) and the show would probably be over if he left. That’s the sad part.
Leo
February 21, 2015 @ 11:49 pm
let’s return to the bottom, this is compounding my mistake and making me crazy.
Leo
February 19, 2015 @ 11:49 pm
The fact that Castle’s abduction will be addressed in episode 20, just doesn’t ring true. For a man who has been described as never quitting, never giving up, someone who keeps digging for the truth no matter what, to have all but forgotten about one of the most traumatic mysteries of his life, is wrong. It goes against everything we’ve ever learned about Rick Castle for six years. To not have a white board in his study with every clue, every development, breaks with character. I don’t think I’m alone on this matter, fans aren’t buying collective amnesia and the ratings seem to verify my suspicions. They are at little more than what they’ve been in the past.
Michael Goldman
February 20, 2015 @ 1:34 am
You may be right, but I think ABC is still deciding if they want to bring the show back, and that is playing into this storyline a lot. If Nathan Fillion is going to demand Simon Baker money($350,000 per episode) to keep the show going, Castle will probably end this year. ABC isn’t NBC. They seem to keep pulling New, Good Shows out of their you-know-what. if Fillion is willing to take $250,000 per episode, Stana Katic would take $230,000 per, the 2 detectives get $175,000 per, there might be a chance for it to be on for a couple more seasons. Castle is winning Mondays at 10 pm no problem, so it would seem silly to end it unless the money demands were ridiculous As far as the way the show has been run in the past, THERE IS A NEW SHOW RUNNER NOW, so don’t expect everything to be the same. There may not be CONTINUITY WHEN A NEW SHOW RUNNER IS INVOLVED. Watch the Walking Dead(who is on their third show runner.)
Leo
February 20, 2015 @ 6:30 am
Castle is slightly ahead of NCISLA, The real problem is they are averaging 8.6 mil viewers and a 1.6 demo, that’s down from 12.63 mil viewers and a 2.3 demo of years passed. That translates to a huge hit on what they get from sponsors. If you’ve noticed they begun to show brand names to make up for the loss of commercial money. The other telling sign that money is tight, look at the gathering of the detectives in the bullpen at the precinct, it used to be when Gates would call a general meeting, there would be twenty or more detectives there, this passed episode the camera angle was tight and you might have seen no more the eight. The rumor around town is that Nathan Fillion along with a friend from firefly days have developed a series and if ABC wants to keep him they would have to pay max money. It will be interesting to see what the Studio will do now that Castle isn’t the money maker is was in the passed.
Leo
February 20, 2015 @ 6:50 am
As for the new show runner, he took over a damaged ship. Marlowe wrote the finale to season six the now notorious episode 6.23. That one episode cost the series four million viewers. That is the difference between last season and this one. If you read the castle web sites at the time the outrage was incredible, and the numbers bear that out. Even so they may have kept a larger number of fans had they gone full throttle to solve the abduction and brain washing, but fans didn’t by into the let’s pretend it never happened, and it’s no big deal. that broke Castle Canon.
Michael Goldman
February 20, 2015 @ 10:26 pm
I don’t write about Castle very often, so it is really great when someone like yourself comes along with all this information I don’t know. Thank you for writing back. I’m sure there was a lot of outrage when the Wedding went to hell. If Nathan thinks he’s going to blackmail ABC, he’s sadly mistaken. J.J. Abrams was able to blackmail Fox many years ago because the X-Files was a sensation, but ABC has been pulling good new shows out of its rear end. The only way it would happen is if ABC thought that his show could be a sensation like The Walking Dead. I was told AMC is owned by Disney. Amazing if it’s true. As you pointed out, Castle doesn’t have Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy or How to Get Away With Murder ratings, and Nathan Fillion isn’t Dick Wolf. Everyone wishes that they could bring back Firefly, but how does Nathan tell Ms. Hendricks, Torres, Baccarin and Staite(and of course, Adam Baldwin) that he has to make WAY MORE MONEY THAN THEM(and keep a straight face?) Thanks again for writing.
Leo
February 21, 2015 @ 10:22 pm
Micheal, my reply is at the top, I answered on my cell phone and failed to us the reply icon.
Leo
February 22, 2015 @ 3:00 am
The first sweeps week were down, the second in Feb were lower. And I still believe had they had the gonads to serialize the first eight episodes and gone full throttle to solve RC’s abduction and brain washing the second sweeps would have at least matched the first, and that would’ve been much better in numbers and keeping with Castle Canon while satisfying the faithful. We have yet to see the effect the second sweep numbers have on this series.
Buddy
March 1, 2015 @ 1:23 am
Let’s look at back stories for a moment. Solving Beckett’s mother’s murder was the backbone of the series and responsible for the fan support. Same is true for the Bracken story. The Casket love story was great except that the fans grew bored and left support of the series due to the time length of resolution. Same is true of the Castle disappearance. If Castle’s disappearance was important he could have resolved it in any one of several episodes. The whole issue defies logic. We accept people as they are without detailed explanation of their past – it is none of our business anyway. So why shoul I continue to watch the series to find resolution of a problem to which I have no interest. There are many more possible back stories out there such as Beckett advancing her career and becoming captain of her own precinct (which would also make for a safer life for her) so that she could have children and be around to care for them. Get with it team – find something that will grasp our attention and support by touching on it in nearly every episode as in the first two that I mentioned.
Leo
March 1, 2015 @ 4:12 am
You hit the nail on the head, Marlowe and Co had a golden opportunity to reacquire the die hard fans interest but the failure to answer the who or why of his abduction and brainwashing and treating it as completely insignificant lost many a viewer.
For someone who once seemed to have his finger on the pulse of the fan base, to have completely misread two consecutive opportunities, maybe it is time to put this series to bed.
You make good points of the advancing of Becketts career and their future beyond the precinct would be a good way to wrap things up.