The latest attempt to make Nathan Fillion into a full-fledged television star premieres tonight.

Following roles on Desperate Housewives, Firefly and the short-lived Drive, Fillion stars as the title role on ABC's Castle.

The actor was recently asked about what drew him to the character of author Rick Castle.

Somebody said to me recently, “What kind of show do you want to do?” And I said, “I don’t care, so long as I’m doing good stories and working with good people.” And then I did Desperate Housewives, and it was exactly that. It was good stories with good people, I made good friends.

But I realized, “You know what? I come to this show and I sit around in a living room and I talk to people. ‘So, she going to lie to her again? I’ll back you up on that lie, no problem.’ And I go home.” And I realized that’s not what I want to do with my job. I want my job to include a little adventure, a little more of a heightened reality than what I’m actually living. And Castle has that.

He gets this opportunity to tail these homicide detectives, and he’s driven by that. He’s a little immature, but he’s obviously loving life.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.