The mystery of Rick's lengthy disappearance and memory loss could be unraveled when Season 8 of "Castle" returns to the airwaves in February and may even prove to led back to his wife.

"We're going to go Castle's missing time next," co-showrunner Alexi Hawley recently told TV Line. The first eight episodes of the current season have been spent tackling the mystery of the LokSat case.

Rick's (Nathan Fillion) disappearance was most recently featured last in April, and came about after an old prep school pal broke free from al-Qaida and turned himself over to U.S. intelligence. As part of his surrender, he demanded that he be turned over to Castle, a former classmate whom he still trusts.

But after the mission was completed, Castle's memories of Bilal and the covert operation he had just engaged in were completely erased, leaving him unable to account for his absence when he was found months later.

In now revisiting the situation, word is producers are keen on accounting for more of Rick's ovrall time while he was adrift. That could all lead back to newlywed bride Kate (Stana Katic).

"We haven't nailed the story down for it," Hawley said. "But we do like the idea that something that Castle came across during his missing time is actually why his memory was wiped - and it wasn't necessarily about the reason we showed in Season 7. And it does have something to do with Beckett. But we haven't nailed it all the way down yet."

Over time, it all could spell Rick not having the time to give his wife's ongoing LokSat probe his full and undivided attention, as he desperately tries to uncover why he was completely relived of his memory.

"Castle" returns to ABC on Feb. 1, and also stars Seamus Dever as Kevin Ryan, Jon Huertas, as Javier Esposito and Molly Quinn as Alexis Castle.