Castle‘s Top-Secret Season Finale Recruits CSI Vet Wallace Langham
For whatever ABC’s Castle has planned for its Season 7 finale, we know at least one guest star who will be a part of it.
TVLine has learned exclusively that CSI vet Wallace Langham will have a role in the yet-to-be-titled season ender, though no details on his character or the overall storyline are being released. (Perhaps he is playing the “distinguished, highly intelligent” shrink teased in Ask Ausiello?)
Previously, showrunner David Amann told TVLine that the finale will “focus on compelling, high-stakes story-telling surrounding Castle and Beckett mythology,” and that it’d offer a “satisfying end to the season.” (Reminder: Castle has not yet been renewed for an eighth season.)
In addition to his long run as CSI‘s Hodges, Langham’s TV credits include Drop Dead Diva, Medium, Veronica’s Closet and The Larry Sanders Show.
ABC’s Castle resumes Season 7 on April 20 with Episode 20; the finale is Episode 23.
Is that really true the season will end in a good way
I don’t take to much comfort in that wording at all. He told us last year we would get a “softer” finale and what did we get……BS is what we got! I don’t trust in anything that guys says. sorry I just have to watch and then find out.
I don’t recall a good ending since Season 3! The finale has been increasingly dramatic in a bad way; leaving cliffhangers in it tracks for setup of season 8 to continue and now it usually a two-part affair for the beginning of the season. Not like the way this series is being written. Overly dramatic close to that of a soap opera territory! Ratings have fallen off and leveling off in the 1.5 rating spot!
You don’t like “Always”? Season 4 finale. Kinda baffling as it’s one of their best ever episodes. As for being soap opera-y, it’s had a certain tone all the way back to the premiere. Martha alone soaps it up. Heck, they did episodes about soaps, about telenovelas, reality show contestants, etc. It’s always been that way. Not sure! why! you’re using! exclamation points! You’ve put in a few years now of not liking how it’s being written? I get sucking it up for a season or so, I mean I did that with New Girl and it bounced back. Seriously though, there’s a point where I’d call it a day if I were you. I long since figured out that Grey’s Anatomy and I needed to see other people. And what do you care about ratings? It’s really only our business in the vaguest sense, whether or not a show gets renewed. If you don’t have a Nielsen box, let it go. It really has no bearing to your life.
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to tell you the truth I didn’t like “always”. I did how ever like the fight scene towards the end one of the most emotional scenes ever in the series, (they couldn’t have picked to better actors to pull that off) I loved it. the rest of the esp not so much. but it wasn’t the worst one.
Rather strange to me, sorry. The end was one of the most emotional because of what came before it in that episode. There’s a Youtube video of some young ladies reacting to “Always” and it’s hilarious. They’re so into it. It’s edited down so it’s not like you have an hour of it to look at. Even if you don’t like the episode, give that a shot, it’s so fun and sweet.
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thanks I’ll have to check it out. I guess I was more like “Castle’s” character when he asked it if was because she fell of the roof, quite job ect……I guess I was expecting too much to enjoy them getting together! (of course I didn’t see seasons 1-4 live so that could have been it too).
but thanks for the info on extra things to watch.
Only one ABC has been renewed so far and announcements are not usually made until May. Why do you keep frightening Castle fans? No one knows what is happening yet.
cause they can, no really I don’t know that even them knows all that is going to happen. i just hope they would have the curtsy to tell us one way or the other. but i don’t see that happening.
If fans want to be “frightened” by the truth – which is that Castle’s future is still unknown and ambiguous to the general public – that’s no one else’s fault.
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Sorry to be harsh, but this is a TV news site, along with all the others. And Castle is a popular show.
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Until ABC or some brave (and professionally suicidal) soul releases new details, this limbo will continue to be stated.
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As for the casting news, I always felt this guy played the CSI equivalent to Perlmutter. Interested in seeing how the episode goes.
Maybe we’re giving ABC folks too much credit by thinking they’re paying attention or even thinking about Castle or even know there is a show. Lord knows they rarely advertise it–maybe someone will notice they have a series on Monday nights and we’ll hear something..
Looks to me that both Fillion and Katic are holding out for more $$$$$$$! I could not find how much they are paid an episode!
Katic said she wanted better script then money; which I knew she was holding out for more $$$$$$$$!
Fillion just wants more $$$$$$$$ since he things now he close to an actually A-list actor and wants to be paid as such.
I think Castle is close to being shut down and no season 8!
i think that money might be part of it but not all of it, If i was in their shoes i would want to see what they can come up with the finale (look what happened to them last season) before i made the decision! i think i would have to do what is best for me. I think that both will do the same.
I would pay money if Amman and Marlowe would never say “mythology” again. It’s not mythology, its just another storyline.
I’ll pay money if this was the last season with Milmarmann st the helm and in the writers room.
Free Castle of the malevolent force that is Milmarmann.
If ABC were going to release those guys from this show a la Revenge, they probably would’ve done it a while ago. And they certainly would’ve made the delineation between Amann and Marlowe more clear this season.
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So, either ABC isn’t as displeased by the shows creative direction as some fans would hope, or they just don’t think it’s necessary to force anyone out at this juncture.
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Then again, I didn’t think the show would get a season eight. So maybe it wouldn’t be completely shocking if a season eight came without its original leaders.
“leaders’–that’s a nice word.
It’s really kinda sweet that the Castle thread Debbie Downers are having a little meet and greet here. Is it potluck? So tiresome. A show could go 10 seasons, wrap up, and have to deal with you guys presenting it as a big fat failure.
ok-who’s been turning over rocks? and an exclamation point too!
Something tells me that those involved with a show running this long aren’t quite so phased by a bunch of randoms on the Internet – whether it’s bashing or intelligent discussion.
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But it’s so very sweet how you protect their fragile self-esteem like that. Please remember to bring wine next time. Preferably red.
JOT–careful, you might end up with fava beans and a nice chianti :] (operative words, end up)
And if you want him shockingly young there was also Murder She Wrote. Come to think of it, a lot of today’s actors were shockingly young on that show, including Jim Caviezel 9 years before he was Jesus!
i too am getting quite annoyed with this waiting game about “Castle.” I’m also not crazy about this Mythology reference .. Doesn’t sound like it has the substance for the season finale.I hate this time for the finale’ at 7:23…Let us know it’s the end or renewed before the last episode…The fan base is so huge, please do not stab us in the back after us being so true&faithful viewers to “Castle!!”
What’s strange it also said the season would have a satisfying ending so I wonder
Sweetie, I hate to remind you, but the stitches from last years finally haven’t healed yet. Seriously, I have felt betrayed for a couple of years now. Since late season 5, perhaps longer, NF has phoned in his part and Milmar has been perfectly happy to let him do it. In the meantime, the real stars like Stana, Susan, Molly, Penny, Jon, and Seamus have continued to give 100% to the viewers. It’s really a shame that a handful of people can ruin something so special. I wish Stana and her co-workers the absolute best in all their future endeavors. As far as the snot nosed, forty-something, with the peter pan complex, Seriously dude, grow up. Either that or please take your toys and go home. You are dragging down the true professionals who give it their all. Milmarmann, you will get your just desserts. Most people aren’t masochist and will not hang around to get kicked in the teeth a second time.
With all due respect, that’s just BS. NF has done great this season. He put in some real good work in episodes like ‘The Time of Our Lives’, ‘Bad Santa’, and the entire PI arc, given that he finally had the chance to be something other than Beckett’s sidekick for the first time in years.
Castle is among my favorite shows, and I hope it continues. I must say, however, that I don’t understand the complaints about Castle being Beckett’s sidekick. He’s a murder mystery writer, but she’s the detective carrying the gun. His “job” was to shadow her for his books and help with theory. This sounds like a co-starring role, not a starring role, from its inception. Surely, NF realized when he accepted the role, albeit the titular role, that SK was going to be a major player.
It was definitely a costarring role but it definitely wasn’t an almost supporting role, the way it became a few seasons ago. Marlowe himself admitted at the beginning of this season that they hadn’t explored their title character as much as Beckett. When you only realize this after six seasons, then you definitely know that the writers are doing something wrong.
Just because Marlowe acknowledged it before season seven doesn’t mean they weren’t already well aware of that fact.
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I’ve speculated a lot on this side with admittedly next to nil backing it up but hunches.
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Still, I can’t help but think that a number of factors made it easier for the show to focus more on Beckett’s journey and perspective – one of which being her portrayer’s desire to constantly dig deeper and explore various facets. I just never got the impression from Fillion’s interviews, social media posts or overall portrayal that he was interested in portraying Castle as more than we have seen.
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Please note: That doesn’t mean I think Fillion is INCAPABLE of doing so
When Marlowe very deliberately crafted an episode around Castle’s deeper, darker side, it worked. Those moments have always just been woefully few and far between compared with Beckett’s.
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Anyway, I still think ABC decided a couple seasons back that they wanted Castle to be more front and center, as they’ve always promoter the show, which eventually led to “the season of Castle.”
I’ve said on numerous occasions that Castle is essentially a scribe. He documents and reports the going ons in and about the 12th. The major player is Beckett. What we see and hear is generally from his perspective. It doesn’t work for him to report on himself. Although they have had Castle centric episodes, they aren’t necessarily woefully few Anymore of them and the whole premise would collapse–and I think the confusion from the writers etc that we have seen this season is evidence that it isn’t a great idea to change the whole structure of what the show has been. As it is, it makes me uncomfortable with the license they have given him to be as involved as he has been with ‘policing’, being a partner, taking the lead in solving crimes-but they needed to do this for interest purposes, but it needs to carefully toe a line. I think in some instances they have crossed over and it makes my teeth itch.
If they were aware of the fact, they didn’t do a particularly good job of dealing with it. Over the last few seasons, how many complaints have we seen on this very site about how Castle has become such a pale shadow of himself. How he’s become such a wimp, a goofball instead of being witty etc… And that’s where the completely unsubstantiated complaints about NF kicked in about how he wasn’t interested etc… You can only be as good as the stuff that is written for your character. The problem was that the stretched Beckett’s personal story way too long. It should have been finished by like season 3 or 4 at most. Instead Marlowe kept repeating himself by making the plotline so incredibly silly that it was hard to take seriously. Do you realize they had 3 hitmen, and a politician running for President who was secretly a drug kingpin??? I mean how absurd was that! If they had actually layered out a story for Castle like they did for Beckett instead of doing this silly kidnapping/amnesia storyline, then the show would have just as strong a driving story as it did in the early seasons. The reason Marlowe finally decided to even make a Castle oriented story was because I think he got enough feedback that people finally had had enough of the stretched murder mystery that was getting more and more convoluted by the minute.
and it didn’t work. I loved the different sides of Castle but it wasn’t written well enough to hold on to most people. as for now, I think that as sad as it is would be to just let it go, let the actors do “real acting” (sorry) I loved the show and now it’s just not there, the love is slowly going away. The actors are still great at what they do but the material isn’t there. Hope them the best of luck!
I’m not trying to make this a Fillion v Katic discussion. Truly. I just think that both actors have had to deal with perhaps unintentionally lazy, uneven storytelling. The pendulum has swung pretty evenly between both characters go, whether it’s failing to expose more facets of Castle and relegating him to a sidekick, or using Beckett as a relational stopgap when the need for conflicts and cliffhangers arises.
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Beckett has been served well under this series-long writing pattern, no doubt. But she hasn’t come away completely unscathed. Though I think that’s the nature of TV writing, to be honest.
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We may never agree on how much Fillion has really wanted from a creative standpoint, and it may never be revealed. But I can only go by what appears onscreen and what an actor says offscreen. And, with that evidence in account, I think Fillion has enjoyed playing Castle as a light, fun-loving and charming guy who occasionally goes dark when the story calls for it, but who otherwise leaves the serious crevices to Beckett. Yin, yang, and all that.
very very true! I don’t see it just one sided or the other, i think that some fans want someone to blame and then they take what is written by others (to be the truth) and blame one or the other.I also don’t see the consistency of the characters as wholes. it’s going back to their history that was never really written!
ndixit. I think the reason they spent so much time on Beckett’s story was because that was the series. I really think the show should have ended at Veritas (and perhaps this was the original idea). I also think that the show was a ‘unexpected’ success and they made the decision to continue and have added on, albeit poorly, what we have recently witnessed. I truly believe that another season would flay around as badly as seven has. I would very much hope that I am totally wrong and that any Monday now we’ll be back on track.
I think that the “characters grew” (imo better then before) too much to get back to the way that it was, I don’t see it, I actually like season 7 yes, it could have been better don’t get me wrong but with the BS they pulled in six (everyone knows the esp). I think it was pretty good. I see that if we get 8 or part 8 then it could give fans some closer but right now no!
I don’t see how you can say that they all gave 100% this season…….I don’t see it from everyone. yes an actor is only as good as the material that he or she is giving. I see that NF along with the rest have shown what they have with what they have, i don’t blame the actors. If you do that’s your right bbut you are the one that needs to grow up!
What a pile of something. So you say that everyone on the show works hard except the title actor, who has the longest hours? For many years? Cuz you just know it to be true? I bet you never in your life worked hours these long, or are you gonna hit me with the confession about being a nurse or a firefighter? I hope not, don’t want to imagine nurses and firefighters spending their hard earned free time on the internet, spewing personal insults about strangers who happen to work in Hollywood.
exactly, but I wouldn’t put it past him not to tell us, he doesn’t listen (or care) what the fans want-he has a story to tell and that’s it. for me anyway he destroyed it last season for really no good reason-except maybe an ego-I might not ever care any more.
Finally!
I find it interesting that he said satisfying as well. I thought they were still going to write a cliff hanger even though they don’t know if they are coming back. Oh well I really do hope it ends up being good, even if it is the last one. ( I find it amusing that both Castle and Bones, who are a “safe bet” and a “sure thing” are waiting till the last possible minute to say if they are coming back, although I know ABC usually waits this long anyway) I am probably reading too much into that statement. Hope for the best!!!
I think that there will be a cliffhanger in there. I wouldn’t put it past them, a cliffhanger can be done in a good way or bad way (as we have seen). and they keep bouncing back and forth so no telling what we will get in the end……..
Who reported a cliffhanger this finale…? I don’t recall ever saying such here.
Amann gave it as one of the options to end the season. Seems they settled on something more conclusive.
So I am taking from his being called “CSI vet” and “longtime run” that CSI is officially cancelled?
makes you think huh?
Veteran = “a person who has had long experience in a particular field.”
Longtime run = 247 episodes.
Be it what it may, using those words as written makes it sound as if he is no longer with the show – should even it be still around. But thank you for the definition of terms.
That’s interesting, 7.23 has gone from a cliff hanger to a satisfying end to the season. These writers have never done “satisfying”. I get the feeling the writers needed a good swan song.
I’m trying not to reflect too much on last season’s finale. Eddie McClintock, Fillion and Katic were delightful, but wow, what a train wreck.
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Or… you know… car wreck.
:] Not sure I would say delightful tho.
I loved that trio throughout the episode!
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And I would’ve loved them all even more had it been revealed that Rogan was conning them about the whole Vegas wedding BS.
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Alas…
yes! then they would have had something-good idea. Too bad they don’t have a suggestion box—or—is this it!?
This is definitely the suggestion box. LOL
I could have sworn Amann somewhere said it would be a cliff hanger but like some of you have said you don’t trust him. Hopefully he is telling the truth about ending
If I remember right it was Seamus who said they do some kind of cliffhanger no one else.
it’s been so back and forth. first it was about Castle’s story-line (wont use the other word) then it was Beckett and now it’s both , I didn’t really think they knew what they wanted to do and that’s what was scary. and yes cliff hanger was mention by SD and also said that it might have Beckett’s past come back, ( I hope they don’t have her mother still alive-that would be the last straw in my eyes) so who really knows. Maybe the drs not for Castle…..or it could be for him to discover his past or even to deal with both (marital issues-I hate to think that) Job and Baby…..so who knows, either way I don’t really see a good ending for the show, if it’s now!
come on now, say it, say it m-y-t-h-o-l-o-g-y…one word, making everyone crazy! :D :D :D :D
You might be right, it may be too late to put something decent together as a finale this season. Don’t know if continuing makes me happy or sad.
lol! can’t even use the words “j-u-s-t f-o-r f-u-n” the farther I read about what’s going to happen messes with my head, I mean I love the show and the actors (as you can tell by my name), but I don’t want to show to end on a very low note. For me it’s just an insult to an already open cut (to the heart-esp 623 ending). I know it’s just tv but I came to love them like part of the family…….
at one time he did say cliff hanger and now it seems like maybe not but I don’t trust him after what he pulled on us and the actors last season. An a cliff hanger could be anything…..from say a almost death or a decision that needs to be made, so I think there still could be one. I don’t see how he can give all fans what they want to see so I just prepare for a disaster and hope for the best!
My God, he looks so much like Tony Goldwyn in this pic!
okay…….
this guy was one of my fav on CSI and they way it was written tell me no more CSI! Anyway back to Castle we can just pray that what ever does happen it will be at least somewhat better then 6’s ending!
The show is tired. There is no coherent story line anymore. We never know which version of Castle or Beckett will show up and even then we sometimes learn that what we knew from earlier episodes is no longer true. Sometimes Nathan and Stana are on point and other times they phone it in. The Caskett relationship is boring. The cast of this show is too good to waste on what the show has become. I would like to see all of them doing something else that will showcase their real skills as actors. Castle has had a good run but it is time to move on.
Maybe it was only me but I thought this season was going to concentrate on Rick Castle. In that respect it missed the mark. So many things might be left unanswered. Or will the writers jam everything into one episode as has become the unsatisfactory norm this season.
I know, I think that is what is going to happen…..I just don’t get it…..anyway, we don’t know which Beckett, Castle, and the big one Alexis-yes her too, that we get week to week. there has not been that much balance this year. Not all that bad for me but I thought it could have been a lot better. I just hope that they can pull it together if this is the last esp (filming now).
I suspect that for the finale or into next season; Beckett gets a promotion to Captain/Lieutenant and gets more broad theme such as a “major crimes, has bigger staff and maybe a private office too to with more responsibility and reports to the Chief or the Police Commissioner!
Beckett has always been a straight arrow and if she gets some management role like a Lieutenant or even a Captain; she will have to think about rubbing noise and such in cases she is working on! I would just write Castle out of the show! I ready don’t think Richard Castle is need any more and since Beckett is now a Kate Castle it works!
Beckett does not deserve a promotion. She covered up evidence about Montgomery’s death for her own purposes; one could assume this act was a crime of some type. She quit her job twice only to run back and ask to be reinstated. She ran after the sniper who shot her against NYPD policy and with no backup; in doing so she risked her life as well as Espo’s. She became judge and jury when she walked away from the confession of an elderly married couple of their involvement in two people’s death in the 1940s. She probably violated some federal law when she gave information to the press as an FBI agent and she certainly violated an oath of office. She was fired from the FBI because of her actions then claimed she could not believe the FBI fired her and that she could not get “my” job back at the NYPD because of “…stupid budget cuts…”. Not promotion material. So she will get promoted.
if you go on that way of thinking you can also (well in my eyes) i think that she was the one shot Falcon Simons…was that the guys name- the one she had to go on the run with Castle both were fugitives in the eyes of the law at that time,-after they found him dead.
then the show would be over faster then the ink will dry on any contract! the whole point of the show was to be about “a writer and his muse” and to have both of them working together, although i can see her changing jobs and maybe he becomes a real part of the team and carry a gun (i love to see that!). They can’t go on without one or the other!
Really I hate all of the things many networks are doing to many of their respective shows. Many are on a limbo whether they are going ot be renewed or not, noone knows anything and some of the networs will announce their fate until May why so late????? when the Upfronts will take place. I mean like Heart of Dixie, Stalker, CSI, Castle, Hawaii 5-0, Criminal Minds, and other shows are on the stake now. There is no certainty of anything yet and we have to find about the fate of the shows until May while other shows already know theri fate and the shows witn no certainty alreayd even had filmed their respective season finales (in hope for another season), even if they dont know if the last episode filmed is going to be their last
Many are willing to assume much more than I, that there will be a season 8. I have the feeling for the secrecy is that this is a farewell.
I used to LOVE this show, but the writing is SO stupid. I just watched part of “Hong Kong Hustle” and I couldn’t finish it. The initial contact between Beckett and Linda Park’s character is some warmed-over “alpha female” face-off with Park’s character needing only to throw out “attitude” to prove she’s “strong.” The producers, etc. are trying to show her outmaneuvering New York’s finest, but the writers don’t seem to grasp that the Chinese detective has no jurisdiction and could be held for interfering with an investigation, tampering with evidence/crime scene, etc. It’s hard to stay interested when the writers really push my suspension of disbelief. All a character needs to be “cool and edgy” on TV today is a perpetually snarky attitude.
i know what you mean that one esp wasn’t on my favs list but for the rest of the season was pretty good.