“Castle” Season 8 is scheduled to premiere on Monday, Sept. 21. The new season may mark a new beginning for Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) and homicide detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic). According to the latest spoiler report, the best-selling mystery writer Castle will be seen spending a lot of time with a new character called Hayley.

“As Season 8 gets underway, Rick will be spending a lot of time with Hayley,” TV Line reported. “Castle” casting team is looking for Hispanic or African- American actress in her late 20s to portray this fractional series-regular character. TV Line earlier described the character as someone who is not afraid to take risks and crosses lines to get things done. She is “quick-witted” and “free-spirited.” A former LAPD cop, Hayley now works as a security specialist.

Meanwhile, Penny Johnson Jerald is not returning to reprise her role as Captain Victoria Gates at 12th Precinct in “Castle” Season 8. There are speculations that Beckett would be promoted as Captain in the new season. The last season finale revealed that she has passed the Captain’s exam. In addition to that, Beckett also received an offer to run for New York state senate. The original cast members are returning, including Seamus Dever, who plays detective Kevin Ryan, and Jon Huertas, who plays Javier Esposito.

There are speculations that “Castle” Season 8 will be the final season consisting of less number of episodes. Paul Lee, president at ABC, has said that Season 8 is not the final season, and he would like it to run for many years to come. He called “Castle” a “powerful, vibrant brand with incredibly passionate audience.”

Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter are going to serve as the new co-showrunners of “Castle.” David Amann stepped down after serving as the showrunner for only one season, “Castle” Season 7. “Castle” creator Andrew Marlowe has also quit the show. The new showrunner Hawley believes that “Castle” still has a lot of stories to tell.

The new season is set to see Beckett making a professional decision, whether to run for senate or continue being the cop. Also Castle’s disappearance mystery may return as it was not completely solved in the previous season.

You may write to the writer at a.shrivastava@IBTimes.com.au, with your comments and feedback.

RELATED STORIES