ABC’s ‘Castle’ season 8: Stana Katic on returning to show, first two episodes

We told you earlier this weekend, today marks the first day for Stana Katic on the set of “Castle.” She is kicking off production a little later than the rest of her castmates, but there is a pretty simple reason for that: She was wrapping up a movie in Sister Cities, which is the second that she filmed over the hiatus. In between these projects and also getting married, this is probably one of the busiest summers any TV actors had almost for the entire year.

In celebration of being back at work, Katic spoke at length to Deadline about the process of returning, and how for her (as she has said before) it really came down to making sure the creative was something she was interested in a little more so than just money, scheduling, or anything else. She notes that she was really confident when Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter were named co-showrunners:

“I started to feel the character would be safe in the next chapter of Castle. I felt confident that they knew the story, the character — Terence has been on the show since Day 1, and some of the most interesting episodes for my character were penned by Alexi — and while they are eager to shake things up and aim at telling challenging stories, they would also protect the integrity of the character.”

In terms of story scoop, you may be really interested to hear a thing or two more about the first two episodes having a “brother and sister” feel, as they each tell a perspective of “an event that shifts the entire season into a higher velocity.” She also confirms that season 7 will have at least 22 episodes, which has been more or less known for a while. She was coy on the Beckett-centric cliffhanger at the end of season 7, but we figure it will not take long to dive into that when the show airs starting in September.

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