"Producers tell me they plan on having me come in and out over the next nine weeks, but they're not telling me a lot more than that," reveals the actor, who has already bonded with stars Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic over their shared heritage. "I was born in Calgary, Stana's from Ontario, and Nathan's from Edmonton, so we all have that Canadian thing going on."

 

Yeah that's not 9 episodes, I heard it was only 4 ep's he's gonna in. So for 9 ep's he won't be in all of them I'm guessing, just that you'll know he's in Beckett's life until it's over.

I wrote a comment about it under the pre Ep4 topic, and the core is:

Leftfield said:

Actors fly around and move all the time between various commitments.  There's no reason why Victor Webster can't catch a plane to fly in for a day to meet a filming commitment with Castle.  It happens all the time.  So I'm not sure that filming in Thailand precludes him from filming on Castle.

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If he is on the other half of the world as the lead actor of a movie it is a bit more difficult. Bangkok-LA is 16-24 hours, depending the flight. So it's at least 4 days off from the movie (2 days of flight, one day in LA, one day reacclimatisation after the two consecutive jetlags). Not impossible but I doubt that his cheque for an epsiode would cover the extra costs of a one-day-hopping back and forth Thailand. I do not think that if he hasn't finished yet he would be available for the next 2-4 months, though again, technically it's possible.

halaci said:

Leftfield said:

Actors fly around and move all the time between various commitments.  There's no reason why Victor Webster can't catch a plane to fly in for a day to meet a filming commitment with Castle.  It happens all the time.  So I'm not sure that filming in Thailand precludes him from filming on Castle.

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If he is on the other half of the world as the lead actor of a movie it is a bit more difficult. Bangkok-LA is 16-24 hours, depending the flight. So it's at least 4 days off from the movie (2 days of flight, one day in LA, one day reacclimatisation after the two consecutive jetlags). Not impossible but I doubt that his cheque for an epsiode would cover the extra costs of a one-day-hopping back and forth Thailand. I do not think that if he hasn't finished yet he would be available for the next 2-4 months, though again, technically it's possible.
 

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Well, if he has a contract with Castle, he needs to fulfill it somehow.  I'm wondering whether he was already committed to shoot the Scorpion King movie before he took the Castle job, or after.  Because if the Castle contract was signed first, I would think that the Scorpion King contract would have to account for his need to come back to shoot Castle.  And vis-a-versa, if the Scorpion King contract was committed to first.  Actors juggle projects all the time, and the production staff works around their schedules.  And I doubt that an actor is going to commit to one project when it would mean not being to fulfill his commitment to another.  That's a good way to get a bad rep.  His interview did say the "next nine weeks", not "nine weeks".  So…..they have it figured out.  Maybe he flies back and films all of his scenes for Castle all at once, while the people in Thailand do work that doesn't need their star.  So, one trip back to CA instead of many.  Who knows, but I would think that it's been worked  out so that Castle gets the time they need from Victor.          

Leftfield said:

Danny Franks said:

I don't see him flying back from Thailand just for a day's filming, but I'm not sure whether to think that's a good thing or not. Does it mean he's done with everything for Castle, and his character is done and dusted, or does it mean Josh will be a spectre in the background of the season until well into the new year, when the actor can return to film more scenes? Remember, this interview was conducted before he began filming, so things could easily have changed in that time, and 9 weeks could have become 20, but with a big gap in the middle.

Gah, my growing confidence that he'd be gone by episode 12 or 13 just took a hit.

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It seems to me if this was going to be a problem, the TPTB at Castle would never have offered him the role.  It would have gone to another actor.  And if he had signed a contract with Castle first, then the Scorpion King people would have to accommodate his commitment to Castle.  I don't see Victor telling Castle production that, "hey, I'm not going to be able to make your shooting schedule because I'm making a movie now".  And I think that production schedules are so tight on a TV series that they probably don't have a lot of wiggle room to make last minute changes.  I would think that his filming for Castle is either over and done, or a trip back to CA to do the filming has been accommodated by the Scorpion King production team.   

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No, but that's not what I'm getting at. What I mean is that, I'm worried that the planned structure of his appearances gives him the opportunity to disappear to Thailand for a couple of months, because his character will still be in Castle, but unseen, right the way through to February or March.

Hopefully, that "next nine weeks" is still the plan, and that does mean that he'll be gone by episode 13 at the latest, not hanging around offscreen until episode 18 or 19.

Danny Franks said:

Leftfield said:

Danny Franks said:

I don't see him flying back from Thailand just for a day's filming, but I'm not sure whether to think that's a good thing or not. Does it mean he's done with everything for Castle, and his character is done and dusted, or does it mean Josh will be a spectre in the background of the season until well into the new year, when the actor can return to film more scenes? Remember, this interview was conducted before he began filming, so things could easily have changed in that time, and 9 weeks could have become 20, but with a big gap in the middle.

Gah, my growing confidence that he'd be gone by episode 12 or 13 just took a hit.

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It seems to me if this was going to be a problem, the TPTB at Castle would never have offered him the role.  It would have gone to another actor.  And if he had signed a contract with Castle first, then the Scorpion King people would have to accommodate his commitment to Castle.  I don't see Victor telling Castle production that, "hey, I'm not going to be able to make your shooting schedule because I'm making a movie now".  And I think that production schedules are so tight on a TV series that they probably don't have a lot of wiggle room to make last minute changes.  I would think that his filming for Castle is either over and done, or a trip back to CA to do the filming has been accommodated by the Scorpion King production team.   

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No, but that's not what I'm getting at. What I mean is that, I'm worried that the planned structure of his appearances gives him the opportunity to disappear to Thailand for a couple of months, because his character will still be in Castle, but unseen, right the way through to February or March.

Hopefully, that "next nine weeks" is still the plan, and that does mean that he'll be gone by episode 13 at the latest, not hanging around offscreen until episode 18 or 19.

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I can certainly relate to your concern because I'm feeling some of it myself.  What I'm latching on to is Victor's comment that he was told to stick around for the next nine weeks.  Now I don't know if that means nine weeks of episodes, or nine weeks of actual time.  And I don't know when the interview was given, but as it was accompanied by a picture that looks like the stills from 3.04, but is a candid shot, I assume that it done when 3.04 was filmed.  So, what, end of August early September maybe.  Is that when the nine weeks start, or was he told nine weeks when he was offered the contract which would have been earlier.  So, for me the signs seem to point in the direction of his hanging around for a little less time than I had originally thought.  As he's not listed through 3.07, I see him leaving at the earliest 3.13.  But I don't think that he would appear in four episodes in a row, I  bet that it's going to be longer than that.  

Now, of course nine weeks could change.  But I imagine that you can't fiddle around with that too much, particularly if the actor is committed himself to filming a movie over seas based on the fact that he needed to be available for only nine weeks of Castle.  Even if the nine weeks are broken up to accommodate two months of filming a movie, which I doubt, a portion of that nine weeks has passed.  And, bottom line, anything can change at any time.  There is the fear that his association with Beckett might have been prolonged to accommodate Scorpion King.  But, look at the other side, could his stay have been shorted to accommodate the filming?  Doubtful, but always a possibility.   

So, for me, because I had really resigned myself to the fact that both Josh and Gina were going to be around for most of the season, the fact that Victor has indicated that he's committed for nine weeks sounds hopeful.  I'm not positive about anything, just hopeful.