CASTLE: Andrew Marlowe on Audience Reaction, Castle’s Knowledge about Beckett’s Secret and a Potential Season 5
April 2, 2012 by Marisa Roffman
Yes, we’ve had a lot of CASTLE stuff on the site today, but given that I just got off the phone with series creator Andrew Marlowe, I figured you guys wouldn’t object too much to a little more scoop about what’s to come. (Right? That’s what I thought.)
Keep reading for my chat with Marlowe about fan response, the fallout from Castle knowing Beckett’s secret, his thoughts on a potential season 5 and more…
So, I’m guessing you’ve seen your fair share of panicked CASTLE fans in the past week…
Andrew Marlowe: [Laughs] Actually, I knew that there were going to be some anxious fans so I stayed off the boards after Monday’s episode.
I know you’ve talked in the past how you monitor people’s anxiousness and their frustrations and there are times where you’re genuinely trying to get a specific kind of reaction because you know where things are leading to. But do you feel like the reaction you’ve seen is what you felt it should be at this point?
AM: Yeah, I think so. I think so. As long as they’re willing to stick with us until the end, that’s good. There’s a reason for everything we’re doing and I expect about a third of the fans will be really angry, a third of them would be frustrated/anxious/curious and a third of them would probably get where we’re going.
Has there been any point in the season where you were surprised by the reaction you got?
AM: Um, sort of yes and no. No, in that I understand that passionate fans are going to be invested and whenever there’s a bump in the road or these guys are challenged, it’s going to be frustrating to some folks. I certainly know there is an aspect of impatience with some of our more hardcore fans. But we had things pretty well mapped out at the beginning of the season and things are going according to our plan, and we feel like our characters are in a really interesting place and certainly where they need to be in our run-up to the season finale.
Good to know. Lanie and Beckett are also having a long-overdue conversation in tonight’s episode. Jon Huertas teased that Esposito and Lanie may have been getting together off-screen. What’s the latest on their relationship?
AM: I think you’ll know more about that in tonight’s episode. So I’ll let you watch and find out.
Fair enough. What can you say about what the women discuss about Beckett’s relationship with Castle?
AM: Well, you know, I think in the aftermath of the revelation in last Monday night’s episode, Beckett feels Castle pulling away and that scares her. It’s one thing to not declare yourself when someone is sticking around and you know that they’re going to be there, but when they start pulling away, I think it can be very frightening. I think that she is dealing with those emotions. She doesn’t understand the reason why he’s acting the way he’s acting, why he’s withdrawing. And Lanie has a point of view on it. Her point of view is, “He’s been hanging around, waiting for you to be ready. You have to do something or he’s going to drift away.” So she gets ready to declare herself, but the question is, is Castle in a position where he’s ready to receive that information? So we have a little bit more of the dance to do before we get to where we’re going.
Is Castle at all acknowledging to himself, “She made a huge mistake lying about this, but I’m also harboring a relationship-changing secret”? Or is that not in his head right now because he’s so wrapped up in the anger?
AM: Come on, he’s a boy! [Laughs] Do you think boys do that? He’s not in a self-reflective mood. He’s just pissed and acting out. But is he going to get to what you’re talking about? Yeah. But he’s not going to get there overnight — it’s going to take an episode or two.
And I think his pride was seriously wounded in that last episode. We know that men don’t like to talk about their feelings, they’re not going to go in there and confront somebody, he’s just going to quietly suffer with the pain and deal with his very complicated feelings towards her and I think we get to watch that for the next couple episodes. It’s interesting because we get to watch Beckett react to it. It’s a very human relationship, where sometimes you don’t realize what you want until you’re afraid of losing it.
Absolutely. We as an audience know that Beckett really does remember everything, but does anyone else bring up to Castle that maybe what he thinks he heard wasn’t actually what he’s angry about? That perhaps what she thinks she remembers isn’t the full story and she just simply remembers being shot and not his declaration after?
AM: Well, that’s not really in the back of his mind right now, and she was so declarative about it that I don’t think that factors into his thinking. But there are some other things that we do deal with in episodes coming up which is why she may have done that. And it may have nothing to do with the way she feels about Castle, and there are many reasons people lie. Sometimes even to protect themselves. But that’s for future episodes. That’s before we get to our season finale, in which we have our characters finally confront the issues they’ve been dodging all year. Finally laying our cards on the table.
They’ll be laying out their cards in the season finale?
AM: Yeah. Circumstances in the season finale lead up to them really having to confront the secrets they’ve been harboring. Right now, Castle knows what Beckett has been harboring, but she doesn’t know that he knows. So we haven’t really put our cards on the table. And that’s going to be coming up.
Okay, we’ll touch back on the season finale in a little bit. I know you guys haven’t officially been picked up for season 5, but there’s no question the show has performed solidly for ABC. Is there actually any concern on your end that the show won’t be back, or are you just trying to not count your chickens before they hatch in terms of thinking about future years?
AM: I am never one to tempt the TV gods. We have a very good feeling, but only [ABC President] Paul Lee and the folks at ABC know for sure. We are moving forward assuming that we’re coming back and assuming that they’re happy with us. But again, I don’t want to tempt the TV gods, because I know how fickle they are, and I know shows have been surprised in the past. So we’re just going to keep our heads down and do good work until the end of the season.
Have you heard about whether there will even be early renewals? There seem to be conflicting reports on it…
AM: I don’t know. We were sort of spoiled last year because I think Paul wanted to make a statement so we got our pickup in January. But I think with a bunch of the midseason shows, they’re being a bit more cautious and I think that we have the responsibility to move forward and start to think about next year as if it’s going to happen so we don’t lose any time or effort. And we want the show to continue its great momentum. We know we’re hitting syndication on TNT and we’re really excited about that. We’re excited about the opportunity to maybe bring a new audience to it. But right now, they’ll tell us when they tell us, and we’ll take the news either way graciously. But we have good feelings and we think they have good feelings towards us. But I never want to tempt the TV gods!
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So, there you have it. I’ll have much more for you from Marlowe soon, but for now, are you excited about where Castle and Beckett may be going? Or are you in full-out panic mode?
Related:
CASTLE: Jon Huertas Talks About Esposito’s Relationships with Beckett and Lanie
CASTLE: Seamus Dever on Wanting to Hold a ‘Love Intervention’ and the Huck Finn-Tom Sawyer Relationship Between Ryan and Esposito
CASTLE: Molly Quinn Shares Her Hopes for the Rest of the Season
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I’ll never object to more Castle on your site. Thanks for the interview, I always enjoy hearing what Andrew Marlowe has to say.
Thanks for all the Castle stuff…looking forward to more…and to tonight’s episode!
“There’s a reason for everything we’re doing and I expect about a third of the fans will be really angry, a third of them would be frustrated/anxious/curious and a third of them would probably get where we’re going.”
I would just point out that we can get where you’re going and still find the way you’re getting there annoying. The frustrated fans aren’t stupid.
OK, that was rude of me. I just had a knee-jerk reaction to the idea that if we aren’t crazy about the way the characters have been portrayed this season, it’s because we don’t get what the writers are trying to do. It’s possible to get something and not like it, is all.
I think Lydia’s exactly right. I’ve been bored out of my mind for the entire winter because the writing has just been dull, duller and dullest. Get them together or don’t, but if you have to make the smartest detective in New York a complete and utter idiot to keep them apart for — what will this be now, three more eps? — then you need to rethink your strategy.
I can see exactly where you’re going, Andrew, there’ s no great mystery. The problem is that at every turn you’ve made the most boring choice imaginable to get there. So many great setups you put out there, and then backed away. Marry off Ryan and never show the reception? Drown them and don’t show the rescue? Have Beckett more moved by a dog licking her face than Castle holding her hand? Yeap. And I don’t for one second believe that we’ll be given more than a few minutes (literally) to enjoy them being together before you rip it all away again.
There’s a word for what you need, and it’s PACING. When your definition of a “normal” ep means “boring case with no forward motion”, you have a real problem on your hands.
“So many great setups you put out there, and then backed away.”
Exactly. It’s like they want us to get excited but not actually have to follow through until the latest possible moment so they can string us along for another season. The problem is that after doing that enough times, your audience learns not to get excited anymore.
Well said dalmen.
We get where Marlowe’s going and I gotta say, I don’t really care. Castle has gone completely immature and dislikeable (hurt or not – grow up!), and Beckett has suddenly gone completely stupid. (Remember when she was a smart, kick ass cop?) Sigh. I don’t know if I’ll even care by the time Marlowe get’s them anywhere. And I hate that. I used to love Castle.
Really enjoying castle and like how he s telling the story, I do not feel like either character looks stupid or immature. I look forward to the rest of the season.
“I understand that passionate fans are going to be invested and whenever there’s a bump in the road or these guys are challenged, it’s going to be frustrating to some folks.”
Thank you Mr Marlowe, it’s nice to know both that you are polite and that you thinks your fans immature idiots who are complaining only because there are “bumps” on the road. That explains a lot about how you write the show.
“I certainly know there is an aspect of impatience with some of our more hardcore fans. ”
May I shed some lights on your mistake? It’s not impatience, it’s annoyance. In a character driven story (which Castle should be) the What-When-Why are equally important. Obviously you think that the only problem is the When, but it isn’t. Of course there are fans whose only complaint is that they waaaaant to see them kissing, but believe me, most of the desillusioned and disapponted fans of the show are not like this.
It’s very sorry that with two strong, interesting and funny main characters whose had very different backgrounds the only reason of conflict you can deliver is not letting them talk and the only kind of conflict you know is the melodrama. It’s a boring way to use the characters. Your only luck is that the cast (each and every member of it) tries their best to make this watchable, but even their enthusiasm isn’t enough to compensate the wrongs you do.
“It’s very sorry that with two strong, interesting and funny main characters whose had very different backgrounds the only reason of conflict you can deliver is not letting them talk”
Wow. Yeah. When your entire relationship arc for a year hinges on one character not telling the other something, that is some thin gruel. There have to be more interesting stories to tell with these characters than that.
Once upon a time, there was a naturalness to this show, storylines and characters. It has all but disappeared. The end. Once upon a crime, indeed.
Overall I’ve liked this season of Castle, but to me it seems like this season has been a bit more cliched. It’s almost like the writers are having a script housekeeping party and they’re using every classic drama storyline that they can think of.
Castle held hostage in a bank – CHECK
Situation involving a dog – CHECK
Beckett gets to hobnob with a Scotland Yard agent – CHECK
Flashback 40’s noir episode – CHECK
C&B get to deal with the CIA – CHECK
If there’s a silver lining to the cloud, I figure that they are clearing these stories out because they WILL get them together by season’s end and they won’t have any other chances to use these stories.
I have to admit, I have a HUGE soft spot for the bank cliche, so I really enjoyed that ep. 🙂
I’m disappointed in the writing. We wanted more of Ryans wedding than we got. We wanted to see what happened when they almost drowned in the car, but they came out of that as though they just got coffee instead of nearly dying. I’m not interested in seeing them going gaga because they’ve touched hands. They are not acting like normal adults. Castle would so put his arm around her as they are going out for a burger or give her a little hug when she comes to the loft or maybe even kiss her hand or cheek. They dont necessarily have to have a romantic kiss (although they better by the end of the season) but quit with the stupid little touches that we are supposed to get so excited about. Let them act like adults that care about each other. This last episode was horrible except for the part with Lanie. I dont mind filler episodes if they are fun but this wasn’t. Give us something to hold on too. So looking forward to Adam Baldwin’s episode. I hope I won’t be disappointed in it.
To people complaining, because of the poor writing, there’s a very real chance the show will be cancelled. So the season finale will be Caskett happening and then the end of the series.
No more complaining then. You got what you want and no more bad writing.