It was the kiss heard 'round the television dial, as three-and-a-half years of anticipation culminated in a Castle/Beckett lip lock last night.

Of course, there was some deception involved... initially, at least. But then the partners clearly got into the game of tonsil hockey, as writers Will Beall and Andrew Marlowe explain was the intention behind the popular scene.

The producers go into it in-depth in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, while also teasing Castle fans about what's to come.

Marlowe, on the kiss: It starts off as a diversion, but you can see in the midst of it, it becomes real and both of them have to wrestle with their emotions afterward. So we don’t feel like we’re cheating the audience or like it’s a wink like we’ve seen on other TV shows. We feel like the audience will understand that both of these people have to wrestle with the consequences afterwards.

Marlowe, on the follow-up smooch: Absolutely. They get caught up in the midst of it and you can see when they both pull away. They both have to process what happened - it’s all over their faces.

Beall, on the case of Beckett's mom merging with this detective's bond with Castle:  definitely think there’s a correlation. It’s that aspect of their partnership and the show will sort of come to a head in the season finale.

Marlowe, on what's next: Beckett is currently in a relationship and how does she process that? How does she feel about that? And Castle is looking for a relationship, but he knows Beckett is in a relationship. So we sort of play with that idea, and as we come into our sweeps episode, we play with it even more as we get into the explosive two-parter at the end of February.

It’s something we continue to play with, but I think the recognition between the two characters - that there is this thing between them - it’s something they’ve tried to deny for a number of episodes. Now, they no longer can deny it and they have to figure out what they’re going to do about it, whether they’re too scared to do something about it, what other obstacles are out there. That’s all part of great relationship storytelling.