‘Castle’ Season 8 DVDs Won’t Include Alternate Ending

Image courtesy of ABC

The complete eighth (and final) season of Castle will be available on DVD on August 23. However, if you’ve been waiting for the DVD extras for your chance to know how the showrunners had planned to set up their Becketless season nine, don’t hold your breath.

According to TV Line, the cliffhanger ending to season eight, which was to be used if ABC decided to renew the show, is not included among the deleted scenes on the Castle season eight DVDs. Alexi Hawley, co-showrunner, explains that the two shootout scenes – the one that was aired, with its added-on flash-forward, and the one that would have been the end of the season – were not actually all that different. Says Hawley,

The only editorial difference between the two [shootout] scenes was the cliffhanger version used some different shots at the very end to highlight the two of them on the floor together, rather than getting us into the tracking shot that took us to the time jump to the happy family.

Had the show been renewed (and I think I speak for more than a few fans when I say I’m still so relieved it wasn’t), apparently season nine would have opened with a time jump, partially to accommodate and explain where Beckett was, given that Stana Katic’s contract was not renewed.

So what will you be able to find on the DVDs? You’ll get all 22 episodes, two audio commentaries (one from Adam Baldwin and Nathan Fillion for their last shared episode, “Cool Boys”, and Seamus Dever, Jon Huertas, and writer Barry O’Brien for “Heartbreaker), bloopers, other deleted scenes, and a fun-sounding featurette where the cast’s detective/problem-solving abilities are put to the test when they’re placed in a puzzle room similar to the one Castle and Beckett faced in “The Blame Game.”

Are you going to check out the DVDs when they come out? Any lingering thoughts about how the show finished up its eight-season run? Let us know in the comments!