ABC’s ‘Castle’ season 8: Penny Johnson Jerald not returning as Captain Gates
Just when we thought that the entire “Castle” cast was going to be coming back for season 8, something like this breaks: Penny Johnson Jerald is not going to be returning. This is something that is certainly sad to hear, given that she seemed to be excited about the renewal earlier this month, and did not seem to have any plans at all to depart.
However, that changed earlier this week when she herself learned the hard news. Here is what she had to say in full in a statement on Twitter:
“To my Castle fans around the world, as of late yesterday I am surprised and saddened to learn that I will no longer be a part of the Castle family. Thank you all for your support and love. Hugs from PJJ.”
Jerald’s character of Victoria Gates first joined the series in the fourth season, and did so after the death of Captain Montgomery. She tried at times to have Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) on a tight leash, but she did show at times that she has a rather big heart.
We still cannot say that we’re altogether stunned about at least one shake-up. The finale of season 7 ended with Beckett (Stana Katic) considering her future with the NYPD, and there are new showrunners this season in Terence Paul Winter and Alexi Hawley who may have been told to shake some things up with the series from the higher-ups.
Ultimately, we just hope that there is some sort of proper send-off included in here for the sake of her fans. That way, they can have some sort of proper goodbye.
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Leo
May 31, 2015 @ 12:05 am
Goodbye Victoria Gates after all these years we hardly knew you. Under developed, under used and now gone. She was never given the opportunity to inter act with the rest of the cast and she’s history.
Does that mean Ryan and Esposito will get a female partner to fill out their team.
Grey
May 30, 2015 @ 9:27 pm
“Ultimately, we just hope that there is some sort of proper send-off included in here for the sake of her fans.”
Oh I doubt it. New show runners not withstanding, the history of this show indicates that there will probably just be a short conversation about her having already left between a couple of the characters – if that much. :-|
Sad to see PJJ leave but I’m not all that upset about Gates leaving. They brought the character in a little too hard nose and only made her more human after fan complaints. Imo, they never did use her as affectively as they could and should have. I’m not saying she needed a major backstory like Montgomery had but, it would have been nice to get to know her better on a personal level. Basically all we got were some bits and pieces about her life here and there and that one episode with her estranged sister which really didn’t work imo. It would have been nice to meet her husband and kids (?) at some point and really learned more about what made her tick as a cop and captain other than being “Iron Gates!” But oh well. Left for fanfic I guess.
Niallerz1992
May 30, 2015 @ 2:40 pm
I loved Penny as Gates. She was funny, serious and such a great character.
I hope that she gets a proper send off in the premiere of season 8, the character and the actress deserves that at least.
Penny seemed really excited for season 8 and in an interview a few weeks ago she said she was with the show until the end.
I hope Penny goes on to do some more great work and hopefully will make a guest appearance on Castle again.
Jim45
May 30, 2015 @ 12:21 pm
Sorry to see Jerald go. Enjoyed her performances. I’ll be looking for her on other shows as a sign of good casting and class.
Guess the showrunners are making their moves for the fall.
Leo
May 30, 2015 @ 10:06 am
I guess we can begin addressing Beckett as Captain. If the writers use a time jump, there’s no need to explain Beckett’s skipping the ranks usually reguired. This being fiction no logical explanation is needed any way.
Let’s see if this new era can stay more grounged than the passed. No more nation wide social or economic collapses. A deadly chemical theft that will affect NYC and not the nation will do.