It’s that time again. The time of the year when Detective Kevin Ryan gets to be the center of the story on Castle Season 7 Episode 18 - and we couldn’t be happier. 

I had the pleasure of chatting with Seamus Dever to talk about Detective Ryan’s action adventure, the magic behind the “The Extraordinary Farewell” and his passion for the music of the ‘70s.

Scroll down for excerpts from our exclusive Q&A...

It looks like Detective Ryan gets into some trouble in this upcoming episode. What can you tell us?

It tends to happen about once a year where Ryan gets into trouble. This could perhaps make one believe that Ryan is not good at his job but the truth is that we all need to throw stones at our heroes and see how they get themselves out of the tree if you know what I mean. Yeah, this is basically Ryan, he’s been moonlighting for a while. Finally he’s not working that stripper job, that was crazy.

I don’t know where that was going. He has a brother-in-law who’s a former cop who he looks up to very much. He’s with a private security firm and he’s working a gig, it’s private security for a fundraiser for a congressman. So it has political implications and Ryan seems to be pretty good at this sort of thing. He’s got an eye, a skeptical eye for keeping out and making sure nothing happens and then something does happens. It’s left to Ryan to find out who left things…who left doors open. Who perhaps did some things that they shouldn’t have that led to the bad things happening.

I’m being sort of vague and I apologize but I don’t want to give anything away. But yes, it’s left for Ryan to right the wrongs that were done around him and we get to see him sort of navigate the job as well as when things hit close to home, realize that he has to do what’s right for his family. It’s kind of a nice message we end the episode with, a nice moment. 

Will we see Jenny and the baby during this episode?

Not during this episode. We’re hoping by sometime during the end of the season that we see Jenny and the baby or at least Jenny. Ryan’s married and he’s got a baby and we never get to see his wife, it’s all precinct, precinct, precinct. Not this episode but hopefully some time by the end of this season. 

Of all the Ryan-centered episodes, have you had a favorite?

They’ve all been slightly different. I don’t know about favorite or not. I mean they’ve allowed me to do different things and explore different things with the character and this sounds like a cagey answer. I’m not trying to be cagey. The fire episode, Castle Season 6 Episode 11, “Under Fire” it allowed me to do some really emotional work. It really hit close to home and it was really powerful.  I think together, my wife and I and our wonderful composer for Castle, we made America cry. I think we get to see Ryan grow up a lot in Castle Season 5 Episode 18, “Kick the Ballistics” I think “Wild Rover” got to show Kevin Ryan’s wild side. You think you know Kevin Ryan and you really don’t. So that was fun. This was sort of Ryan in an action situation. It was more Jack Ryan than Kevin Ryan.

It was him running around a lot and trying to catch the killer. It was like an action movie, as opposed to the other one this certainly had an element of intrigue and suspense that was pretty cool to play. I don’t know. They’ve all been really fun to do. I did like the fire one but the “Wild Rover” was great with Ryan’s undercover thing. At the same time, being trapped in that burning building, I was just looking at the footage earlier today.

There was some great stuff between me and Jon Huertas, between Esposito and Ryan and some great stuff between me and my wife. It was very satisfying. At the end of the day I was very happy with rising up to that emotional challenge that happened with the “Under Fire” episode.

So, that’s probably my favorite, I’m going to say. You helped me reach my conclusion. 

Glad to be of help! Now, fans are dying to know if there is any news on Castle getting picked up for season 8?

No. I’m dying to know. My mother’s dying to know. She’s wondering if I’m going to have to go back to the teaching. It’s one of those things that we’re all…it’s on everyone’s mind. The crew asks us every day, Have you heard anything? Have you heard anything? I’m not privy to any secrets. I wish I could tell you one way or the other because it would be nice for a little peace of mind that we’re going to be continuing.

I think the word is out there that the network wants us and certainly our ratings have been good. You know, you don’t cancel shows that have these strong numbers still after the seventh year. I think the network values us and now it’s just a question of talking about it and to this point to be honest nobody’s talked to me about it at all. I’m waiting to hear. 

We hear you have an intriguing project in the works outside of Castle. Tell us more about “The Extraordinary Farewell” 

It’s a period piece that took place in the 1950s. It’s the tale of a man making a devil’s bargain in order to get fame and fortune and sort of allowing himself to be used by a spirit. For me it’s fascinating if the character suffers a lot. I think that’s really interesting to play characters that do suffer.

This is a person who resigned himself to his fate and to step into those shoes as an actor is kind of a fascinating thing for me. So he’s resigned that this is going to be his final performance, his farewell performance and he’s at the top of his game. He’s the world’s most famous magician and why is he retiring?

So there’s lots of secrets there and the truth is sort of related to the idea of what is the real nature of magic. Is magic real? Along when he thought that everything was done he meets Marsha Thomason’s (White Collar) character who provides a glimmer of hope that perhaps he can undo this devil’s bargain with the help of her young son. So there’s this specter, this sort of succubus is hanging over his head in the form of this character Anthony James and can Anthony James be out wit is the big question.

And we have kind of a fun twist at the end that I’m not going to tell you anything about. But we’re raising funds at indiegogo. We’re just past $100,000 and we’re on our way to our goal of $250,000.

Where will this project be filmed?

We don’t know yet. If it’s up to me we’re going to shoot in LA but just from shooting the teaser, which is available at indiegogo, I’m pretty proud of what we came up with with one day of shooting. We crammed in like five scenes. It was unbelievable but we also learned what it’s like to film in Los Angeles and why filming in LA is sort of disappearing because it’s difficult and you have to pull permits for everything. Everything has to be insured and permits are expensive.

I don’t know, a lot of it’s going to be about how much we end up raising and what we can afford. It would be great because most of the cast and crew lives in Los Angeles but we’ll see when it all comes together if we choose somewhere else. If it’s New Orleans, if it’s Albuquerque. There’s also a lot of tax breaks in other states. We’ll see.

Hopefully it will be great if we can keep it all in town. 

One last question and it’s a special request for my husband. After our last interview, it was clear that you had a soul for ‘70s music. He wanted me to ask, out of these three songs, which is your favorite:

• Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)  by Looking Glass
• Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves by Cher
• The Night Chicago Died by Paper Lace 

Oh my God, they’re all really good. He’s got good taste. I mean they’re all that same era. Paper Lace and “The Night Chicago Died” has a wonderful story. So does “Brandy, You’re a Fine Girl.”  They’re all perfect! I don’t know, that’s tough. They’re all really kitschy too. They have catchy choruses. “Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves” tells another great story too.

Um, but something about that hook with “The Night Chicago Died” where it comes in there and nobody really knows the lyrics until you get to “I saw my momma cry…” with this driving rhythm…”Brother, what a night it really was…” I’m going to go with Paper Lace “The Night Chicago Died” so hopefully that satisfies your husband. That’s a great question, though. Good choices. But “Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves” is really good as well.

God, because it tells this sad story about this poor girl who got knocked up and now she’s doomed to repeat the past with her child. Good stories all of them, all of those three songs. 

Check in for our review after Monday night's Castle Season 7 Episode 18, "At Close Range"; and if you can't wait another moment, you can watch Castle online here at TV Fanatic. 

You can also see all things Castle at http://abc.go.com/shows/castle

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.