While "Castle" season 8 might not be the crime drama's last, it could be for lead stars Nathan Fillon and Stana Katic. It is still unclear whether or not they will sign up for a new season, but even if they won't, it looks like the show will still go on.
"We'd love for Castle to keep going for years to come," ABC president Paul Lee said during the Television Critics Association Press Tour (via TV Fanatic), adding that they have "lots of good ideas for that."
"I don't want to give a glimpse to what those ideas might be, but I'm feeling optimistic that we've got some good ideas," he added. The network is still uncertain about Fillon and Katic sticking around after "Castle" season 8.
This proves tough for showrunners Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter, who are trying to figure out how to end the current season the way the leads' probable exit will make sense. At the moment, they are thinking of following what show creator Andrew Marlowe did last year.
Marlowe concocted a finale for season 7 without knowing if Fillon and Katic will reprise their roles. For "Castle" season 8, Winter and Hawley are planning to "have a nice conclusion and still set up something we can launch into if there is a season 9."
They did not rule out the possibility of doing a cliffhanger as they believe it always makes it easy for viewers to jump right back in.
But the showrunners' concrete plan at the moment is to tie up in a pretty bow basically every mystery and issue that was brought up this season and even in the previous ones. "We wanted to wrap up a lot of the threads of different conspiracies," Hawley revealed via Deadline.
This includes the murder of Beckett's mom and of course, the time Castle disappeared or was abducted. When those "Castle" season 8 issues wrap up, they believe it will be easy for them to do "the case of the week."
"Castle" season 8 returns Feb. 1 on ABC with "Tone Death."
