Castle star Stana Katic opened up about her abrupt and untimely departure from the series and the subsequent uproar it caused, before the show was ultimately canceled . The whole scenario was a strange sequence of events that began when the hit romantic procedural co-starring Nathan Fillion was up for what would then be a season 9 renewal. ABC had, at the time, reportedly been looking at doing a shorter season, one that apparently didn’t include Katic as NYPD detective Kate Beckett — arguably the second most important character on the series.

The choice didn’t make much sense then and apparently it’s still something of a mystery to Katic. Now that some time has passed and Katic is busy promoting her next series, the Amazon original crime drama Absentia, she’s had the chance to process those strange events. To her credit, Katic come off as appreciative of her time on Castle — after all, eight seasons of a hit TV show is nothing to sneeze at — though she admits the circumstances surrounding her departure and the show’s demise weren’t exactly pleasant.

While speaking with EW (via TVLine ), Katic opened up with about that time back in 2016, and she admits to still not knowing exactly how or why it was decided to write Kate Beckett off the show. Katic said:

“I’m actually still not clear on the thought process behind the way that it went down. It hurt and it was a harsh ending.”

It was an odd decision, especially considering the appeal of the entire series — aside from famed mystery author Richard Castle helps the NYPD solve crimes — was the ongoing romance between Katic and Fillion’s characters. By that point, the two were already married, so the notion of doing a season without the series’ co-lead and the wife of its title character seemed like poor decision making from top to bottom. Clearly the powers that be at ABC agreed, and the show was effectively canceled.

Though the series met a somewhat ignominious end, Katic remains grateful for her time on the show and prefers to look back on Castle in a more positive light.

“I met so many beautiful people [on the show], and we collaborated on something really unique. It would be a disservice to those people, to the work that we did together, and to my work, which I feel contributed, in part, to the success of the show, to be anything but grateful. It was a formative experience. And we told a love story that I feel moved people, touched people, and I can’t be anything but glad that I was a part of something like that. I hope it remains something special in viewers’ minds forever.”