Target: Interview With Andrew Marlowe

Tonight’s Castle kicks off a two-part episode that will find Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) in the worst position any parent can imagine.

While he and Beckett (Stana Katic) are investigating a case of a missing college student, they make a terrifying discovery: Alexis (Molly Quinn) was with the girl at the time she was kidnapped — and she’s missing, too.

“It’s different when your kid’s at stake,” executive producer Andrew Marlowe says of Castle’s unhinged emotions in the episodes, airing tonight and next Monday. “It’s different when you have nowhere to turn, and I gotta say for Nathan Fillion fans, they should not miss these two episodes.”

For more details on the episodes, check out our conversation with Marlowe:

You always say that you try to do your two-part episodes different each time. So tell me how the idea for this one came about.
ANDREW MARLOWE: Well, last year we got close to destroying the world. The year before that it was a dirty bomb that was going to take out New York, and the year before that it was a serial killer who blew up Beckett’s apartment. We had been getting increasingly bigger and I wanted to pull it back to something that had scope and scale but also had a deep personal investment. And I’ll tell you this, the journey that Castle goes through in this is harrowing and phenomenal. Nathan did an unbelievable job. And we see the character in ways we have never seen the character before.

Tell me about Beckett’s role in this one, where she has to be both a support system to a troubled father and a detective.
It’s incredibly tough to have somebody that you care about going through something harrowing and trying to walk the line between being supportive and doing the job. This is a woman who wants to do everything she can to make sure that they get Alexis back safely. Emotions are running incredibly high with both of them and she’s doing everything she can to support Castle. There’s some really tremendous scenes between the two of them — really tender and emotionally tough scenes between the two characters that I think, hopefully, audiences will dig.

How do Martha and the rest of the team at the precinct cope?
The choice that Martha makes and who she thinks she has to be in this situation I think reveals a depth of character about her. I think we’ve seen moments of it before. But for the folks at the precinct, everybody is invested. This is kind of one of their own.

Lanie (Tamala Jones) has even worked with her.
Absolutely. There’s some fantastic moments in both episodes. I’m really proud of them and I really want people to watch.

Tell me about casting James Brolin as Castle’s long-lost father.
If you’re looking to cast Castle’s dad, the first thing you’re looking for is someone who’s ruggedly handsome. And when you think about guys who are ruggedly handsome, James Brolin is certainly at the top of that last. I gotta tell you, we’ve had a lot of guest cast on this show in five years, but I have never seen the ladies on my crew so swoony over anyone. James has just a great magnetism and a natural charm. He’s terrific in the role we’re really proud of the job he did.

Is Brolin now part of the Castle fold? Should we expect to see him off and on possibly?
It’s possible. I don’t have any immediate plans just because of how the character unfolds in this, and I think viewers, once they see what we’ve done, will understand what I mean by that.

Before I let you go, I have to ask on behalf of a bunch of Castle fans: Are we going to see 3XK again this season?
Didn’t Castle shoot him? Didn’t he fall off the bridge? I thought he was dead…

I DIDN’T SEE A BODY!
You didn’t see a body? Yeah, I didn’t see a body either.

Also, have you nailed down your finale plans?
No, they’re not locked in yet. They’re shaping up. We have some ideas but we’re balancing a bunch of stuff. That’s coming up.

Will there be a cliffhanger?
No comment.