Last season’s mind blowing realization that our cuddly Captain Montgomery was a part of murder of Detective Beckett’s mother was not the biggest thing to happen…CASTLE ADMITTED TO BECKETT what we ALL KNEW to be true, he loves her! Naturally this came while Beckett lay bleeding out from a gunshot wound…but hey, we’ve been waiting for him to say it for MONTHS, at least he said it.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself; allow me to back up.

As some of you know, I was one of the privileged geeks to attend San Diego Comic Con 2011; in addition I managed to score a nearly-back-row seat for the CASTLE panel. Yes, I was in the same room as Nathan Fillion and I didn’t pass out, I blame the healthy breakfast I had that morning. Here’s a few things I picked up from that highly entertaining group of gabbers.

On the panel were Esposito and Ryan (John Huertas and Seamus Dever), M.E. Lanie Parish (Tamala Jones, who looked absolutely breathtaking!), Alexis Castle (Molly C. Quinn, dressed as Captain Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly, which drew HUGE roars of applause from the audience and a hilarious “Oh my God I just noticed what Molly is wearing!” from Fillion), and of course, Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion, who appeared “as if by magic” at his seat by crawling behind his fellow panel members and popping up by his chair, the standing ovation and applause he received was thunderous, to be expected).

One lucky LUCKY audience member, a gal wearing a “Nathan Fillion One in a Million” T-Shirt was chosen to read the opening dialogue from CASTLE, sharing both the seat and the microphone with Fillion. Luckiest. Fan. Ever. After severe blushing, giggles and applause from the audience, the panel started talking about the new season, premiering tonight at 10/9c on ABC.

For starters, we’re getting a new Police Captain, and it’s a GIRL! We’re going to see a new character with a much harder edge become the boss at the precinct. Captain Victoria “Iron” Gates played by Penny Johnson Jerald (who you may remember as scheming Sherry Palmer from 24) is a complete hard ass. Seriously. She makes her subordinates call her “Sir”; I’m completely in awe of her! Captain Gates has made a major impression with the detectives by shutting down any and all investigation into the shooting of Det. Beckett at the end of last year’s finale and booting the Writer from the office. Is that going to stop them? Of course not…don’t be weird.

With Beckett surviving her nearly mortal wound (oh come on, it’s not really a spoiler is it? This isn’t a Joss Whedon written episode, the female lead isn’t going to die, for crying out loud.), Kate is eager to find the shooter; however there’s a huge pin in her friendship with Castle. She hasn’t called, she hasn’t written, cue the Catholic guilt from our favorite novelist! We’ve got loads of storyline headed towards us as the CASTLE fans, the rebuilding of Castle and Beckett is something I’m really looking forward to.

However it’s not just the relationship between Castle and Beckett was damaged with that fateful gunshot: the closeness between father and daughter (Quinn and Fillion) is going to be shredded a little. According to Quinn, “Alexis is traumatized (during the finale) and becomes more vocal about Castle’s involvement in crime fighting.” Makes perfect sense; having her father’s life put in danger so literally right in front of her would make any daughter subsequently become less of a fan of any antics.

Ok, enough with the premiere; back to the panel! They had so much to give us; I’ve been itching to write about it!

There’s going to be another awesomely themed Halloween Episode!! Are you ready??? GHOSTBUSTERS!  I know!! I’m so very excited! I can only imagine what inside jokes we’re going to get via twitter (Follow the guys: @NathanFillion, @Jon_Huertas, and @seamusdever; and the ladies: @Stana_Katic and @tamalajones) which has proven to be a terrific way to giggle along with the stars when watching the show.

Also we’re going to be getting an X-FILES episode, with Lyle Lovett as a guest star! As per Fillion, Lyle Lovett is “nice to everybody” and viewers should look for some sort of ”X” in every scene of that episode. Sounds really interesting!

Additionally, Fillion spilled that there will be a Super Hero themed Episode! No word as to when, but needless to say, it’s going to be an amazing one. Personally I’m hoping that Stan Lee will be given a cameo. I love that guy!

I’m not sure why, but my notes are as follows: Nathan Fillion: “Panties, granny panties, tighty whities, underoos”. Yeah, I have no idea what the subject was, but I nearly fell out of my chair.

Needless to say, we’ve got a lot to look forward to this season on CASTLE; I’m definitely going to be watching!