On Tonight’s Castle, Who Actually Dunnit?

One of Castle‘s greatest lingering mysteries–who abducted Castle (Nathan Fillion) in last year’s finale and why?–will finally be solved tonight. While fans have been clamoring for answers, executive producer David Amann reveals that the best-selling crime novelist would rather remain oblivious. “Initially, he’d prefer not to get into it,” Amann says of Castle, who has no memory of the two months he went missing. “Things are going well [in his life], so why revisit something he supposedly was determined to forget in the first place? He thinks nothing good can come from that.”

But when Castle starts having recurring dreams that may hold clues to his disappearance, his wife, Beckett (Stana Katic), encourages him to see the therapist who helped her recover from PTSD. “The dreams become disruptive to his life,” Amann says. “So it’s a question of trying to interpret what these images mean. Are they literal recollections, or do they symbolize something?”

The truth Castle ultimately uncovers results in a story the show’s writers have been itching to tell since Castle disappeared after a car crash on what was supposed to be his wedding day. “When we did that Season 6 finale, we had in our minds who was behind all this,” Amann says. And though he’s keeping that intel to himself for now, he is willing to say that at least one suspect can be ruled out: Castle’s spy father (James Brolin). “Our primary goal was to deliver something that was satisfying for the audience,” Amann teases, “and we think we’ve done that.”

The outcome doesn’t seem too dire since, next week, Castle is already back to investigating other people’s misfortunes–though not with his usual partner, Beckett. “Castle and his daughter, Alexis [Molly C. Quinn], take a trip together,” says Amann. “They’re on a flight to London for a book function of his, and along the way, the air marshal disappears, so they try to figure out what happened.”

Castle, Monday, April 20, 10/9c, ABC