Set Visit : Castle

We’re over saturated with television crime dramas and they’re great but it’s nice to see someone take a different approach to the procedural drama. Castle doesn’t take itself so seriously and is less about the science and more about the story. It has more of a classic feel to it.

Rick Castle is a writer who was investigated by the New York City police department when the victim of a murder matched the description of a victim in one of his mystery novels. At the time Castle was suffering writer’s block having just killed off the main character in his successful series of novels. During the investigation Castle is inspired by his run-in with the beautiful Detective Kate Beckett and through his connections with the Mayor he gets permission to hang out as a consultant at the precinct to do research for his book.

Beckett is initially horrified by the idea of Castle tagging along referring to him as “a 9 year old on a sugar rush totally incapable of taking anything seriously” but as time progresses she learns to appreciate his unique approach to solving crimes.

During season 1 we see the team get to know each other while working to solve a new case each week. We learn about Castle’s endearing relationship with his teenage, oddly responsible daughter and his slightly crazy mother who has moved in with them.

To introduce new viewers who missed season one, the premier of season two briefly recaps why Castle is working with Detective Beckett, why he belongs at the precinct and why he’s allowed to tag along.

Visiting the set of Castle leaves no doubt that the cast and crew get along really well. Seamus Dever who plays Detective Ryan said, “Most of the time we’re talking about our lives outside of here, getting to know people’s families and things like that, it’s really neat learning how everyone spends their time outside of work.”

Jose Molina (Firefly, Law & Order SVU) joined the writing staff this season and said “The idea of doing a procedural that isn’t a strict procedural that has a lot of character in it, a lot of comedy in it, a lot of romance in it was really appealing to me.”

“I was a big fan of the show from what I’d seen in the first season,” he said, “I thought it’d be a nice change of pace for me and it’s a real nice change of pace in the TV landscape to see a procedural that isn’t so much about the “murder of the week” and that allows you to explore the lives of the characters a bit more.”

Having worked with Nathan Fillion on Firefly Molina suggests there may be some subtle references for fans. “At some point I would love to have him say the word “Shiny” and see if the fans jump to that. I’m hoping to do an episode that revolves around the music industry and I think what better opportunity to have him say “Shiny” in front of a gold record.”

When we asked about season two, Dever who plays Detective Ryan said, “We just started flirting with the idea of letting Esposito and Ryan start interrogating and doing a little bit more of the things Beckett does, like to go out on our own and see a little more of Ryan’s personal life too, like what he does off work when Esposito and Beckett aren’t around.”

Jon Huertas (Detective Esposito) says, “I’d like to see the stories open up a little bit, you know a lot of times Esposito and Ryan go off and gather information and bring it back to Beckett. I’d like to actually see how we gather our information, I think it’s probably in an interesting way not maybe what you would expect so I hope maybe we see some of that. I’d like to see more of that brother-sister relationship. Most of the first season Esposito really enjoyed having Castle around. Castle’s a man’s man and I think Esposito is that too so having him around was really enjoyable.”

Castle airs in the USA Monday nights at 10/9c on ABC and begins in Australia Oct 18th on the Seven network at 9:30 Sunday nights.

For more information visit www.castletv.net