Pen Lifetime Achievement Award . Beckett praised her husband , “ I ' m proud to have been his inspiration and I am proud to be his wife ” (“ Hollander ’ s Woods ” 7.23 ). Beckett , Alexis , Martha , Lanie , Esposito , Ryan , and Gates toasted each other . Orlando revealed that the writers wrote and the producers filmed the show before they knew if the network would renew the show . “ I ’ m thankful they ended it with the focus on camaraderie , family and love ” ( Review 7.23 ). Much to the cast ’ s surprise , ABC executives decided on one more year .
Season 8
The number of viewers for Castle dropped from 10.69 million people for the last episode in season 7 to 6.8 million for the first show of season 8 , the show ’ s lowest rating ever ( Castle show ). Head writer Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller left to work on a possible Castle spinoff . ABC brought in Paul Winter and Alexi Hawley as showrunners ( Head writer and producer ). Ratings improved slightly over the year , but did not come close to those of the last episode of season 7 .
The writers could not have done more to alienate fans . Viewers did not understand or care for the convoluted CIA conspiracy , LokSat , which separated Castle and Becket . The showrunners also brought in Vikram ( Sunkrish Bala ) as a partner for Beckett and Haley ( Toks Olgundoye ) as a partner for Castle in his detective agency . Smartsenior emailed the Entertainment Weekly Website , “ When the writers don ' t want to write the show we love anymore , we know the end is pretty close ” ( Highfill ).
Orlando of TvFanatic found it all incredibly frustrating . She expressed a desire to hit Vikram because he made five pro-separation or anti-Castle remarks . ( Castle Season 8 Episode 7 Review ). The showrunners brought Castle and Beckett together again in episode 12 . Orlando described the moment as the one “ when all is right with the universe ” ( Castle Season 8 , Episode 12 Review ). This was the time for well-written scripts and possibly another season . Instead , the writers provided a grab bag of episodes . They featured less of the show ’ s principals , more of the superfluous Vikram and Haley , a putrid whiff of LokSat , and the ranting ’ s of an escaped psychopath .
The showrunners ignored what Marlow called “ the dance ,” the chemistry between Castle and Beckett . They sought to transform the show into a police procedural starring Fillion , Dever , and Huerta . On April 18 , 2016 , the network announced they had renewed their contracts for one year ,
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