Trivia / Castle (2009)

• Actor-Shared Background: Esposito and his actor both have a background in Special Forces. Esposito was Army SF, and Jon Huertas was a Pararescueman.
• California Doubling:
  • The show was not filmed in New York, but Los Angeles. If you're someone who lives in Southern California (or knows the general L.A. area), then you can easily spot an orange Los Angeles Metro Bus just driving by in the background once in a while.
  • "Hunt" from Season 5 is supposed to be set in Paris but was mostly shot in Los Angeles using some very obvious digital background replacements. A crew did go to Paris to shoot some quick shots of Molly C Quinn and Nathan Fillion's stunt double.
• Cameo Prop: The catalyzer from Firefly can sometimes be seen on the set thanks to Nathan Fillion.
• The Cast Showoff:
  • Stana Katic got to take on a Russian accent in "Deep in Death"; Russian is one of several Slavic languages she speaks in real life.
  • Jon Huertas (Esposito) gets a chance to sing in "Swan Song". He's pretty good!
  • As of "The Blue Butterfly," Tamala Jones (Lanie Parrish) shows off her lovely singing voice. (Said scenes are flashbacks imagined by Castle, although if she's that good in his mind, he must have heard her before.)
• The Character Died with Him: A strange example as it's a Real Life Writes the Plot of As Himself, but Stephen J. Cannell who passed during Season 3 in 2010 at 69 got not only a tribute outside an episode of the show, but a later episode made a brief mention of the writers Castle played Poker with leaving his chair opened for a year to honor his memory too.
• Creator Backlash: Castle's creator Andrew Marlowe, has discreetly stated before on Twitter that he is not fond of Season 8, and considers Season 7's "Hollander's Woods" the true series finale. He has also stated that had he known Season 8's "Crossfire" would be the actual final episode, he would have went ahead and written that episode himself, and the episode would have ended with an And the Adventure Continues moment, just as the Season 7 finale did.
• The Danza: The background police officer "L.T", who has had some speaking parts throughout the series, is played by actor L.T. Tolliver.
  • Pretty much any background character that Castle refers to by name. According to the DVD Commentary, Nathan likes to ad-lib it whenever he can.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Averted by Alexis Castle as Molly Quinn is nearly the same age as her character.
  • In "Suicide Squeeze", a 17-year-old was played by a 4-foot-10 30-year-old actress. The actress did not really look at all like a 17 year old... just like a short adult. The writers probably realized this, because they played with it, making the victim's wife think the girl was the victim's lover when she was actually his daughter.
• Defictionalization:
  • Heat Wave, the first Nikki Heat novel made it onto the Times bestseller list, as did Naked Heat and Heat Rises.
  • Deadly Storm is a graphic novel "adaptation" of the first Derrick Storm novel. Storm Rises has also been announced.
  • Brewing Storm and A Raging Storm, two Derek Storm shorts.
  • And now Nikki and Derick shall meet in... Heat Storm.
• Distanced from Current Events: "Still" was postponed for a week, as it had a bomb plot, and the Boston Marathon bombing happened the week before it was originally scheduled to air. TNT had to issue an apology for not pulling a rerun of "47 Seconds" (which was more on the nose with a mass bombing plot) that aired that week, as well.
• Dyeing for Your Art: In addition to the spoiler above, Natalie Rhodes used a complete makeover to "come closer" to Beckett's style, including using a wig to change her hair from blonde to brunette (neither of which happens to be Laura Prepon's natural hair color).
• Enforced Method Acting: In the pilot, a scene was originally written where Beckett would question Captain Montgomery's wisdom in allowing Castle to be part of the investigation. When filming, the producers decided to remove this scene by having Montgomery bluntly shoot down Beckett's request to talk to him ("Nope.")... but didn't inform Stana Katic, whose look of annoyed astonishment is real.
• Executive Meddling: Both Stana Katic (Becket) and Tamala Jones (Lanie) were not asked to come back for the proposed Season 9 in order to save money. However, the point became moot when ABC decided not to renew the show. And it's stipulated in Fillion's contract that he only spends two days per week shooting with Katic. It's only in his contract, and he's a producer, so... Speaking of Moonlighting, why is it that as soon as two leads get married in-universe that they invariably grow to hate each other's guts?
• Fake American: Both lead characters are played by Canadian actors.
• Fake Brit: "The Limey", particularly the Scotland Yard detective who consults in the case, is very clearly an Australian.
• Fandom Nod: "One Life to Lose" is partially about the rabid shipping community surrounding a fictional soap opera. Many a Portmanteau Couple Name is used.
• Filming Location Cameo: Season 3's "To Love and Die in L.A.".
• Hey, It's That Place!:
  • Sort of. The warehouse where they fight the murderer in "Boom!" returns again in "Setup," with absolutely nothing to disguise it and several shots of the warehouse which are basically exactly the same in both episodes. Either they ran out of locations or the terrorist in setup used the same warehouse again. Lampshaded by Castle when he wonders why that particular building is so popular.
  • The hallway leading to the sleazy boyfriend's apartment in "Pretty Dead" seems very familiar — especially its distinctive square window.
  • They don't even try to hide the fact that the hangar they use in "Secret Santa" is the same hangar that was used for the climax of "Knockout".
  • Castle didn't actually go very far in his pursuit to retrieve Alexis in France. They use the same church in "Hunt" as the one previously used in "Always".
• Hostility on the Set: There were plenty of rumors that there were serious problems between Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion starting from around Season 4 (they'd done joint appearances until Season 3). They apparently couldn't be in the same room together for too long and shot scenes together only when they absolutely had to, resulting in Castle and Beckett starting to have separate storylines. The tensions reportedly reached a point where lines were being drawn within the cast and were going to result in Katic's departure from the show had it not been cancelled and a series finale was hastily cobbled together. She claims that it came from the pay discrepancy between the two of them. She says she understands why he made a lot more money than her at the beginning because he was the established name and she was the unknown actor. However, she felt that as time went on the gap should have closed and she felt like the network was helping him at her expense. He's never commented on the issue.
• The Other Darrin: Mayor Robert Weldon is played by Joseph C. Phillips in Season 1 then Derek Webster in Season 4.
• Production Posse: Over the years, around a dozen alumni of Joss Whedon shows appear as guest stars, usually as suspects. Tahmoh Penikett, Reed Diamond, Adam Baldwin, Gina Torres, Andy Umberger, Armin Shimerman, Marc Blucas, Gregg Henry, Jewel Staite, Summer Glau, D. B. Woodside, Bailey Chase, Leonard Roberts... Someone wanted to make bank on Fillion's relationship with Firefly.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Seamus Dever (Ryan)'s wife Juliana has a recurring role as Jenny, Ryan's girlfriend and later, fiancée, and much later, wife. The cast and crew have utilized it to very cute and very meta ends — such as creating a wedding website for Jenny and Ryan with the Devers' pictures.
  • Stana Katic's then-boyfriend (now husband) Kris Brljac appears as an extra on the season 5 episode "Death Gone Crazy" .
• Reality Subtext:
  • Andrew Marlowe has suggested that the dynamic between Castle and Beckett — specifically, a writer and his 'muse' going on to develop a romantic bond with each other — mirrors his relationship with fellow writer Terri Miller.
  • In one episode, Ryan is pressured into eating health food by his wife, and it has a bad effect on his work and health. In reality, both Seamus Dever and his wife, who plays his wife on the show, are already vegetarians.
  • Apparently, the reason behind Beckett and Castle's relationship troubles in Season 8 was due to fighting between Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion.
• Recursive Adaptation: Played with. You can buy Castle's actual novels in bookshops, complete with Castle's name on the cover and his "ruggedly-handsome" mug on the back. Not only are the Nikki Heat novels blatantly based on what happens in the show (as you'd expect), but one character in High Heat says he knows not to touch bodies because he watches this TV show with a hot lady cop and her writer husband. Heat doesn't notice or doesn't care about the odd similarities to her own life.
• Recycled Set: The hospital set from Private Practice is used in "3XK." According to the Audio Commentary, "Private Practice" films only 25 feet from "Castle."
• Scully Box: Beckett's impractical-for-police-work high heels help Stana Katic be in line with Nathan Fillion's height.
• Stunt Casting:
  • From "A Rose for Everafter", New Old Flame Kyra Blaine, played by Alyssa Milano. Oh, and Sophia Turner, played by Jennifer Beal in the season 4 two-parter "Pandora"/"Linchpin".
  • The two-episode arc, "Tick, Tick, Tick" and "Boom" has Desperate Housewives Dana Delany as a federal agent. Nathan Fillion previously played Delany's husband on that show.
  • "The Late Shaft" features Tom Bergeron, who just happens to host Dancing with the Stars, Castle's lead-in.
  • Averted with Beckett's dad, who's just a regular character actor and even matches the photo shown in passing during the first-season.
  • Lyle Lovett as a member of The Men in Black in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind".
  • Adam Baldwin in "Headhunters". The ABC press release prior to the episode made gratuitous mention of his past in Firefly, the beloved but short-lived show with Nathan Fillion. Baldwin also did numerous interviews promoting his one-episode part before the show aired.
  • Another of Nathan Fillion's co-stars from Firefly, Gina Torres, appears in "Reality Star Struck".
  • Jackson Hunt in "Hunt", played by none other than James Brolin.
• Troubled Production: In a vein similar to Moonlighting, Nathan & Stana couldn't stand working with each other, and would only be in each other's presence when they absolutely had to appear on-screen together. Whichever of the various stories of off-set behaviour is true or not remains a riddle for the ages. Most fans believe it only started getting bad after Season 4, because up through Season 3, the two of them were still doing joint interviews and promotional videos for the series: these abruptly stopped with Season 4.
• What Could Have Been: Adam Baldwin stated at Dragon*Con 2016 that the writers wanted to use his character Slaughter in more episodes, but Baldwin's schedule conflicts with other shows (notably, The Last Ship) prevented this from happening, and Slaughter only appeared in two episodes, one in Season 4, and once in Season 8.

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