ABC’s ‘Castle’ season 5 spoilers: Nathan Fillion meets another version of himself

There is some rather inspired news coming out of the world of “Castle,” and it really dates all the way back to Nathan Fillion’s days on “One Life to Live” prior to him becoming a major star thanks to “Firefly.”

In a new post on his Twitter account, Chris McKenna confirmed that he was on board the show filming an episode for the November sweeps, and it just so happens to be the one that revolves around Castle and Beckett attending some sort of science fiction convention that is in many ways loosely inspired by Comic-Con. So what sort of role is McKenna going to have in the proceedings? According to reports, he is set to play the part of Simon, a superfan of the fictional show “Nebula9” at the center of this episode. It is also believed that he was romantically involved with the victim of the case, which almost immediately makes him a suspect. (We also know that another suspect is going to be an actor whose character name is in itself a rather hilarious “Firefly” reference).

As for the “One Life to Live” connection here, it’s really rather simple: McKenna actually played the role of Joey on the classic ABC soap (rest in peace) before Fillion, and he ended up playing the role from 1990 until 1993. (Some of his other credits include “90210” and “Harry’s Law.”)  Fillion then took over in 1994, and he took the role until 1997 save for a guest appearance here and there.

What do you think about this casting, and do you think this was a fun move from executive producer Andrew W. Marlowe to put one Joey up against the other?