"Castle" season 8 will see series writer Terence Paul Winter and Alexi Hawley, former co-showrunner for "The Following," handling the show as former showrunners David Amann and series creator Andrew Marlowe have stepped down. According to an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, this will lead to a few changes.
"Our storytelling — especially in seasons two and three — was a bit more fun, character-based stuff and a little less procedural. Terence was excited about that idea as well — to simplify the cases a little bit to give us room to tell character stories," said Hawley when asked if there will be big changes to season 8 due to the shift in leadership.
Winter then chimed in and stated that they will also explore how the cases will affect their characters and their relationships moving forward on the show.
Hawley explained that there will also be a slight shift in how cases are handled. Previous seasons had each episode stand alone in a "case for the week" format, but for season 8, he stated that they wanted to establish a storyline with the case introduced in the first two episodes, a storyline they would revisit throughout the season.
While there will be changes, the overall feel and theme of the show will remain true to what fans have grown to love. In an interview with TV Insider, Winter explained that "the DNA of the show will always be the ongoing love story between Castle and Beckett. We still treat every episode as a romantic comedy. With murder."
Neither Hawley nor Winter confirmed that season 8 would be the show's last but stated that they are hoping the series would be green lit for another season as they believe there are still many stories to be told.
"Castle" season 8 will premiere this Sept. 21. Be sure to tune in to ABC at 10 p.m. ET, or watch online via live stream on ABC.com.
