The Collapse of ‘Castle’
From 2009 until 2016, fans could see Dever starring alongside Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Jon Huertas, Molly C. Quinn, Susan Sullivan, and many others on the ABC’s crime-comedy-drama ‘Castle.’ The show had a very loyal fan base as they tuned in every week to see the will-they-or-won’t-they relationship between Fillion’s Richard Castle and Katic’s Kate Beckett.
For eight seasons, the cast and crew worked together and built a family dynamic, both on and off set. At the end of the eighth season, however, the rug was pulled out from under everyone. While some members of the cast had already signed contracts to come back for season nine, it was announced Katic would not be back. Then the rumors started to spread.
Was there friction between Fillion and Katic? Were there other problems on the set? Regardless of the rumors, fans lashed out at ABC, saying you couldn’t have the show without Katic. At that point, ABC decided to cancel the show, leaving a lot of fans angry and confused. According to Dever, the fans weren’t the only ones upset and confused.
“You know, I have my theories, but I don’t know for sure (what exactly happened),” Dever said. “There was a lot we were kept out of, but it seemed like the show was going to move on from Stana Katic and that kind of sucked because I think we all built something together. … Stana was a big part of building the chemistry on that show. I think because of the backlash, they went ‘No, this is too much of a problem.’”
Ratings were another issue. Season eight might have been a little too odd for most fans, as viewership fell to its lowest point since the show started. Still, Dever said the ratings were good enough to get at least one more season.
“I think the show changing so much was concerning the network enough that they didn’t know if they wanted to continue without (Katic) as part of it,” Dever said. “We were all set to go and we had contracts signed for a lot of us and they just pulled the plug a week before the season finale.”
No Farewells
Because of the quick decision by ABC, the cast and crew of the show never got the chance to have a proper goodbye or finale. The ending of what would eventually become the finale was put together at the last minute just in case they didn’t get a ninth season. That ending showed a happily-ever-after scene with Castle and Beckett, but failed to show fans what happened to everyone else in the cast.
“I wish it would have ended better and on a more positive note. You always think that when a show goes eight years, you’re almost going to schedule a finale,” Dever said. “I remember being a kid, that’s the way it was. It was like we’re going to lead up to something, their lives are going to be concluded, and we’ll give a nice button for the audience to see what happens to their characters.
“Really, they only dealt with the two characters. They didn’t deal with the rest of our characters at all. It was a little disappointing the way it ended and all went down because we did build kind of a family there for eight years. That’s including the crew. We didn’t even have a cast party to say goodbye. We never had a proper goodbye or a proper congratulations for doing all these things for all these years. We spent a lot of time together.”
Keeping in Touch
On the show, Dever’s Ryan was partners and best friends with Huertas’s Javi Esposito. Working so closely for eight years created a lifelong friendship between the two actors.
“Jon and I are still close. I don’t see him that much. He’s a very busy man, but we talk all the time and text all the time and our wives are really good friends,” Dever said. “I’m still friends with everybody, it’s just that everybody is busy with a lot of other stuff. Nathan’s busy with his show. I see him occasionally. I haven’t seen Stana in a really long time, probably since the show finished, but she’s filming in Europe and everything, but I’d love to catch up with her sometime.
“You run into people occasionally but, you know what it is? Social media. I’ll comment on Tamala Jones’s Instagram page and she’ll say ‘Hey, what’s up?’ and that kind of thing. I definitely need to see more of these folks because we spent a lot of time together, but that’s just the nature of the business, unfortunately. … I try to have lunch with people and catch up and pal around with folks because we did have a nice bond, especially me and Jon. He’s just a busy, busy damn man. I wish he wasn’t so busy sometimes. If he’s not filming ‘This is Us,’ he’s working on his house – he rebuilt his entire house because he’s a crazy man.”
What to Expect in Season 2 of ‘Titans’
Since the premiere of the second season of ‘Titans’ is already finished, Dever said he expects fans will really enjoy what they see in the upcoming season, he just doesn’t know how much he’ll be in it yet.
“I hope you see some more Trigon for season two,” Dever said, laughing. “My plans are pretty wide open. I’m focusing on this play right now. After that, something will come up. You’ll see me on something. I’m just keeping my options open to see what comes around, but you’ll see me doing something, undoubtedly.”
While fans of the show can expect to see new members joining the Titans, DC has yet to announce when the second season will premiere.
