Even though Castle’s eight-season run ended a few years ago, many people are still confused over ABC’s choice to terminate Stana Katic, the show’s star actress and one half of the primary drama pair. It turned into one of the most contentious TV departures in recent memory. Since then, Katic has been appearing in Absentia on Amazon, and she recently gave an explanation for why, even after being let go from the program, she is still “grateful” for her time there.In the seventh-year flashback shown in the Castle series finale, Stana Katic’s Kate Beckett and Nathan Fillion’s Richard Castle had a happy ending and were raising three kids together. But in the actual world, things weren’t exactly as joyful. Castle was about to enter its ninth season without one of its co-leads when Katic was let go from the program just in time for the Season 8 finale. A few weeks after Katic was fired, the show was finally canceled, therefore the choice was moot. It appears that Katic has accepted her departure after four years. She said this to Australia’s Daily Telegraph, which was cited by the Daily Mail:
Stana Katic appears to be too aware of the significance of her role to Castle and how she “contributed to the success of the show” to be very resentful of the entire situation so soon after. Having said that, it makes sense that the event left her perplexed and hurt. Since she was the co-lead of the series, it didn’t make sense to plan the show’s future without her. Though I still don’t think the choice makes sense, the past cannot be changed.
Although Katic said in 2018 that she was “still not clear on the thought process” behind her termination, she seemed to have come to terms with it since then. One theory as to why she was fired surfaced at the time of her contentious departure, although a contract dispute has never been verified. Before the show was abruptly terminated, Nathan Fillion signed on for an additional season. Tamala Jones, another cast member, was also let go from the show.
