Nathan Fillion

Adrian Pasdar is probably most widely known for his four-season run as Nathan Petrelli on NBC’s Heroes, but his resume includes memorable turns on movies such as the indie horror classic Near Dark, and television shows like The Twilight Zone, Desperate Housewives, Judging Amy, and numerous others. Tonight, Pasdar brings his unique brand of soft-spoken intelligence-infused machismo to ABC’s Castle for a two episode guest spot as Department of Homeland Security agent Mark Fallon (see our sneak peek of the episode here and watch the first 10 minutes of "Setup" here). I had a chance to chat with Pasdar last week about his character, and gave him the chance to dispel the rumor that Nathan Fillion is a nice guy - read on for the results.

Tell me about your character on Castle

The character is DHS agent Mark Fallon. It’s an interesting combination of perspectives that brought this guy to life. Andrew and David wrote a character that was entirely fictional when they offered it to me, but I have friends that are FBI agents and other three letter agencies that I can’t name that you can imagine, and I based it on a very real person. That made it all the more pressing that I got it right, and played it correctly.

Is he someone who is there to help, or does he have his own agenda?

He’s a guy who initially appears as somewhat of a hard-ass, difficult to deal with, perhaps, and wants to do things his own way. Then by the middle of the second episode it is revealed why he wants to be in charge, and get things done.

How do Castle and Beckett interface with this guy?

Through the course of the events that carry him through the first and second episode you get a better perspective of the relationship between Nathan [Castle] and Stana [Beckett], which is always a good thing when a guest star can not only support his own behavior on the show but contribute to the perspective you have of the main characters.

Can you talk about why a DHS agent would be involved with the New York City Police?

There’s a group of people who may or may not have collected material to build a dirty bomb in New York City, and the Department of Homeland Security agent is called in to assist Detective Beckett in her pursuit of an individual. It’s kind of like opening a box of cactus spikes, it just gets worse, and we find out it’s bigger than we thought. We’re on the right track, then we’re on the wrong track, as these detective mysteries go – and then, we’re on the right track again and find out what we need to find out and need to pursue, and that’s the second episode of the two.

Castle has such a discernible good-time aura to it. You can tell people enjoy working on the show, can you attest to that?

Nathan Fillion is one of the greatest men that’s ever walked the earth as far as I’m concerned. I’ve met a lot of good men and he ranks up in the top five, he’s probably number six actually. I’m kidding. He’s a great guy, and what an amazing group of people that they’ve surrounded him with. To walk into that set and to be absorbed the collective talent, it’s rare. I felt very fortunate to be in their presence. People say this shit all the time, but it’s true – people who behave and are professional, and really contribute to the overall well-being of the entire crew… the show is called Castle, it’s his show and he is so nice to every single person not just because he has to, because that is his nature.

Did you experience any of that first hand?

Here’s an indicative element. We walked across the street to Paramount studios to have lunch. As we were walking there was a guard that signaled to us that we couldn’t walk in the driving lane. I said, C’mon man let’s just hop this bush and get closer it’ll cut an extra hundred-yards off our trek. We were already running late for lunch. He said, no, no, no – we’ve got to follow the rules, man. He pulled me aside and we followed this little path, and circumnavigated the entire guard station, it took us an extra twenty-minutes but we did what was right. That’s how Nathan is. It’s not just because he’s Canadian. He’s actually a nice guy, he follows the rules and it was a pleasure to be in his company.

Stop me if this is too spoilery, were things left open for Agent Fallon to return?

Oh, yeah – no, it is, and if I should come back they’re all going to hand their heads for a split second and go oh no, not him again. I mean the characters on the show, not the producers.

CASTLE - "Setup" (Part 1) airs tonight, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21 (10:01-11:00 p.m. ET) on the ABC Television Network.