ABC’s ‘Castle’ season 8: Tamala Jones talks departure, closure to arc as Lanie
Tamala Jones may not be getting the same sort of headlines for her departure from “Castle” at the end of the season like what we’re getting with Stana Katic, but we definitely do not want to diminish this change at all. It’s really significant to the fabric of the show, given her back-and-forth with Rick and her romantic history with Esposito. She was also a close friend to Beckett at times, but with Katic leaving that element would be gone anyway.
You can easily say that ABC in many ways bungled the announcement of these two actress’ departure, in particular in how they really did not inform many of the members of the cast until it was reported in the press. At least that wasn’t the way that Jones found out. Speaking to Access Hollywood, she confirmed that she found out the news late last week, but thought it would not be announced until after the season:
“I actually found out on Friday … I got the call, and I didn’t think it was going to be exposed so soon, because I thought, let the fans get through the season and then announce.”
It’s certainly possible that this was ABC’s plan, but once some reporters got ahold of some scoop it was hard to get that genie back in the bottle. Regardless of how everything went down, Jones remains classy about both her exit and her time on the show, which lasted far longer than she originally expected:
“I feel good. I have had the biggest blessing being on Castle … I was there from day one all the way through eight seasons. And I really just wanted five… Eight is completion and new beginnings, so I think I’ll finish great.”
anonymous
April 28, 2016 @ 5:09 am
hmmm, maybe stana katic planned to exit for family/personal reason and abc decided to do it nicely for her, instead of sounding like she quit, she was let go that will have less impact or hate from fans towards her but aim it to abc instead and also will look better for her career resume that she didn’t quit but it was abc, just a thought, look at different angle
Jim_Satterfield
April 20, 2016 @ 10:42 pm
I am seriously considering just never watching anything on ABC again. For one thing they have given the incompetent buffoon Alexi Haley a show. Secondly, if they can screw this show up this badly I would expect the same thing to happen to any other show I like.
georgee
April 21, 2016 @ 3:23 pm
For not watching ABC I agree, but here is another reason. The first thing we heard on Monday on why Stana was not given the opp for renewal was cost cutting. But now if you believe some of the rumors it was mainly about bullying. We are told that Fillion was bullying Stana really bad, she would go off to her dressing room crying, and this was going on for sometime.If this is part true why did ABC let it go on? Why didn’t the show runners put a stop to it? Why did ABC fire her and not the both of them, and maybe reward Fillion with a new contract for season 9. Getting to look like a real problem for ABC, from DWTS to talk shows. You think that the women rights groups would be flooding ABC Corp and asking why. Just image what would happen in this presidential race, if somewhere on a stage Trump was bullying Hillary and she went off crying. The uproar would be big, and the first one in line would be ABC news. Looks like some of the things ABC champion, equal pay for women and anti bullying does not happen in there own house. At this point ABC should not renew Fillion contract and just cancel the show. You can see what I’m talking about by going to Stana Katic. It is so sad to loose a great show over BS.But it does give us a little more understanding why most of the time they got less than 5 minutes together per episode. The two show runners should of had a better handle on this problem. But they didn’t and all us fans lose.
Jim_Satterfield
April 21, 2016 @ 5:16 pm
Maybe because it’s all BS rumors about the personal stuff. Why do people believe this stupid stuff. If you are going to claim that this is true provide the links to it. I don’t believe unsubstantiated rumors because I have a brain. If there was any truth to this crap it would have been in social media then a news organization would have heard about it and it would make it into any number of legitimate news sources. WHERE IS SOME PROOF ABOUT THESE RUMORS YOU BUY INTO SO EASILY??
georgee
April 21, 2016 @ 7:33 pm
It was on insider last night, and go to Stana Katic site, or ABC just miss leading us. And maybe she is not telling us the truth. Rumors are just rumors, so they just fired her for cost cutting. It just might be time just to cancel everything. That would mean all us brainless people can fined something else to watch.
Jim_Satterfield
April 22, 2016 @ 1:29 am
Trashsider was repeating a story from US Weekly which cited two whole unnamed sources. I think the sources were people trying to help the network execs cover their asses as the backlash began.
Leo
April 20, 2016 @ 10:00 pm
Lanie had to go otherwise the new incarnation of the show in season 9 would be a constant reminder of Beckett and an unwanted anchor to the past.
Christy
April 21, 2016 @ 5:04 pm
Yeah, because it is not like Kate Beckett ever worked with Espo or Ryan. Or married Rick. Or lived with Martha and Alexis. It was just Kate and Lanie, over and over and over. Endlessly. I am SO glad they eliminated Lanie and got rid of any Kate memories!
Leo
April 22, 2016 @ 4:53 pm
Lanie and Kate were supposed to have a unique relationship, although it was never developed.