TV Guide announced that the soap opera episode, cleverly entitled "One Life to Lose," will include four well-known guest stars to help build the cast of a fictional melodrama called Temptations. A murder will occur on the set, and you just know that Castle will have an incredible time investigating every little bit of the case.

Most prominent among the guest stars is Jane Seymour, who will play an "elegant" character named Gloria Chambers. Seymour will be joined by Corbin Bernsen of L.A. Law and Psych fame, as well as Cameron Mathison and Rebecca Budig from All My Children. Bernsen's character will be Lance Buchanan, the soap's lead actor and notorious ladies' man. Mathison and Budig will play characters named Vince Bowers and Mandy Bronson, respectively.

While the other announced guest stars have significant soap opera backgrounds, Jane Seymour has technically never been a daytime serial regular. Instead, her soapy credits mostly come from TV movies (The Haunting Passion anyone?) and the more emotionally-manipulative episodes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

Why is such effort being put into a Castle episode revolving around soap operas? Like so many things on the show, the answer lies with the star, Nathan Fillion. Before he was Richard Castle and even before he was Malcolm Reynolds on Firefly, Fillion had a prominent role on One Life to Live as Joey Buchanan (the guest character of Lance Buchanan is most likely a tribute to this). The actor has even returned to the soap in recent years. Plus, back in the first season of Castle, Richard Castle credited One Life to Live as the inspiration for some of his early work.

Will the inclusion of such incredible guest stars propel "One Life to Lose" to the heights of soapy greatness? Or will it be nothing but a melodramatic mess? Leave us a comment below with your opinion!

(Images courtesy of WENN)