150 Fun Facts About Castle (TV Series)

Who plays mystery novelist Richard Castle?

He first found fame as Joey Buchanan on a daytime soap opera.

Who plays Detective Kate Beckett?

She later starred as FBI agent Emily Byrne in Absentia.

How many seasons of Castle were made?

Some cast members had signed one-year contracts for a ninth season before the cancellation.

How many episodes of Castle aired in total?

Season one had just 10 episodes; every later season had 22 to 24.

Who created Castle?

He also wrote a 1997 Harrison Ford action thriller set on a hijacked plane.

Where do Castle and Beckett solve crimes?

Filming actually took place in Los Angeles.

Which long-running book character does Castle kill off at the start of the series?

His fellow writers Patterson and Cannell tell him he should have retired or crippled the character instead.

Whose friendship does Castle use to get permission to shadow Beckett?

Gates is later obliged by the mayor to keep him on as a consultant.

Who plays Alexis Castle?

Her character shares a 50-year-old scotch with her father after solving a case in season eight.

Which actress plays Castle's mother Martha?

Her character opens the Martha Rodgers School of Acting after an inheritance.

Who plays Detective Esposito?

His character is a former Army Special Forces soldier.

Who plays Detective Kevin Ryan?

His real-life wife Juliana plays Ryan's wife Jenny.

What is Kevin Ryan's police background before joining Beckett's team?

He was also once undercover in the Irish mob.

What is Lanie Parish's job?

She is Beckett's best friend and Esposito's on-off girlfriend.

Who is Beckett's captain for the first three seasons?

He is revealed as the third corrupt cop tied to Johanna Beckett's murder.

What nickname does Captain Victoria Gates go by?

She insists on being called "Sir" rather than "ma'am" and takes a dim view of Castle.

Which police division did Captain Gates come from?

Her IA past makes her far warier of Castle than Montgomery was.

Hayley Shipton, added in season eight, formerly worked for which two organisations?

She is played by Toks Olagundoye and now works as a security specialist.

What is Castle's birth name?

He took the pen-name middle name Edgar in honour of Edgar Allan Poe.

What is the name of Castle's first wife and Alexis's mother?

Castle compares her to a deep-fried Twinkie: a treat occasionally, deadly every day.

What is Castle's second wife Gina Cowell's job?

She keeps the role after their divorce and spends a summer at his beach house supervising his second Nikki Heat book.

Which agency does Castle's father, Jackson Hunt, work for?

He first appears when Alexis is kidnapped in season five.

Which actor plays Castle's father?

His character has secretly checked in on the family their whole lives.

What is Jerry Tyson better known as?

He strangles three women in a week, then vanishes for years.

Which corrupt politician is ultimately behind the murder of Beckett's mother?

He is arrested during a live TV interview announcing a presidential run.

What is Mr. Smith's role in the conspiracy storyline?

Montgomery sent him the files before his death.

Which Star Trek actor plays Beckett's psychiatrist Dr. Carver Burke?

He helps her deal with the trauma of her shooting.

Which Simpsons voice actor plays Judge Markway, one of Castle's poker buddies?

His character frequently issues Beckett's warrants.

Who plays Agent Rachel McCord, Beckett's partner in Washington?

Beckett briefly works a federal job in season six.

What is Dr. Kelly Nieman's profession?

Her secret life is as Jerry Tyson's partner in crime.

Which four real crime writers appear as Castle's poker buddies?

After Stephen J. Cannell died in 2010, an empty chair was kept at the table in his honour.

For how long was an empty chair kept at the poker table after Stephen J. Cannell died?

He died on September 30, 2010, midway through season three.

On what date did Castle premiere?

It arrived as a midseason replacement.

How many episodes did the first season have?

ABC initially ordered 13 for season two before extending it to 24.

Which two cast members did ABC announce would not return for a ninth season?

The show was cancelled less than a month later anyway.

On what date did the final episode of Castle air?

The cancellation was announced four days earlier.

Which production company co-produced Castle with ABC Studios?

Marlowe sold his first screenplay to the same company as an original script.

Which Halloween episode earned three Emmy nominations for hairstyling and makeup in 2010?

A college student is found staked through the heart in a graveyard in it.

At which ceremony did the show win Favorite TV Crime Drama every year from 2012 to 2015?

It was nominated again in 2016, and Fillion and Katic were up for Favorite TV Duo in 2015.

Which TV Guide fan award did Fillion and Katic win in 2011?

They won Favorite Couple outright the following year.

Which real company released Richard Castle's Heat Wave as an actual book?

The dedication and acknowledgments were written entirely in character.

Where did Heat Wave debut on the New York Times Best Seller list?

It climbed into the top 10 at No. 6 in its fourth week.

Which Nikki novel was the first to debut at No. 1 on the New York Times list?

It came out on September 20, 2011.

What is the title of the second novel in the Nikki series?

Its title displeases Beckett as much as the first one did.

Which company released the graphic novel Deadly Storm?

It was written by Brian Michael Bendis and Kelly Sue DeConnick.

Who actually ghost-wrote the first seven Nikki Heat novels?

He wrote them keeping in mind the purported author's idealized version of himself.

What is the name of the journalist who shadows Nikki Heat in the novels?

He is the fictionalized version of the already fictional Castle.

What was the tenth Nikki novel, published in 2019, called?

It came out almost three years after the show ended.

What was the 2013 Castle video game called?

It was available on Steam and mobile devices before being withdrawn.

Which spin-off did ABC announce was in early development in 2014?

It was to be a CIA procedural; nothing more was ever announced.

What was the title of Castle's first novel, rejected 21 times before publication?

He keeps his first rejection letter framed on his office wall.

Which of his own novels does Castle single out as the low point of his career?

Its plot involved angry Wiccans out for blood.

Which book did a stranger hand ten-year-old Castle in the New York Public Library?

The stranger turned out to be the father he never knew.

Which soap opera inspired Castle to write his first novel?

His nanny watched daytime television; Fillion himself starred on the same soap.

What word is printed on Castle's custom bulletproof vest?

It is a joke on the police vests that say POLICE.

How much of his own money does Castle put up for a fake hit in "Sucker Punch"?

The lure exposes the contract killer who murdered Beckett's mother.

How much ransom is Castle able to pay when Alexis is kidnapped?

His books have made him wealthy enough for a loft, a Hamptons house and luxury cars.

What does Castle receive in the season-seven finale "Hollander's Woods"?

He calls it the highest award a mystery writer can receive.

How old was Castle when he found a murdered girl in the woods in 1983?

The unsolved encounter is what drives him to solve every other mystery he can.

Which B-movie actress, played by Laura Prepon, is cast as Nikki Heat in the film?

Castle turns down her advances as "way too meta".

What is the spy Sophia Turner, played by Jennifer Beals, secretly?

She was left on her own when the Soviet Union collapsed.

At the end of which season does Castle propose to Beckett?

She had just been offered a job in Washington, D.C.

Where do Castle and Beckett finally marry?

Only Jim, Martha and Alexis are present.

How many children do Castle and Beckett have in the finale's flash-forward?

A supposed time traveller had predicted exactly that in season six.

What does Castle's first novel win in the show's fiction?

The award's namesake is the real ghost-writer of the Nikki Heat books, an in-joke.

What is the name of the private investigation business he opens in season seven?

He gets a P.I. licence after being banned from the precinct in season seven.

How many bestsellers is Castle said to have written?

He had written 22 books before he met Beckett.

On what date was Beckett's mother Johanna murdered?

Kate was 19; the case was written off as random gang violence.

Which university was Beckett studying pre-law at before her mother's death?

She dreamed of becoming the first female Chief Justice.

Which selective New York public high school did Beckett attend?

She later spent a college semester abroad in Eastern Europe.

In which city did Beckett spend a semester abroad in college?

It was between her junior and senior years.

What does Beckett wear on a chain around her neck for "the life she lost"?

She wears her father's watch for "the life she saved".

Who was Beckett's training officer, later a bounty hunter, played by Jason Beghe?

She travels to Los Angeles against orders to investigate his murder.

What is the name of the sniper who shoots Beckett in season three?

He was working for Senator Bracken.

Which federal employer headhunts Beckett for a job in Washington?

She is soon fired for refusing a moral compromise.

What did the actress who plays Beckett win in 2012 for the role?

It was for Best Performance in a Drama Episode, for "Kill Shot".

Which university does Alexis eventually attend?

She had hoped to go west with her boyfriend Ashley but missed early admission.

What is the name of the boyfriend Alexis brings back from Costa Rica in season six?

They move in together before she realises he is not the one.

How much money does Martha inherit from her late fiancé Chet?

She uses it to open the Martha Rodgers School of Acting.

What undercover alias did Ryan use inside the Irish mob?

He revives it in season five when the mob resurfaces.

What do Ryan and Jenny name their daughter?

She is born in the season-six episode "Under Fire".

What middle name do Ryan and Jenny give their son Nicholas?

He is born in the season-eight episode "Death Wish".

What is Esposito's rank on the sergeant's list after passing the exam in season eight?

Ryan failed the exam, which causes friction between them.

Which precinct did Esposito transfer out of before partnering with Ryan?

They had been partners for three years before the pilot.

How does Beckett's first captain die?

He kills all four of the hit squad and Lockwood in a mutual kill.

Where does Beckett find the tape that finally incriminates Bracken?

Montgomery had hinted at cassette tapes at their first meeting.

What is Bracken doing when Beckett arrests him?

He is announcing his intention to run for president.

What does Castle call Beckett's cardiac-surgeon boyfriend Josh?

Josh operates on Beckett after her shooting, then blames Castle.

Which perk does Perlmutter cite for eating lunch off his autopsy tables?

He rarely hides his dislike of Castle.

For which novel did Castle research the original crime spree of Jerry Tyson?

Montgomery was on the original task force that hunted the killer.

What is the title of the Castle pilot episode?

It shares its title with one of Castle's own early novels.

Where is the nanny's body found in the second episode, "Nanny McDead"?

The victim and her friend were sleeping with the fathers of their charges.

Which FBI agent, an ex-boyfriend of Beckett's, asks for her help in "Little Girl Lost"?

The case that first brought them together ended with the victim's death.

Which Firefly nod opens the season-two Halloween episode?

He also remarks that "Buffy's moved to the Big Apple", another Fillion role.

Which actress plays Castle's ex Kyra Blaine in "A Rose for Everafter"?

Castle had dedicated a novel to her; a bridesmaid is strangled on her wedding day.

Who murdered Johanna Beckett, as revealed in "Sucker Punch"?

Beckett shoots him before she can learn who hired him.

Which FBI agent, played by Dana Delany, joins the hunt for the Nikki Heat-obsessed killer?

The killer, Scott Dunn, is unmasked in the next episode.

What does the serial killer Scott Dunn destroy in the episode "Boom!"?

Beckett barely survives the explosion.

Which talk-show host plays a murdered talk-show host in "The Late Shaft"?

He tells Castle his life is in danger during a taping.

Where is Castle standing when Beckett's team finds him in the season-three premiere?

They had not heard from him in months and she has to arrest him.

What kills the young mathematician in the episode "Punked"?

Castle suspects a time traveller; the trail leads to a steampunk society.

Which singer plays a government agent in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind"?

An astrophysicist is found dead of explosive decompression.

What warning does the corrupt cop McAllister give the team in "Knockdown"?

Raglan, McAllister and a third cop had kidnapped mobsters for ransom.

How much did the murdered lottery winner in "Lucky Stiff" win?

His safe of winnings is found empty.

Where are Castle and Beckett trapped while a dirty bomb is loose in "Setup"?

Alexis's worried call finally brings help in "Countdown".

Where is Beckett when she is shot in the season-three finale "Knockout"?

Castle tells her he loves her as her eyes close.

What are the bank robbers who hold Castle and Martha hostage dressed in?

Beckett's rescue is hampered by a strict hostage negotiator.

Which condition does Beckett hide from the team while hunting a sniper in "Kill Shot"?

The episode was honoured for its mental-health storyline.

How do Castle and Beckett wake up in the episode "Cuffed"?

They have to reconstruct the case from what little they remember.

Which decade does Castle imagine himself in while reading a diary in "The Blue Butterfly"?

The cast appear as characters from the diary in the flashbacks.

What does Beckett reveal to a suspect in "47 Seconds" that Castle overhears?

Castle wrongly concludes she has rejected his declaration of love.

Which Firefly alumnus plays the violent Detective Ethan Slaughter?

Castle partners with him in "Headhunters" when he feels he can no longer work with Beckett.

What does Beckett do at the end of the season-four finale "Always"?

She and Esposito had been suspended for withholding information.

Which Star Trek actor directed the sci-fi convention episode "The Final Frontier"?

He also cameos as a Castle fan getting an autograph.

Where do Castle and Beckett plan a secret weekend when a dying man falls into the pool?

Ryan discovers their relationship in the same episode but keeps quiet.

Which fictional dignitary's daughter is kidnapped alongside Alexis in "Target"?

Alexis turns out to have been the real target all along.

What does Castle's supposed witnessed murder in "The Lives of Others" turn out to be?

House-bound with an injury, Castle had enlisted Alexis to investigate.

What does Beckett accidentally trigger in the episode "Still"?

Castle stays to reassure her by testing her patience.

How long does Castle have to live after a toxin exposure in "Valkyrie"?

Beckett and McCord race to find the antidote in "Dreamworld".

What does the self-proclaimed time traveller Simon Doyle foretell in "Time Will Tell"?

He also says Beckett will become a senator; the finale's flash-forward pays it off.

Whose look-alikes are murdered in the season-six 3XK episode "Disciple"?

The doubles were used to destroy evidence of Tyson's crimes.

What condition is Castle found in after his two-month disappearance in season seven?

Evidence had pointed to him staging his own abduction.

What happens to Castle in "The Time of Our Lives" before he proposes again?

He and Beckett elope at the episode's end.

Where do Castle and Beckett spend an impromptu honeymoon in season seven?

They solve a case tied to train robbers killed in 1893 first.

Who kills Jerry Tyson in the episode "Reckoning"?

Beckett escapes and kills Kelly Nieman herself.

Which Firefly co-star plays rival investigator Kendall Frost in "The G.D.S."?

Castle competes with her for membership of an elite detectives' club.

Who is revealed to be LokSat in the series finale "Crossfire"?

Gerald McRaney played the head of the L.A. detectives' club.

Who shoots Castle in the closing minutes of the series finale?

He had faked his death; Beckett kills him but is shot herself.

How far into the future does the finale's closing scene jump?

The couple eat breakfast while their children play.

What is the name of Castle's stepmother, a CIA agent played by Ann Cusack?

She is Jackson Hunt's wife and reveals that Bracken had a partner.

In which Canadian city was the actor who plays Castle born?

Both his parents were English teachers.

Which space-western captain did Fillion play before Castle?

The short-lived show and its film Serenity became cult favourites.

Which police drama has Fillion starred in since 2018?

He plays Officer John Nolan and also executive-produces.

In which Canadian city was the actress who plays Beckett born?

Her parents are Serbs from Croatia.

In which James Bond film did the actress who plays Beckett appear?

She had originally been up for the role of Strawberry Fields.

How many languages is the actress who plays Beckett fluent in?

English, French, Italian, Serbian and Croatian.

Which 1997 Harrison Ford film was the show's creator's first produced screenplay?

It was the fifth highest-grossing film of 1997 and set an opening-weekend record for an R-rated film.

Which screenwriting prize introduced Marlowe to his future wife Terri Edda Miller?

Both won it the same year for their scripts.

Which 1980s series did Marlowe and Miller revive for CBS with Queen Latifah?

It premiered right after the 2021 Super Bowl.

What was the Marlowe–Miller detective series starring Rachel Bilson called?

It ran for one season.

Which Daytime Emmy nomination did Fillion receive for his soap-opera role in 1996?

He played Joey Buchanan on the soap from 1994 to 1997.

Which actor plays Captain Roy Montgomery in the first three seasons of Castle?

He returned as a guest in season six.

Who plays Captain Victoria Gates, Montgomery's replacement from season four?

The character had come over from Internal Affairs.

Which actress plays Hayley Shipton, the British security specialist added in season eight?

The character was a former Metropolitan Police officer and MI6 operative.

Who plays Dr. Sidney Perlmutter, the medical examiner who barely hides his dislike of Castle?

He alternated on cases with Lanie Parish, the team's other medical examiner.

How is the actress who plays Jenny Ryan related in real life to a member of the main cast?

Jenny, nee O'Malley, marries Detective Kevin Ryan on the show.

Which actress plays Meredith Harper, Castle's self-centred actress ex-wife and Alexis's mother?

Monet Mazur plays his second wife, publisher Gina Cowell.

Which actor plays the corrupt Senator William Bracken?

Bracken is a New York senator with ambitions of becoming president.

Which cable network acquired exclusive rights to Castle's first two seasons in June 2011?

It aired an eight-hour marathon in September 2011 ahead of the show's fourth season.

Who plays Vikram Singh, the high-strung tech analyst introduced in season eight?

Beckett had briefly worked in the Washington office where the character was based.