The Big Picture

• Castle, with its unique blend of crime drama and commentary on the genre, followed Nathan Fillion's Richard Castle as he shadowed Detective Kate Beckett, played by Stana Katic.
• Richard Castle is a writer who finds solving crimes more rewarding than his own writing, and his changing feelings for Beckett also lead to changes in his fictional detective character, Derrick Storm.
• ABC had plans to develop a spin-off series based on Derrick Storm, but with Castle's cancelation and declining interest in the franchise, the potential spin-off never took off.

Castle was among the most unique procedural television crime dramas that ABC ever aired. Nathan Fillion’s character, Richard Castle, was a writer himself, and this allowed the series to offer its own commentary on the clues within the crime genre. Although Castle seemed to be at the height of its power at the beginning of its eighth season, the behind-the-scenes drama between Fillion and his co-star, Stana Katic, forced the series to move towards an early conclusion. While Castle may have ended prematurely, a potential spin-off could have continued the same fictional universe in a creative way.

Who Is Derrick Storm?

The character of Castle first joins the New York City Police Department after suffering from a series of creative roadblocks during the writing of his upcoming novel. Castle’s most recent novels have begun to adhere to clichés, and he fears that he’s lost the touch of realism that always made his work feel so unique. Castle decides that in order to improve his work, he'll shadow senior homicide detective Kate Beckett (Katic). The series explores how, ultimately, Castle finds that his work solving crimes ends up being more rewarding than any of his writing could ever be.

While Castle mostly focused on the mysteries that the central pair ended up solving together, there were glimpses throughout of what Castle’s professional career had looked like. Castle has earned his reputation by creating the suave, clever detective character Derrick Storm. Based on the details that are revealed about Storm throughout the series, the character is essentially Castle’s dream version of himself. Storm seemingly has the ability to deduce any crime with his brilliant investigative skills. As Castle himself grows more invested in solving crimes for real, the characterization of Storm within his books begins to change.

Storm is the character that Castle imagines himself to be; initially, he’s proud, boastful, and seems to be without flaws. As Castle himself begins to grow more humble after working alongside Beckett, he begins to turn Storm into a more authentic, realistic hero. The characterization of Storm mirrors Castle’s arc; Storm begins to fall in love with another fictional detective, Nikki Heat, who is obviously modeled after Beckett. Although Castle himself played things relatively close to the chest for the majority of the series, he’s able to express himself by writing about Storm.

The series only hints at what Storm’s adventures were actually like, even if some of them were modeled after Castle’s cases with Beckett. Eventually, the series shifts its attention away from Castle’s literary career entirely when he proposes to and marries Beckett. Castle realizes that writing about Storm is just wish fulfillment; he no longer needs this fantasy version of himself now that he is happy with Beckett. However, the details revealed about Storm’s adventures throughout the series were certainly intriguing. As it turns out, they were a subject that ABC was keen to explore.

Why the ‘Castle’ Derrick Storm Spin-Off Never Happened

It was first announced in 2014 that ABC had begun developing a procedural adventure series based on Derrick Storm. With a story outline by screenwriter Gregory Poirier, whose past credits included National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets and The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride, the Derrick Storm spin-off was conceived as a more traditional CIA espionage series that could be viewed independently of Castle. Castle creative leads Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller joined Poirier to begin developing the series.

This wasn’t the first time that Storm’s adventures were spotlighted. In 2009, Hyperion Books released Heat Wave, the fictional novel that Castle writes about Nikki Heat, as an actual book. The novel was credited to “Richard Castle” and included notes, dedications, and references that were entirely in character. In the series, Castle had fantasized about the character of Heat as he struggled with his unacknowledged affection for Beckett. This made Heat Wave a particularly enjoyable read for fans of Castle, who enjoyed how the novel framed things from Castle’s point of view. Heat Wave was followed by nine sequels; the most recent, Crashing Heat, was released in 2019.

It’s mentioned in the third season of Castle that one of his books is being adapted into a graphic novel, which also became an actual tie-in project. Marvel Comics released adaptations of the “Richard Castle novels” Deadly Storm, Storm Season, A Calm Before Storm, and Unholy Storm. This led to the development of a series of audiobooks and several original novels that followed a fictional team-up between Storm and Heat. These novels actually confused some fans, as they were only credited in character to Castle. Although the real author of the Heat and Storm novels was initially shrouded in secrecy, it was eventually revealed that Castle writer Tom Straw was the real author behind the series.

While Castle may have inspired some creative spin-off material, no updates about the Storm-centric series have been revealed in the last decade. Castle was canceled in 2016, so any interest in continuing the franchise may have died with the show itself. The lack of recent novels, comics, and audiobooks based on Storm in recent years suggests that interest in Castle may have declined upon the conclusion of the series. However, stories about the stressful production of the series may have eroded any goodwill that the show had initially generated. Although initially it was possible to ignore the controversy, the drama behind the scenes on Castle became more hectic than any of the mysteries on the show itself.

Castle ended on a particularly sour, downbeat note, as the friction between Fillion and Katic had grown too intense by the time that the final season was in production. Castle was canceled when plans were being made for its ninth season, leaving the series with an awkward finale that had to wrap up an entire season’s storyline with a brief flash-forward sequence. It’s somewhat unfortunate that the Storm series never took off. Perhaps the character would have been given a more satisfying spin-off than the author who inspired him.

Castle is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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