TV Goodness Reports: Memorable Moments + Scoops from ABC’s Castle Panel @ PaleyFest 2012 

WARNING: SPOILERS DISCUSSED

The night was electric as an excited and much enthused group of Castle fans gathered at the Saban Theatre to see the cast of their favorite show at PaleyFest 2012. The evening didn’t disappoint as it featured everything from the screening of the next new episode, singing, surprises, and an impromptu “table” read of a portion of “The Blue Butterfly” episode complete with their characters’ accents. What we learned was that the actors genuinely love their show; they are as big a fan of Castle as the rest of us; and most importantly, they also want Beckett and Castle together big time. It was a fun and entertaining panel.

The Moderator:
TV Guide Magazine’s William Keck

The Panel:
Susan Sullivan, Martha Rodgers
Molly Quinn, Alexis Castle
Nathan Fillion, Rick Castle
Stana Katic, Kate Beckett
Seamus Dever, Kevin Ryan
Jon Huertas, Javier Esposito
Tamala Jones, Lanie Parish
Penny Johnson Jerald, Victoria Gates
Andrew W. Marlowe, Creator/Executive Producer

What We Learned

• Stana Katic’s ready for Beckett and Castle to be together.

• Molly Quinn hoped that the Alexis working with Lanie story arc continued. She and Tamala Jones love working together. But will Alexis be part of the canvas next season, considering the character is supposed to go off to college? Creator/EP Andrew Marlowe wasn’t talking. Although they did joke about giving Alexis a spin-off where she’s the new Veronica Mars in college.

• The genesis of “The Blue Butterfly” (the ’40s film noir episode): Aside from the 40s-style photo shoot the cast did before the beginning of Season 4, the episode came about because they knew they needed something special to go up against NBC’s Smash series premiere.

• For Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas, beating up Nathan in “TBB” — on a scale from 1 to awesome — was awesome. They even acted out a fake fight right up there on stage. It was a bit they had come up with on the set where Nathan Fillion got to fight back a little bit. There was a feeble slap somewhere in there.

• According to Fillion, Penny Johnson Jerald has been constantly coming up with different ways for Iron Gates to show her disdain for Castle.

• Tamala and Penny shared a pitch they came up with where they end up being sisters.

• Thoughts on Beckett and Castle being handcuffed together in “Cuffed.” Katic: “It was salacious.” Fillion felt it wasn’t as tough as he thought it was going to be.

• Susan Sullivan said her character, Martha Rodgers, is an homage to her mother, who recently passed away.

• Sullivan has finally adjusted to wearing that red wig after four years of playing Martha.

• Katic has added a couple things to the back story of her character. She thinks Beckett likes the color purple and strawberry shakes.

• Fillion’s favorite crazy Rick Castle theory: right now he’s very into working ninja assassins into the mix.

Memorable Moments

• Tamala is introduced before the new episode is screened — she walked out and up to the microphone that happened to be there (it hasn’t been out there for any other panel). As a special surprise, Jones sang “Comes Love” from “TBB.” She did such a great job, plus she looked amazing. The audience gave her a well-deserved standing ovation.

• Watching the new episode, “A Dance with Death,” was a treat because it wasn’t quite finished yet. The actors hadn’t completed all their ADR (Audio Dialogue Replacement), so we occasionally heard someone else’s voice reading the actors’ lines. No worries, the episode was fantastic and will be ready to air on Monday, March 19 at 10/9c on ABC.

• One surprise was that moderator, Will Keck, had the cast read a portion of “The Blue Butterfly” in their characters’ accents. Since Jerald wasn’t in the episode, she became the narrator.

• Keck wanted to know who was prettier — Ryan or Esposito — according to a line from “Cuffed.” Ryan broke out the applause meter. We’re going to call it a tie. The audience clapped energetically for both guys.

• Jones talked about kissing Castle in “TBB.” She said she loves kissing Huertas but there’s something about kissing Nathan. She said it was like satin or something. Hilarious.

• What do Martha and Alexis really feel about a Castle/Beckett relationship? Susan Sullivan, as Martha, said she’s always been fond of Beckett, but she’s completely bored with the unending will they or won’t they of it all. She wants Castle to move it along — she wants action. Quinn, as Alexis, said she likes the tension and they need to keep it out of the house.

Couples Talk

• Probably the most important news concerning Beckett and Castle that was divulged at this panel, was the fact Marlowe said he doesn’t believe in the Moonlighting curse. And, he doesn’t believe in waiting until the end of a series to get a couple together. That was very encouraging. If/when the moment happens, Katic hoped there would be a lot of kissing. We concur.

• Don’t think we’re going to see much of Kevin and Jenny’s home life. According to Marlowe, that set would be way too expensive to build.

• When asked if Javier will pop the question to Lanie, Huertas says something about not buying the car before test driving it first. Boo.

Spoiler Section (do not read if you don’t want to know)

• Before screening the new episode, Marlowe said this was going to be the last normal Castle before the storm hits. So ominous. So awesome.

• Marlowe knows when Beckett and Castle are going to get together.

• The show will be exploring the mystery of Castle’s dad.

• Beckett and Castle’s secrets will come out and everyone will have to deal with the emotional consequences.

• They will also deal with Beckett’s mother’s murder again. It will put Beckett in an emotionally raw place. Interesting things happen in the wake of that.

• Nathan’s Firefly buddy, Adam Baldwin, guest stars as a character named Detective Slaughter. Beckett will be off working a different case for one reason or another, so Castle works a case involving Slaughter.

• When Keck asks if Castle working with Slaughter will change him, Fillion says, “It’s safe to say parts of his face will be rearranged.” Ouch.

• Katic said, at this point (when they’re working on separate cases), she and Castle are going through something that’s part of this wonderful progression that’ll bring them closer together by the end of the season.

• There’s talk about writing the movie premiere for Heat Wave into an episode, but that’s all that it is at the moment. It’s expensive to do something like that.

• For Jerald, episode 19 of this season is her favorite episode for reasons she can’t go into. She does say that Gates voice is so clear. She’s excited for us all to see it because it’s extraordinary.

• We were shown the covers for the new Nikki Heat novel called Frozen Heat; as well as the new Derek Storm graphic novel. Plus, there are going to be new novels coming out in e-book format focusing on Derek Storm. The title of the first one is A Brewing Storm.