Stana Katic is leaving Castle because she & Nathan Fillion hate each other
Hot on the heels of Nicole Beharie’s sudden exit from Sleepy Hollow – an exit that should not have surprised anyone, considering her vocal displeasure over the years – comes another high profile “split.” Stana Katic is leaving the long-running ABC drama Castle. Since I have a bizarre affection for police procedurals of varying quality, I’ll admit that I’ve pretty much seen every episode of Castle seasons 1-6. I like Nathan Fillion and I always thought he and Stana had a lot of chemistry together, although there were always rumors that they hated each other from the very beginning of the show, and that Fillion was sort of a diva about screen-time. Now that Stana is suddenly leaving, those rumors have cropped up again.
There’s a major change underway on ABC’s Castle. Leading lady Stana Katic and fellow original star Tamala Jones are exiting the ABC procedural, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Meanwhile, the network and producers ABC Studios are in talks with lead Nathan Fillion to return for a potential ninth final season. While the drama has not yet been renewed for a ninth season, producers are considering multiple avenues to shake up the aging procedural and renew the series for a ninth season.
“Kate Beckett has been a beloved character on our hit series Castle for the past eight years. We are grateful for Stana Katic’s talent and dedication to the series and we hope to continue our relationship,” ABC said in a statement. “Tamala Jones has also been an integral part of the series and we are grateful she was a part of Castle.”
News that Katic would exit the drama ahead of season nine should come as little surprise. Sources tell THR that the actress, who negotiated a last-minute return for season eight, has been unhappy on the series and has had repeated clashes with lead Fillion. That led producers to split up the on-screen couple this season — drawing the ire of dedicated fans who had been waiting eight years for the couple to marry. Insiders stress that it was ABC and ABC Studios’ decision to let Katic and Jones exit the series as they look for avenues to reduce costs on the pricey drama and return it for a ninth season.
THR goes on to say that ABC is looking to do more police procedurals like Castle, and that ABC is starting to get a bit wary of focusing so much on the “prime time soap opera” shows. As in, they’re looking to move beyond the Shonda Rhimes model of prime time programming, which is a development just as interesting as the Stana-Nathan beef. As I said, I love a good police procedural, and one of my saddest days as a TV viewer was when NBC dragged the corpse of Law & Order out into the woods and buried it. I do think that the world needs more police procedurals, damn it! And not of the CSI-variety.
As for the Stana-Nathan beef… I want to believe Nathan Fillion is a good guy, but the stories about the on-set drama over the years have made me wonder about him.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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