The new Castle showrunners don't know if the show will return for season 9, but they're hoping for a renewal.

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Alexi Hawley, who became co-showrunner with Terence Paul Winter ahead of season 8, recently spoke with TVLine about the plan moving forward as far as the series approaches its ninth season.

"The reality is that [the network execs] won't make that decision until very late," Hawley said of renewal or cancellation. "So our plan is just to tell a satisfying story and try to wrap up the season in an exciting way."

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Hawley and Winter's plan is actually similar to Castle creator Andrew W. Marlowe and his wife Terri Edda Miller's ending to season 7, which could have worked as a series finale.

"Andrew and Terri wrote it as if it was the series finale," Winter told TVLine, "and there's a very good chance that we'll most likely be doing that here. We hope to come back for Season 9, but we have to act as if [we might not]."

Hawley added that he thinks Castle still "has a lot of life in it," noting, "That's the great thing from our side about the storytelling this year, that we do feel energized by the shake-up and what it has allowed us to do. We've tried to have a lot of fun in and around an obviously emotional subject.... 'The Nose' came out great, and both 'The Last Seduction' and [the fall finale] 'Mr. & Mrs. Castle' had some really delightful stuff in them. We're really happy with the results."

It remains to be seen what ABC will do about the long-running crime procedural.

Castle season 8 returns on Monday, Feb. 1 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

Tags: Castle television ABC