Police drama Castle was one of ABC’s most beloved series. Brought in as a mid-season replacement, the show was a ratings juggernaut for years. Season eight, however, is when everything came crashing down. What exactly happened to this award-winning series? We take a look at some contributing factors to its demise.

Flowers For Your Grave

Castle was doing phenomenal in the ratings with an average of 10 million viewers a week. The season eight premiere shockingly had 6.84 million viewers. This was surprising with season seven’s finale bringing in 10.69 million viewers. Ratings slowly diminished, and everyone knows that low ratings can easily get a show canceled.

Famous Last Words

Weeks before its cancellation, ideas for season nine were being thrown around. Unfortunately, many cast members weren’t slated to return for what was supposed to be Castle‘s final season. Among those members were Stana Katic and Tamala Jones. ABC stated those two weren’t coming back due to financial reasons.

The Time Of Our Lives

Season nine was rumored to go back to its crime of the week format found in earlier seasons. This move would’ve upset many fans that enjoyed watching their favorite characters develop. In fact, ratings saw an increase when they shifted directions with the storyline. Just like every good show, it’s important to have characters grow over time.

The Blame Game

Problems between Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic were so terrible, they needed to attend counseling. “Stana would cry on set because Nathan was such a bully to her,” one unnamed cast member told US Weekly. Later seasons found the two stars not working with each other on screen as much.

For Better Or Worse

A constant change of showrunners can damage a series over time. Show creator Andrew Marlowe gave the showrunner gig to David Amann following season six. Unfortunately, his tenure lasted only one season. For the final season, Terence Paul Winter and Alexi Haley were hired as the new bosses in town.