Maybe Castle‘s finale would have been better if Beckett had died

Warning: This article contains spoilers of theCastleseries finale.

Castle‘s last-minute cancellation certainly didn’t lend itself to a satisfying series finale.

After this month’s fiery backlash, which came down after the announcement that Stana Katic would not be returning for Season 9, the network made the decision to nix the show completely — but it’s totally obvious that writing and production was counting on coming back, because the final moments of the show felt very thrown together.

More:For hating each other IRL, Nathan Fillion & Stana Katic seem in love in Castle clip

In a very short segment, we witness both Castle and Beckett being shot. The star-crossed lovers fall to the ground, crawl to each other, and lie — potentially mortally wounded — side by side, hands intertwined. Cut to seven years later, and the happy couple gleefully chase their three beautiful, bouncing children around their cozy home. All in all, the whole thing takes less than two minutes.

Let’s watch those last moments again, shall we?

OK, it’s pretty obvious what we just witnessed. That shooting scene was definitely intended to be Beckett’s death sequence, and the little montage tacked on to the end was the alternate ending Castle executive producer Alexi Hawley spoke of a couple weeks back.

While the ending did reveal answers about Castle and Beckett’s future, fans were not totally stoked with how it was handled.

https://<a href="https://oto.diwarta.com/tags/twitter/" id="auto-tag_twitter_1" data-tag="twitter">twitter</a>.com/aandre_sr/status/732611257803624448

I know they probably had to film part/edit it together at last minute, but the series finale of #Castle totally sucked!

— Jenna Christie (@jennychristodal) May 17, 2016

The series finale of castle reminded me of the ending of secret life on abc… Abrupt, not what u expected and u needed more #CastleFinale

— Ms Brittany (@_AARlCABRlTTANY) May 17, 2016

#CastleFinale..wtf kind of ending was that?!? 15 seconds of "happily ever after",really? After they were just shot,dying hand in hand. #Lazy

— Sifo (@dbagsifo) May 17, 2016

Just watched the #Castle series finale and um. That sucked. What a rushed, garbage ending. Glad it's been put out of its misery.

— Elyn (Էլին) (@Tokyo_Drift19) May 17, 2016

It sounds morbid, but I can’t help but wonder if the ending would have felt more real if Beckett had, in fact, died. Sure, it would have been sad, but fans made it obvious, loud and clear, that the show would be nothing without Katic as Beckett — so wouldn’t Beckett’s death signaling the end of an era be apropos? Traumatic, yes, but it almost feels like more closure would have been given.

What do you think? Would the finale have done fans justice if Beckett had died?