Castle Spinoff Was This Close To Be Released, Here’s Why It Was Axed

Summary:

• Castle was a hit among crime shows, but ended prematurely due to the alleged conflict between its main stars.
• The spinoff was to follow the adventures of Derrick Storm, a fictional character created by Richard Castle.

Everybody loves Castle. And if you don't like it, you haven't seen it. From the very first season, the show set itself apart from other crime procedurals – it immediately broke the mold with its unique, gripping combination of drama, mystery, and comedic moments that lighten the mood just when it's needed.

The characters were carefully developed, and all the events unfolded naturally – Castle immediately gave the audience a variety of emotions and made it clear that there was an exciting journey ahead.

However, Castle ended way earlier than it should have – an allegedly heated conflict between the two main actors, Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic, led to the latter's refusal to sign a contract for new seasons, and the eighth season became the last one.

Was ABC Planning a Castle Spinoff?

As it turned out, ABC planned to expand the Castle universe with the help of the works of the main character, Richard Castle himself. As fans know, Castle is a writer whose main achievement is the series about Derrick Storm, a charismatic and brilliant detective.

Viewers were never given the full story of Storm – we saw hints of his fictional life throughout the show. We know that Derrick was a kind of embodiment of Castle’s dream – he was brave, smart, resourceful, and popular with women.

However, Storm himself was in love with only one woman – Detective Nikki Heat, who, as Richard himself admitted more than once, was based on his partner Kate Beckett.

Storm reflects the evolution of Castle himself as a person. If Derrick was overly defiant and proud of himself in the first season, over time, working side-by-side with Beckett changes Castle for the better, and his character changes along with him – he becomes deeper and more realistic.

Derrick Storm did not only exist in the show – real books about the character's adventures were published by the author named Richard Castle, including Heat Wave, which is mentioned in the show. In addition, there were even graphic novels – Marvel Comics published adaptations of Richard Castle's books. It was later revealed that the real author, Tom Straw, was hiding under the pseudonym Richard Castle.

The fact that Castle would have a spinoff was first announced in 2014, but the show was not planned as a continuation or directly related to the original series, but as a standalone show that could be watched even by those who had never seen Castle.

Why Was Castle Spinoff Cancelled Eventually?

However, things didn't go any further. The Castle spinoff remained forever hanging somewhere in the network's plans, which apparently will never be realized.

The first reason why the Derrick Storm spin-off never saw the light of day might be the fact that the ratings started to drop towards the end of the original show, partly due to the fact that Castle's ending had to be filmed in a hurry – Stana Katic was not returning for the ninth season and the story had to be completed. The result was a messy ending that upset many fans.

In addition, rumors about the conflict between Fillion and Katic did not help the show's popularity – although the spinoff would introduce viewers to completely new characters, the shadow of the original show's conflict would fall on the sequel for a long time.