146 Fun Facts About Castle (TV Series)

According to his rap sheet in the pilot, what did Castle once steal while naked?

A police horse is on Castle's record: when Beckett reads the charge aloud he insists he only borrowed it, and as for the nudity, he says, it was spring.

Who plays Lanie Parish, Beckett's best friend?

Tamala Jones plays Lanie Parish, the friend who tells Beckett in season four to act on her feelings for Castle before it is too late.

Which bar does Castle buy in season three to save it from closing?

The Old Haunt is where Castle says he wrote most of his first novel, so when its owner is murdered he buys the place to keep it open, and it becomes the team's regular.

Which Hitchcock film does Castle's housebound 100th episode echo?

Rear Window is the model for 'The Lives of Others': stuck at home with a broken kneecap, Castle watches the apartment across the street and becomes convinced he has witnessed a murder.

How does Castle stop the dirty bomb with seconds left in the episode "Countdown"?

He yanks out every wire at once: with the bomb squad too far away and a second left on the clock, Castle grabs the lot, reasoning that one of them had to be the right one.

Castle is set in Manhattan, but in which city was the series actually filmed?

Los Angeles stood in for New York: the series was shot at a Hollywood studio, so its Manhattan precinct and Castle's loft were standing sets.

Which long-running book character does Castle kill off at the start of the series?

Derrick Storm dies in the novel Storm Fall because Castle was bored: he says there were no surprises left, though fellow novelists tell him that killing off his hero was a mistake.

Whose friendship does Castle use to get permission to shadow Beckett?

Castle is a friend of the mayor of New York, who lets him shadow Beckett as research for his Nikki Heat novels; Gates later keeps him on at the mayor's behest.

Who plays Alexis Castle?

Molly C. Quinn plays Alexis, written as the grown-up of the household: the running joke is that the teenage daughter does the parenting and her father gets told off.

Which actress plays Castle's mother Martha?

Susan Sullivan, once Maggie on Falcon Crest, plays Martha, who lives in her son's loft because an ex-husband ran off with all her savings.

Who plays Detective Esposito?

Jon Huertas plays Esposito, an ex-Special Forces soldier; the actor is a veteran himself, having spent eight years in the US Air Force before he turned to acting.

Who plays Detective Kevin Ryan?

Seamus Dever plays Kevin Ryan, the detective whose service weapon is stolen by a serial killer and later turns up as the murder weapon in a season-four case.

What is Kevin Ryan's police background before joining Beckett's team?

Kevin Ryan was a narcotics detective before joining Beckett's homicide team; that narcotics stint included going undercover inside the Irish mob.

What is Lanie Parish's job?

Medical examiner Lanie Parish does the team's autopsies; her romance with Esposito was meant to be a secret, but the whole squad knew and politely played along.

Which rock star plays himself in the Castle episode "To Love and Die in L.A."?

Gene Simmons turns up as himself during the West Coast trip; afterwards Castle admits he once dressed up as the Kiss star for Halloween, and Beckett confesses that she did too.

What nickname does Captain Victoria Gates go by?

Iron Gates is the whisper that follows her around the precinct for her unbending, by-the-book command; she tells Beckett she knows exactly what they call her.

Which police division did Captain Gates come from?

Internal Affairs, the unit that investigates fellow officers, was Gates's former unit; she arrives as a stickler for the rules and has Castle thrown out of the precinct.

Hayley Shipton, the British investigator of season eight, formerly worked for which two organisations?

The Metropolitan Police and MI6 are both on Hayley Shipton's CV; by season eight she is a freelance security specialist who ends up working out of Castle's P.I. office with Alexis.

What is Castle's birth name?

Castle was born Richard Alexander Rodgers; he swapped in Edgar as a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, though he says he still thinks of Alexander as his middle name.

What is the name of Castle's first wife and Alexis's mother?

Meredith is the deep-fried Twinkie of Castle's life: a guilty pleasure once or twice a year, he says, but one that would finish him off if he had it every day.

What is Castle's second wife Gina Cowell's job?

His publisher is a job Gina Cowell keeps after the divorce, so she still chases him for late manuscripts; the two briefly get back together at the end of season two.

Which agency does Castle's father, Jackson Hunt, work for?

The CIA is Jackson Hunt's employer, though he works so deep that it later disavows him; he first shows himself to Castle to help rescue the kidnapped Alexis.

Which actor plays Castle's father?

James Brolin plays Jackson Hunt, who admits when they finally meet that he has been quietly checking in on his son's family for years and has read every one of the books.

What is Jerry Tyson better known as?

3XK, the Triple Killer, is named for Jerry Tyson's signature: he strangles three women in a week and disappears, and he had been gone four years when the team first crossed him.

What was the profession of Johanna Beckett, whose murder drove her daughter to join the police?

Lawyer Johanna Beckett took civil-rights cases, and she was killed after an appeal she was preparing for a convicted mobster led her to a ring of corrupt cops.

What is Mr. Smith's role in the conspiracy storyline?

He holds files that keep the killer at bay: Montgomery mailed them to Mr. Smith before he died, and Smith bargains with them for Beckett's safety so long as she drops the case.

Which Star Trek actor plays Beckett's psychiatrist Dr. Carver Burke?

Michael Dorn, Star Trek's Worf, plays Dr. Carver Burke; Beckett is ordered to sit through his evaluation before she can return to duty, then keeps seeing him by choice.

Which Simpsons voice actor plays Judge Markway, one of Castle's poker buddies?

Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, plays Judge Markway, a poker buddy who frequently signs Beckett's warrants.

Who plays Agent Rachel McCord, Beckett's partner in Washington?

Lisa Edelstein, Dr. Cuddy on House, plays Rachel McCord; the character's off-screen death at the start of season eight is what sets Beckett hunting the LokSat conspiracy.

What is Dr. Kelly Nieman's profession?

Plastic surgeon Kelly Nieman can give one person another's face, a skill she puts to work for her lover Jerry Tyson, whom she met while working as a prison doctor.

Which four real crime writers appear as Castle's poker buddies?

Cannell, Patterson, Lehane and Connelly all play themselves at Castle's table, needling him about his plots and about Beckett as they deal the cards.

What stood at Castle's poker table for a year as a tribute to a real-life player who had died?

An empty chair was kept for one of the novelists who played themselves in the game, after he died in 2010; when a newcomer went to sit in it, the regulars stopped him.

Why was Castle's opening run only ten episodes long?

A midseason launch left room for only ten episodes: Castle arrived in March 2009 as a replacement show and ran until May, then came back that autumn with a full season.

Which game do Castle and Alexis play against each other as a long-running family contest?

Laser tag is their running duel, begun when Alexis was five: the first to 1,000 points wins for good, which is why Castle's eventual victory feels like an ending.

Which two cast members did ABC announce would not return for a ninth season?

In April 2016 ABC said Stana Katic and Tamala Jones would not return for a ninth season; the show was cancelled outright less than a month later.

Why was a flash-forward ending filmed for Castle's finale?

In case of cancellation, the producers shot a second ending alongside their cliffhanger; ABC axed the show four days before the finale aired, so the closing flash-forward went out.

In the Castle episode "Head Case", why does the crime scene have a pool of blood but no body?

A cryonics firm took it: the victim had paid to be frozen at death, so a team collected him the moment an alarm showed that his heart had stopped.

Which Halloween episode earned three Emmy nominations for hairstyling and makeup in 2010?

"Vampire Weekend", the season-two Halloween episode, earned 2010 Emmy nominations for hairstyling and makeup; it opens with a student found staked through the heart in a graveyard.

Which ceremony named Castle Favorite TV Crime Drama in 2012, 2013 and 2014?

The People's Choice Awards kept the show on top year after year, while the Emmys only ever nominated it for music, hair and make-up, four craft nods and no wins.

Why do Castle and Beckett share their first kiss, in the season-three episode "Knockdown"?

To distract a guard, Castle grabs Beckett and kisses her while they pose as a pair of drunks; it starts as a ploy, but both of them are plainly shaken by it.

Which real company released Richard Castle's Heat Wave as an actual book?

Hyperion, then a sister company of ABC under Disney, published Heat Wave in September 2009 under Castle's name, with even the dedication and acknowledgments written in character.

Which fruit does Castle more than once declare to be his "safe word"?

Apples is the word Castle first offers in the pilot and repeats in season two, when Beckett asks whether he could be gagged.

Which teenage job of Beckett's do her fellow detectives gleefully dig up to tease her?

Modelling was the teenage Beckett's alternative to waiting tables; in "Inventing the Girl" the two detectives find an old shot and leave it glowing on her computer screen.

What is the title of the second novel in the Nikki series?

Naked Heat, released in 2010, is the second Nikki Heat novel; Beckett is as unhappy with its title as she was with Heat Wave.

Which company released the graphic novel Deadly Storm?

Marvel Comics, by then a corporate sibling of ABC under Disney, published Deadly Storm in 2011, turning a novel that existed only inside the show into a real graphic novel.

Who actually ghost-wrote the first seven Nikki Heat novels?

Novelist Tom Straw ghost-wrote the first seven Nikki Heat books, from Heat Wave to Driving Heat, writing them as Castle's idealized vision of himself.

What is the name of the journalist who shadows Nikki Heat in the novels?

Jameson Rook is the magazine journalist who shadows Nikki Heat in the novels, a stand-in for the already fictional Castle; a rook is a castle in chess.

How does the season-six finale end, on Castle and Beckett's wedding day?

With Castle's car in flames: he is run off the road on his way to the ceremony, and Beckett is called to the scene to find the wreck burning in a ravine.

In the Castle episode "The Human Factor", what really killed the whistleblower thought to have died in a car bombing?

A drone strike, not a car bomb, killed him: the missile came from a military aircraft, which is why federal agents keep trying to take the case away from Beckett.

Which Castle spin-off did ABC announce was in early development in 2014?

A Derrick Storm series reached early development at ABC in August 2014, with Castle's own creators set to produce, but the spy drama never made it to the screen.

What was the title of Castle's first published novel?

In a Hail of Bullets was Castle's first published novel; he keeps his first rejection letter framed on his office wall.

Which book did a stranger hand ten-year-old Castle in the New York Public Library?

In the library a stranger handed young Castle a copy of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale, the book that set him on his career; the stranger was his father, Jackson Hunt.

Which soap opera inspired Castle to write his first novel?

One Life to Live was the soap his nanny had on all day, and Castle says it inspired his first novel; in real life the actor who plays him spent three years in that soap's cast.

What word is printed on Castle's custom bulletproof vest?

Castle's custom bulletproof vest reads WRITER where the detectives' vests say POLICE; he had it made so that he could tag along on raids.

In "Sucker Punch", what does Castle pay for with $100,000 of his own money?

A fake contract killing is the bait: the hitman takes a job only once the fee has been wired, so Castle fronts the money to lure out the man who murdered Beckett's mother.

In the two-parter "Target" and "Hunt", the kidnapped Alexis is taken to which foreign city?

Paris is where the kidnappers hold Alexis; Castle flies out alone to find her and gets her back only with help from the father he has never met.

What does Castle receive in the season-seven finale "Hollander's Woods"?

The Poe's Pen Achievement Award is, Castle says, the highest honour in his field; he accepts it shaken by the day's case and dedicates it to his family and friends.

What did the young Castle stumble on in Hollander's Woods?

A murdered girl lay in the woods, and her killer let the boy go; no body was ever found and nobody believed him, so he grew up needing to finish the story.

Which B-movie actress, played by Laura Prepon, is cast as Nikki Heat in the Heat Wave film?

Laura Prepon plays Natalie Rhodes, the B-movie actress cast as Nikki Heat, who shadows Beckett to prepare; Castle turns down her advances as "way too meta".

What is the spy Sophia Turner, played by Jennifer Beals, secretly?

A KGB mole is what her own side concludes Sophia Turner was: a sleeper planted in American intelligence and cut adrift when the Soviet Union fell.

Where does Castle first propose to Beckett?

On a park swing set: Castle tells her he wants more for them both, and asks just as she is deciding whether to take a job in Washington.

Where do Castle and Beckett finally marry?

At his house in the Hamptons, with only her father, Martha and Alexis present: after their first wedding day ended in disaster, the couple simply elope.

Which casino town do Castle and the detectives road-trip to in the season-four episode "Heartbreak Hotel"?

Atlantic City is where a casino owner's murder leads them; a casino's files show that on his last visit Castle set a mattress on fire and left the drapes covered in jam.

What does Castle name the private-eye business he opens in season seven?

After being barred from the precinct midway through season seven, Castle gets a P.I. licence and opens Richard Castle Investigations.

In "Last Call", a murder at a legendary bar leads Castle's team to a secret hidden since which era?

Prohibition left sealed tunnels and a forgotten stash of rare Scotch beneath the bar, a former speakeasy; the bottles turn out to be worth killing for.

How did the NYPD first explain the 1999 murder of Beckett's mother?

Random gang violence was the verdict of Detective Raglan, who knew better: he was one of the corrupt cops her inquiries threatened to expose, and the stabbing was staged to look that way.

Which university was Beckett studying pre-law at before her mother's death?

Stanford is where Beckett was studying pre-law when her mother was killed; she came home, finished her degree at NYU and joined the police to find answers.

Asked which comic-book character she would choose to be, whom does Beckett name?

Elektra is her pick; Castle calls the character a ruthless assassin who hides from her emotions, and Beckett counters that she just likes the ninja skills.

Which language did Beckett pick up during a college semester abroad?

Russian comes from a semester in Kyiv; it lets her follow, from a surveillance van, the card players who joke in their own language about fleecing Castle.

What does Beckett wear on a chain around her neck for "the life she lost"?

Beckett wears her mother's wedding ring on a chain for "the life she lost", and her father's watch for "the life she saved" when he quit drinking.

Who was Beckett's training officer, later a bounty hunter, played by Jason Beghe?

Mike Royce trained Beckett straight out of the academy and later turned bounty hunter; when he is murdered, she defies orders and flies to L.A. to find his killer herself.

What is the name of the sniper who shoots Beckett in season three?

Cole Maddox, Bracken's hired gun, stays nameless for a full season; once the team identifies him he comes after Beckett again and beats her in a rooftop fight before help arrives.

Which federal employer headhunts Beckett for a job in Washington?

Beckett takes the job with the Attorney General's office but is fired three episodes into season six, after leaking a story to stop an innocent woman being used as an informant.

What did the actress who plays Castle's Kate Beckett win in 2012 for the role?

A PRISM Award for Performance in a Drama Episode went to her for "Kill Shot", in which Beckett hunts a sniper after being shot by one herself.

Which university does Alexis eventually attend?

Alexis chooses Columbia and stays in New York; she had hoped to follow her boyfriend Ashley to Stanford but missed early admission there.

What is the name of the boyfriend Alexis brings back from Costa Rica in season six?

Pi comes home with Alexis from Costa Rica and the two move into their own apartment, but she soon decides he is not the one, breaks it off and moves back in with her father.

How much money does Martha inherit from her late fiancé Chet?

A million dollars came to Martha in Chet's will; wanting to honour his memory, she opened her own acting school.

What undercover alias did Ryan use inside the Irish mob?

Fenton O'Connell is the cover Ryan revives in "The Wild Rover", going back inside the Irish mob when a baker's murder leads the team to his old gang.

What do Ryan and Jenny name their daughter?

Ryan and Jenny name their daughter Sarah Grace; she is born in the season-six episode "Under Fire" while Ryan and Esposito are trapped in a burning building.

What middle name do Ryan and Jenny give their son Nicholas?

Ryan and Jenny name their son Nicholas Javier, after Esposito; he is born in the season-eight episode "Death Wish".

What drives a wedge between Ryan and Esposito early in season eight of Castle?

The sergeant's exam does it: Beckett gets both men a slot, only Esposito passes, and the dispute festers until it comes to a head weeks later.

Which robbery detective briefly dates Beckett in season two of Castle?

Tom Demming joins a case in "Den of Thieves" and starts seeing Beckett; he and Castle compete to impress her until she ends it in the season finale.

How does Beckett's first captain die?

In a shootout with hit men: he has Castle drag Beckett away, then faces Lockwood's squad alone and kills all four before dying of his own wounds.

Where does Beckett find the tape that finally incriminates Bracken?

In her mother's elephant figurines, which sat in plain sight on Beckett's own desk: Montgomery had given the cassette to Johanna, and she hid it there.

What is Bracken doing when Beckett arrests him?

Giving a live TV interview: Bracken is on air announcing his run for president when Beckett walks in and arrests him.

What does Castle call Beckett's cardiac-surgeon boyfriend Josh?

Castle dubs cardiac surgeon Josh Davidson "Doctor Motorcycle Boy"; Josh helps operate on Beckett after her shooting, then blames Castle for it.

Which perk does Perlmutter cite for eating lunch off his autopsy tables?

It is the city's cleanest room, he reasons, because the morgue's disinfectants are so powerful; he rarely passes up a sarcastic dig at Castle either.

What happens to Castle in the season-five episode "Probable Cause"?

He is framed for murder: the evidence in a ritual killing points straight at him, and he breaks out of custody on learning that an old enemy set him up.

What is the title of the Castle pilot episode?

Flowers for Your Grave is also one of Castle's own novels, and in the pilot a killer stages murder scenes exactly as his books describe them.

Where is the victim's body found in Castle's second episode, "Nanny McDead"?

In an apartment clothes dryer: the nanny had been struck down and stuffed inside.

Which FBI agent, an ex-boyfriend of Beckett's, asks for her help in "Little Girl Lost"?

Will Sorenson and Beckett got together on an earlier kidnapping case that ended with the victim's death, so the stakes are personal when he asks her to help find a missing child.

Which Firefly nod opens the season-two Halloween episode?

He also remarks that "Buffy's moved to the Big Apple", another Fillion role.

Which actress plays Castle's ex Kyra Blaine in "A Rose for Everafter"?

Alyssa Milano plays Kyra Blaine, the ex to whom Castle dedicated a novel; a bridesmaid is strangled on Kyra's wedding day in "A Rose for Everafter".

Who murdered Johanna Beckett, as revealed in "Sucker Punch"?

Dick Coonan, alias Rathborne, is a philanthropist by day and a hired killer by night; he takes Castle hostage, and Beckett has to shoot him before he can say who paid for the hit.

Which FBI agent, played by Dana Delany, joins the hunt for the Nikki Heat-obsessed killer?

Jordan Shaw arrives with FBI gadgets that dazzle Castle and irk Beckett; in the second part the killer kidnaps Shaw herself, and Beckett has to lead the hunt to save her.

What does serial killer Scott Dunn blow up in season two?

Dunn blows up Beckett's apartment at the end of "Tick, Tick, Tick..."; she survives by diving into the bathtub, and "Boom!" opens in the wreckage.

Which TV host plays a murdered talk-show host in "The Late Shaft"?

Tom Bergeron plays talk-show host Bobby Mann in "The Late Shaft"; Mann tells Castle someone wants him dead, then dies that same night.

Where is Castle standing when Beckett's team finds him in the season-three premiere?

Over a body, holding a gun: the team bursts in on a killer's trail and finds Castle, unheard from for months, so Beckett has no choice but to arrest him.

What kills the victim in the Castle episode "Punked"?

A 200-year-old bullet, fired from an antique gun, sends Castle off on wild theories before the trail leads to a secret steampunk society.

Which singer plays a government agent in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind"?

Lyle Lovett plays the agent who tries to shut the case down after an astrophysicist dies of explosive decompression in her car, which only convinces Castle that aliens took her.

What warning does the corrupt cop McAllister give the team in "Knockdown"?

They have awakened The Dragon, he says, and then clams up; he, Raglan and a third cop had kidnapped mobsters for ransom until an undercover FBI agent was shot dead.

Where are Castle and Beckett trapped while a dirty bomb is loose in "Setup"?

At the end of "Setup" Castle and Beckett are locked in a freezer container; "Countdown" opens with the team pulling them out, hypothermic but alive.

Where is Beckett when she is shot in Castle's season-three finale, "Knockout"?

Beckett is shot by a sniper while giving the eulogy at Montgomery's funeral; Castle tells her he loves her as her eyes close.

What are the bank robbers who hold Castle and Martha hostage dressed in?

In "Cops & Robbers" the robbers holding Castle and Martha wear hospital scrubs and use TV-doctor names; a by-the-book negotiator, Captain Peterson, keeps Beckett at arm's length.

Which condition does Beckett hide from the team while hunting a sniper in "Kill Shot"?

In "Kill Shot" Beckett hides the PTSD she has carried since her shooting while hunting a sniper; Esposito eventually confronts her about it.

Which animal do Castle and Beckett come face to face with while locked up together in "Cuffed"?

A tiger is what the two end up facing after they wake up handcuffed in a sealed room with no memory of how they got there; they keep just out of its reach until the rest of the team finds them.

What sends Castle into 1940s flashbacks, with the cast in period roles, in "The Blue Butterfly"?

Reading an old diary does it: the journal belonged to a 1940s private eye and holds clues to a missing necklace, and each time Castle opens it he pictures the people he knows in its story.

What does Beckett reveal to a suspect in "47 Seconds" that Castle overhears?

She remembers her shooting, all of it, she tells the suspect; Castle, listening in, concludes that she heard him say he loved her and chose to ignore it.

Which Firefly alumnus plays the violent Detective Ethan Slaughter?

Adam Baldwin, Jayne on Firefly, plays Detective Ethan Slaughter; Castle rides with him in "Headhunters" when he feels he can no longer work with Beckett.

What does Beckett do at the end of Castle's season-four finale, "Always"?

Beckett resigns and kisses Castle: suspended for withholding information on her own shooting case, she quits the NYPD instead, goes to his door and finally gives in to her feelings.

Which Star Trek actor directed the sci-fi convention episode "The Final Frontier"?

Jonathan Frakes, Star Trek's Riker, directed "The Final Frontier" and cameos as a fan getting Castle's autograph at the convention.

What does Ryan do on learning that Beckett's secret boyfriend is Castle in "Murder, He Wrote"?

Keeps it to himself: a witness blurts out that Castle's girlfriend is called Kate, and Ryan reports back only that the man had nothing more to say.

Why is Alexis really kidnapped in the Castle two-parter "Target" and "Hunt"?

To draw out her grandfather: the FBI assumes the target is the dignitary's daughter taken with her, but a Russian named Volkov wants revenge on Castle's long-absent father.

What does the murder Castle witnesses in "The Lives of Others" turn out to be?

A birthday surprise staged by Beckett: the killing he thinks he sees across the street is an elaborate show she arranged while an injury kept him housebound and bored.

What does Beckett accidentally trigger in the episode "Still"?

A bomb's pressure sensor: she steps on it and cannot move without setting it off, so Castle stays and distracts her by arguing over who fell for whom first.

What does Beckett tell Castle at the end of the season-six premiere, "Valkyrie"?

He has a day to live, she says: he was exposed to a stolen chemical agent, and she and McCord spend the next episode racing to find the antidote.

Whose look-alikes are murdered in the Castle episode "Disciple"?

Lanie's and Esposito's doubles turn up dead; the look-alikes had been used to walk in and destroy the evidence of a serial killer's crimes before they were murdered.

What condition is Castle found in after his two-month disappearance in season seven?

Abandoned at sea with no memory of the missing two months, he comes home to evidence that he staged his own abduction, and Beckett has to work out what to believe.

What happens to Castle in "The Time of Our Lives"?

He is thrown into a parallel universe, or dreams he is, where he and Beckett never met; once back, he asks her to marry him straight away.

Where do Castle and Beckett spend an impromptu honeymoon in season seven?

Castle and Beckett spend an impromptu honeymoon at an Arizona dude ranch in "Once Upon a Time in the West", chasing a murder tied to a legend of buried Old West gold.

Who kills Jerry Tyson in the episode "Reckoning"?

Esposito, with a sniper rifle, shoots Tyson dead when the killer walks into a trap that Castle has baited with himself; Beckett, meanwhile, breaks free and kills Kelly Nieman.

Which Firefly co-star plays rival investigator Kendall Frost in "The G.D.S."?

Summer Glau, River on Firefly, plays Kendall Frost, the rival P.I. Castle competes with for membership of the Greatest Detective Society in "The G.D.S.".

Who is revealed to be LokSat in Castle's final episode, "Crossfire"?

Mason Wood first rescues Castle and Beckett from a gunfight, then is exposed as LokSat himself; he heads the detectives' society that had invited Castle to join.

Who shoots Castle in the closing minutes of the series finale?

Caleb Brown, LokSat's lawyer who had faked his own death, shoots Castle in the loft in the closing minutes; Beckett kills him but is hit herself.

What kind of case does Alexis ask Castle to help with in "Like Father, Like Daughter"?

A death-row appeal: with three days left before the execution, Alexis turns to her father although she is still angry with him, and the two reopen the murder case together.

What is the name of Castle's stepmother, a spy played by Ann Cusack?

Rita, Jackson Hunt's wife and so Castle's stepmother, saves Beckett from a team of assassins and tells her that Bracken had a hidden partner, LokSat.

In which Canadian city was the actor who plays Castle born?

Edmonton, Alberta, is where he was born to two teachers; he acted in improv theatre there before a soap-opera role took him to New York in 1994.

Which space-western captain did Fillion play before Castle?

Malcolm Reynolds captained the ship Serenity in Firefly, cancelled before all its episodes had aired; the crew got a second outing in the 2005 film Serenity.

In which police drama, launched in 2018, did Fillion begin playing Officer John Nolan?

The Rookie has the newly divorced Nolan head west to join the LAPD as its oldest rookie; its creator, Alexi Hawley, had co-run Castle's final season.

In which Canadian city was the actress who plays Beckett born?

Hamilton, Ontario, is where she was born to Serb parents from Croatia; the family later moved to Illinois, and she grew up going back and forth across the border.

In which James Bond film did the actress who plays Beckett appear?

Quantum of Solace casts her as a Canadian intelligence agent in the final scene, where Bond saves her from a lover who seduces agents for their secrets.

Why does the NYPD cut its ties with Castle midway through season seven?

He worked with a mob boss: once his teamwork with a Mafia don becomes known, the district attorney has Gates bar him, so he turns up at the next crime scene with a P.I. licence.

Which 1997 Harrison Ford film was the first produced screenplay by Castle's creator?

Air Force One, which he sold as an original script years before Castle, has Harrison Ford's president fighting off hijackers aboard his own plane.

What follows Castle and the team around during the season-five episode "Swan Song"?

A documentary film crew, there to shoot a rock band, turns its cameras on the investigation when a band member is murdered, and everyone except Beckett starts playing to the lens.

Which 1980s series did Marlowe and Miller revive for CBS with Queen Latifah?

The Equalizer returned on CBS with Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, a single mother and ex-spy turned vigilante, recasting the avenger who had been Robert McCall in the 1980s.

What was the Marlowe–Miller detective series starring Rachel Bilson called?

Take Two has Rachel Bilson's actress, fresh out of rehab, shadow a private investigator to research a comeback role, much as Castle shadowed Beckett; ABC cancelled it after one season.

Which Daytime Emmy nomination did Fillion receive for his soap-opera role in 1996?

Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series was the category; two years earlier he had left university in Canada, degree unfinished, to take the part of Joey Buchanan.

Which actor plays Roy Montgomery in Castle?

Ruben Santiago-Hudson plays Montgomery; after the character's death he returned for a flashback scene in the season-six episode "Veritas".

Who plays Captain Victoria Gates, Montgomery's replacement from season four?

Penny Johnson Jerald, Sherry Palmer in 24, plays Gates, who takes a dim view of Castle and tries to persuade Beckett she would be a better detective without him around.

Which actress plays Hayley Shipton, the British security specialist added in season eight?

Toks Olagundoye plays Hayley Shipton, who turns out to have known Castle during his missing months: his father had hired her to watch over him in Los Angeles.

Who plays Dr. Sidney Perlmutter, who barely hides his dislike of Castle?

Arye Gross plays Perlmutter, who teases and insults Castle at crime scenes; the actor also narrated the pilot of The Wonder Years, until Daniel Stern re-recorded the part.

What drastic step does Beckett take once her hunt for LokSat begins in season eight of Castle?

She leaves Castle: warned that attachments are leverage her enemies can use, she moves out and goes after her old team's killers behind his back.

Which actress plays Castle's first wife, the self-centred mother of Alexis?

Darby Stanchfield, by then a regular on Scandal, returned in season five as the ex-wife who moves into the loft just as Beckett is staying there too.

Which actor plays William Bracken in Castle?

Jack Coleman, Noah Bennet in Heroes, plays Bracken, whose run for president ends in arrest; he is later killed in his prison cell before he can be questioned about LokSat.

Which cable network acquired exclusive rights to Castle's first two seasons in June 2011?

TNT picked up the cable rights to Castle's first two seasons in June 2011 and ran an eight-hour marathon that September, ahead of the fourth-season premiere.

Who plays Vikram Singh, the high-strung tech analyst introduced in season eight?

Sunkrish Bala plays Vikram, an analyst from the Washington office where Beckett once worked; a file he passes on gets her old team killed, and he goes on the run with her.