At least two new characters are slated to be key components of "Castle's" regular cast when the show returns for an eighth season this fall.

TV Line reports the ABC-aired series is currently auditioning for the role of Hawley, described as "a quick-witted, free-spirited former LAPD cop" who now works as a "security specialist and is not afraid to cross lines to get things done."

Specifically, show creators are rumored to be eying black or Laina actresses to play the role of the twentysomething.

Casting issues aside, what viewers are probably wondering is why the show feels the need for a security specialist. Perhaps Hayley is someone Castle and Det. Beckett will meet while working on a high-pressured case. Or she could be someone Beckett may need as part of her security detail during her rumored New York senate run.

The show is also supposedly casting the "major recurring" role of a high-strung, East Indian male tech analyst.

As central to any upcoming plot lines as they might be, all those tweaks seem minor issues for the show compared to some of the questions executives faced just weeks ago when it still remained uncertain if star Stana Katic would be returning to her role as Beckett.

Both Katic and Nathan Fillion's (Castle) contracts expired at the end of the season and network officials were only recently able to secure a new deal with Katic.

"There's always a Plan B," new co-showrunner Alexi Hawley told TV Line when asked if there was a plan in place to move on if Katic had not agreed to return. "But it would have been a fundamentally different show, and that would've been quite a mountain to climb."

Hawley is slated to share showrunner duties with Terence Paul Winter.

"At this point, we haven't even sat down and talked about it yet," he said of what overall direction the show might take. "Fundamentally, Beckett and Castle's relationship has room to have movement in it. So for me - and I can't speak for Terence -- we're just excited to go in there and see what the future holds."