'Castle' Season 8 News: Seamus Dever Set To Return As Show's Future Remains Uncertain [VIDEO]
Seamus Dever is reportedly returning for a still-yet-to-be-confirmed ninth season of ABC's Castle.
Dever, who plays Ryan on the ABC procedural, has signed a deal to return for season 9, according to a new Deadline report. TVLine adds that Jon Huertas (who plays Esposito), Molly Quinn (Alexis) and Susan Sullivan (Martha) and Toks Olagundoye (Hayley) are in the process of finalizing deals to return as well. Nathan Fillion (Castle) signed his deal for season 9 last week.
The news comes amid turmoil behind the scenes at Castle. Stana Katic (Beckett), who is the co-lead of the show alongside Fillion, was asked to not return for season 9 in April. Additionally, Tamala Jones (Lanie) was not asked back. This led to an immediate backlash from fans devastated that the main dynamic of the show will be lost after season 8.
ABC has still yet to officially announce a ninth season of Castle despite all of this news. The network will have to make a decision quickly, with so little time left in the TV season. Castle was not among the huge group of shows ABC renewed in March, leading many to speculate about the show's future.
Regardless of ABC's decision, Castle showrunners Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter have a plan in place to potentially turn the season 8 finale into a series finale.
"If we hear that we're not coming back, we have shot something that we can put at the end of the episode as a way to put a button on everything," Hawley explained to Entertainment Weekly recently. "Obviously that would be a bad thing because it would mean no more. We did it in order to try to protect the fans, because you can't end the series on a cliffhanger."
"The hope is that it never sees the light of day," Winter added.
Castle airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
Watch the promo for the next episode of Castle here:
