Hayley (Toks Olagundoye) is set to bring a different kind of energy to ABC's Castle next season.

Why Does Beckett Have To 'Fight For Her Life' Next Season on 'Castle'?

Security specialist Hayley is the latest addition to the precinct in Castle's upcoming eighth season, and she will not be a quiet one. Castle show runners Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter spoke with TVLine recently to review the impact Hayley will have in the series.

"I'm not going to say she's a 'game changer,' because that's a cheesy thing to say, but she brings such a fantastic adrenaline shot to the show," Winter teased.

Rick & Kate Receives A Call From 'A Mysterious Stranger' In 'Castle' Premiere

"What's nice about her and Sunkrish [who's playing tech analyst Vikram Singh] is that their characters, they're voices we don't have on the show, so it will give it us some new energy," Hawley added. "At the end of the day Toks is playing an independent investigator who gets brought into the [season-opening] two-parter and will play a recurring role sort of helping out with cases along the way."

Hayley will spend a lot of time with Castle (Nathan Fillion) in the new season, but she is also having some impact on his daughter, Alexis (Molly Quinn), who will be more grown up this season.

"Hayley is going to help Alexis kind of find herself as she goes into adulthood," Winter revealed. "It's an exciting new dynamic that these two have. The scenes we've already shot with those two together.... It's magic, it really is."

It remains to be seen if Hayley will become a fan favorite to the point of the show's producers wanting to bring her back for future episodes, but for now, she is slated to appear in the first half of season 8 at least.

Castle season 8 premieres Monday, Sept. 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

Tags: Castle television ABC