“Castle” Writer And Consulting Producer Terri Miller On What Is To Come In Season 6
Megan Miller ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Well into its sixth season, Castle is doing better than ever in ratings and recently won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite TV Crime Drama for the third year in a row. With its main couple getting ready to tie the knot, the show continues to succeed in bringing back its viewers.
Terri Miller, writer and current consulting producer for the show, has worked on the show alongside the showrunner, her husband Andrew Marlowe, since its inception in 2009. Miller spoke to Emertainment Monthly about the rest of the season, live-tweeting with fans, and her experience working on the show.
Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic) have been engaged for half of the season and have mentioned looking for wedding venues; does the writing team know when more plans will happen, or even when a date will be set?
We have a pretty good idea but it’s all dependent on how our stories develop.
Do you feel that Castle is beyond any threat of the Moonlighting curse for good?
I don’t believe in “The Moonlighting Curse.” It’s based on a faulty premise that the show ended because David & Maddie hooked up. The show ended for a number of reasons. Personally, I was a huge fan of Moonlighting and was disappointed when it was taken off the schedule. But if you believe in the curse, I would say, we’re way beyond that.
3XK left a pretty sinister note in song form for Castle and Beckett at the end of “Disciple”; are plans in the works to bring that storyline up again any time soon, or to bring back Michael Mosley for the role?
3XK is insidious and pops up when you least expect it. I wouldn’t turn your back on him.
Alexis (Molly C. Quinn) has also made herself pretty notorious this season for moving in with Pi (Myko Olivier) and calling her father out in “Get a Clue”; what was the motivation behind that direction for her?
Like all of our characters, Alexis has grown and changed since the audience met her when she was 14. She’s in her sophomore year of college and she’s discovering her independence, exploring her boundaries and like all young men and women her age, testing her relationships. Our motivation was to challenge her character and tell the story of her evolution as an integral part of the evolution of the Castle family.
You live-tweet with the rest of the fandom during episodes; what is that experience like, in terms of direct audience feedback?
I love live-tweeting with the fandom. It’s a bit like broadcasting in front of a live studio audience, except while live-tweeting the audience can give you a shout out, or shout at you during the performance. It’s kind of exciting to see the tweets where people react emotionally to moments I’ve hoped would evoke their exact responses. It’s also surprising to see how people react to moments I did not expect to have a particular sort of impact. I also enjoy being able to answer some of their behind-the-scene questions.
What kind of vibe do the writer’s have, having come through five seasons and successfully gotten a television couple together?
We all feel lucky to be a part of this show. It continues to be exciting and challenging creatively for all of us. We’re lucky to have the talent in the cast and crew to help create the chemistry that keeps us going, not only with Castle & Beckett, but between Ryan & Esposito, Gates, Lanie, Alexis and Martha. And it’s a lot of fun to produce our show with our exceptionally talented crew for such a passionate and engaged fandom.
Going into the second half of the season, is there anything you can talk about, where it’s going or what next year will bring?
I think you’ll see a lot of action, drama and fun as Castle and Beckett plan their wedding. We’re hoping to create more stories spotlighting Gates, Ryan, Esposito, Lanie, Martha and Alexis.
Lastly, what is your favorite thing about working on the show?
I love writing, honing the scripts but my favorite part of working on the show has always been the production process. I love working with the various creative departments to figure out the practicalities of production, location scouting, costumes, set design, props, hair and make-up and casting. It’s gratifying to see how the actors and directors elevate the writing in production. We end up rewriting in the editing room and creating the moments with music, sound and our editing patterns. It’s creating a product out of whole cloth and then showing it, having the audience feel something, relate to or look at the world in a different way that I find most exciting.
Castle airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.
Loved the interview with Terri. She is also one of my favorite writers and has been some great Castle episodes. This show keeps getting better and better and the fandom is bigger than ever all across the globe. Along with the writing, Castle has the best, most talented cast in all of television. I love this show with all of my heart and look forward to it each week!
I love what you love!! You all are very entertains, thank you very much.
This has easily been the worst season of the series when it should have been the best. Castle and Beckett are engaged and the show should be celebrating everything that makes them so special. Instead it’s been forgotten and replaced with the ocaissional mention of a wedding that may or may not happen.
Personally I would much rather see a return of everything that made Castle and Casket so special than listen to more wedding talk. I miss the steamie looks, the witty banter, touching and Castle bringing Beckett coffee. I don’t care if they mostly live together, the coffee is important. And don’t get me started on how Castle almost always leaves the precinct alone. Before they started dating they left together all the time.
Based on this interview, the season is going to be more of the same mediocre episodes. Episodes that focus on characters that are far less intetesting than Castle and Beckett. This interview did not provide any information that would entice me to continue watching this once great show.
You raised some good points! I hope the writers read this!
Clearly you have the wrong channel on and you’re watching something completely different to me, you might want to check your TV.
It does not sound as if the show will ever be as entertaining as the earlier seasons. This show is becoming very boring and when the focus is on the secondary characters, I lose interest. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.
You know Alisa,you don’t have to watch the show…..And I do not agree with you at all.:-(
Castle has always had one of the best ensemble casts of any TV show, I wish we saw MORE of the other characters because they all have so much to offer. I’m loving the series and loving this season and very much looking forward to what more is to come.
This interview was good,it gives us a glimpse behind the scene,on how the writers think and work.The show has become better for each season,as have the cast they all do an amazing job.The crew really gives us the most ” normal” setting for the cast to work in. Really super crew.The thing I am missing in this season,is the flirting and the play between Castle and Kate,even if they now are looking at a future together there should be room for more of the fun,flirtatious games we have seen before. Why can’t they be spicy and playful now as well as before they got together. And can I wich for No more interrupted intimate scenes …please 🙂
I wish there were somed continuity instead of eps just thrown together. Beckett’s past weas re-written for 6X01 & so on. Alexis’s past was ignored for this season. The actors are great. It’s the writing, for me, that has given up on what the show used to be.
I have a comment on the show that aired this past Monday night. If you are going to use foreign words it might be a good idea on how to pronounce them. The only one in the cast that pronounced Yakuza right was the girl playing the Japanese detective and it drove me nuts. Apparently know one caught the difference but I did. I may not know how to spell it right but I can pronounce it right.
I have been a fan of Castle for many seasons and have loved every suspenseful minute of it. But something is different since the “BIG” wedding and Richard’s disappearance and whereabouts during that time.There has been nothing to indicate that anyone is trying to get to the bottom of his disappearance and “WHERE WAS HE?” I can’t believe that the writers would just “drop the ball” on that one and just go on as if nothing happened except that Castle and Beckett are married. Iam losing interest in the show for this very reason and a few of my friends are also not happy. Seems rather dull and almost repetitive and lacking suspense.
Why don’t they show these episodes on television anymore? I’ve been wanting to know what happened after that wreck on their wedding day..
There needs to be another season of Castle. They didn’t go through hell & back to end up that way. Their story is better than any other crazy love. I’m a huge fan & i’ve watched every episode to where I almost know every word of each one. They need more to their story it can’t just end on their wedding day by a freaking car accident. They went through too much to have it that way..