The start of Castle season 8 is only a few weeks away. Viewers will be able to get back into the crime-solving lives of Richard Castle and his wife Kate Beckett on September 21, 2015. If three weeks is too long a wait for the Castle season 8 premiere, which is entitled “XY,” we have some teases about the upcoming season. There are some changes coming to the world of Castle, both personal and professional. Kate has a new job, Rick has a new partner and one of the characters has a baby on the way.
As you can see from the clip embedded below the Castle family is turning upside down. Kate is now captain. Her new job title affects not only her but of course Castle as well. It also trickles down to Ryan and Esposito. According to spoilers gathered by TVLine, seeing Kate rise through the ranks will have an interesting effect on the two guys. They will begin to evaluate their own careers and to bump heads with one another in “fun way”. Kate’s ascension won’t be the only thing to make Ryan more career-focused. According to TVGuide, when season 8 begins Ryan and Jenny will be expecting a new baby. Castle showrunner, Terrence Paul Winters says the baby will cause Ryan to get even more paranoid and money-obsessed.
That’s just one half of the Castle equation though. Rick is seeing some differences in his own life, as daughter Alexis joins his PI Firm. Alexis, as you would expect, is no slouch and evidently in the premiere will have already solved more cases than her father. Alexis isn’t Castle’s only new colleague. Rick and Alexis will be joined by new series regular Toks Olagundoye who will be playing Hayley Vargas, a security specialist.
Hayley will sometimes work with Castle. While talking to TVGuide, Castle showrunners want to assure viewers that Hayley won’t be any threat to Kate and Rick’s marriage. The show will always be about Castle and Beckett as a couple. Speaking about the character of Hayley as romantic rival, Alexi Hawley said “That was never our intention.” and “It’s not going to happen.” Hayley’s first and rather adversarial appearance on the show can be seen below in a sneak peek of “XY”.
Toks Olagundoye won’t be the only interesting face showing up in the premiere. According to TVLine, Jack Coleman will return to Castle as disgraced senator William Bracken. His return is promised to be “surprising”. And speaking of surprises, Ann Cusack will also be featured in the two-parter “XY”. According to TVLine, Cusack is a guest-star for season 8 and will be playing Rita. Rita will come into Beckett’s life with a “unique set of skills” and she has a surprising connection to Castle.
Lastly there is something completely unrelated to plot and new characters. Courtesy of TVGuide, there is a clip of a DVD extra for season 7 that features actors Seamus Denver and Jon Huertas singing a love song in character as Ryan and Esposito. It’s highly amusing for longtime Castle fans but it also serves as a nice promo for Denver and Huertas’ careers outside of the series. The two actors have formed a band called Shay-Jean and hope to release a full album.
Got all of that? Great! Are you excited for the new season of Castle? Is there of the previous spoilers and hints that excite you more than others? Any that you are legitimately dreading? Do you think the new changes to Beckett and Castle’s lives will hurt the show or help it?
Castle airs Mondays at 8pm on ABC
(Image and video courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
