With all the chaos in millionaire crime-fighting novelist Richard Castle’s life, it’s a good thing he’s got such a sensible, strong-minded daughter to keep him grounded. In Part 2 of our exclusive Wetpaint interview, Molly Quinn — who plays Alexis Castle on the ABC hit — tells us about the example she and Nathan Fillion are setting, what she wants out of Season 4 for Alexis, and gives us all the awesome details from her on-set Sweet 16!

Wetpaint: Castle and Alexis have a really special bond on the show. What do you think of the relationship between them?

Molly Quinn: I think they’re a very good example, to fathers especially. Girls need their dads to be involved and sometimes when puberty hits, dads kind of back off because it seems awkward, but they need to push past that and keep treating their little girls the same. You know playing, talking and stuff like that. I think if more dads stayed super involved in that stage, girls wouldn’t feel such a need to always have boyfriends at such a young age.

Alexis is very responsible and level-headed, really another adult on the show. How much do you relate to Alexis?

We’re different but the same in so many ways. She’s the adult of her family and I’m the baby. I mean, I got to be a baby and kind of didn’t have to worry about teaching or having responsibilities and Alexis has always had to.

What do you think of the fight Alexis got into a couple of weeks ago? It was something quite different for her character.

You know, I’m not sure if that was true to her character, but I agree that she defended herself. You never know how you’re going to react in that type of situation, so I was kind of shocked. Even in the middle of the scene, in my head I was like, “I can’t believe she actually did that.” I would’ve never thought that Alexis would retaliate physically. But I mean, hey, you never know what you’re going to do until you’re faced with the situation, do you?

Is there a particular storyline you’d like to see for Alexis in Season 4?

I’d like to see her go back to some of the things that we did in Season 1 for Alexis — the martial arts and weapons, and high-tech skills with her dad. I also think she needs to spend a lot of time at the morgue or the lab. That would be a really interesting plot for Alexis.

What’s a typical day like on the Castle set?

Very busy. We move along at a fast pace because we’re shooting a full major movie quality in 16 days. I mean, not even that. That should tell you. We’re very busy, we’re always moving along and we try to plug as much fun into our work schedule as possible. And sometimes we’ll get a little off track because Nathan will be overly funny. We have this whole kind of hour around midnight when people are just kind of loopy. That’s kind of our twilight hour.

Susan Sullivan (Martha Rodgers) told us that you had a 16th birthday party on set. What was that like?

[Laughs] They really surprised me. I mean, no one was really saying anything when I first got there. Then I got to my trailer and it was super decorated with balloons all over it. I thought that was it. I thought, “Oh yeah, that’s sweet.” And then we were doing this scene where Nathan comes in to the breakfast table and on the third take, Nathan enters, but he’s wheeling in my cake! It had sparklers on it and these like spinning pyrotechnics and I screamed.

We also had [Star Trek: The Next Generation’s] Jonathan Frakes directing that episode. Now, I know that wasn’t for me but, still, being there on my birthday with “Number One” directing our episode — I’m a huge Star Trek fan. I was blushing red the whole day. It was awesome.

And earlier that week my dad had told me that he wouldn’t be able to come in. He told me, “I’m working, I won’t be able to make it in. I’m sorry.” I thought, “Darn it!” because I’m such a daddy’s girl. But after the cake I looked over and I saw my dad standing there. I started crying because I was so excited to see him. It was the best.

How did you get started in acting?

Being the youngest of a slew of kids, and also being around my dad’s Boy Scout troop all the time, I was just the little entertainer.… I was always doing different things and figuring out how to get my way. I tried to not cry too much to get my way because I didn’t want to use my powers for evil. Then I started taking professional acting classes just for fun. Really there was no point to it. But I found that with everything else I was studying — violin and dance — acting brought it all together. And nothing was off limits. Like I go to casting directors and they say, “Well, I’m just going to direct you this way. I don’t want you to think you did anything wrong.” And that’s the thing about acting; there is no wrong or right, if that makes any sense. Anything goes.

What are some of your other favorite shows?

I Love Lucy. I absolutely adore Lucille Ball and that entire show’s brilliant. Big Bang Theory. I mean, Sheldon Cooper, I think he’s the coolest character. The Office, Star Trek the Next Generation and Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Law & Order: Criminal Intent and SVU. Absolutely Fabulous. I kind of go all over the place.

What do you like to do for fun when you’re not filming?

I try to get outside as much as possible. I’m lucky to be where there’s lots of hiking trails, so I’ll go out there with my friends. I’m a huge movie fan. Me and my friends always get a ton of people together and we’ll see either one or two movies and then we’ll all debate them because we’re all such experts, I say jokingly. I love to garden. Right now I have some lovely beets growing. And I love to work out, do yoga, Pilates. Karate’s fun, I like to spar. I like to pretend I’m all tough. I really like to spend any time when I’m not filming outside and with my friends. I’m not really a loner and I don’t really like being inside too much.

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In case you didn’t already know, we love Richard Castle’s daughter Alexis. One of the many things that makes her so gosh darn lovable is that she’s full of surprises (and who doesn’t love those?). Molly Quinn (Alexis) recently chatted about her character’s complexities — and we must say, Quinn is just as smart (and adorb) as her brainy on-screen counterpart (which is, of course, another reason we adore her!).

“Alexis is like a Rubik’s Cube,” she says in a recent fan interview conducted by Stana Katic (Beckett). “Just when I think I have her down and I’m about to put her in a little box, she does something to switch me up.” Like, you know, getting into bathroom brawls, maybe?

Quinn says one of her character’s most shocking twists came very recently, in the form of her relationship with Ashley. The little ginger-haired sweetie grew up almost overnight, something Molly has difficulty accepting. “I can’t believe Alexis is doing that,” she says of her character’s make-out session with Ashley, played by Secret Life star Ken Baumann. “It’s nice and everything, but I can’t believe she has time for that, and that she’s spending any energy on that.”

But one thing that doesn’t surprise us one bit? Quinn’s ideal Alexis storyline. “I think it would be really interesting if Alexis and her grandmother have to go undercover,” she muses. “They figure something out and Castle is like, ‘No, I don’t want you to get involved.’ But we choose to do it anyway.” Sounds kind of like a rogue investigation to us. Like father, like daughter!

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While devilish Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) has been busy solving crimes, angel-faced Molly Quinn has stolen our hearts as the mystery novelist’s whip-smart (but refreshingly non-smartass) daughter, Alexis. Here’s the evidence in our case for loving her.

1. She’s a TV teen who actually makes sense… and is humble about It!
“Alexis is written so well… She’s [Castle creator] Andrew Marlowe’s ‘child,’ and I’m happy to portray that,” says the 17-year-old, adding that her anti-brat celebrates “kids out there who want to do that crazy teenager stuff but withhold because, honestly, they’re smarter than that.”

2. She’s been raised right.
Quinn says her family is “so normal, it’s abnormal. I’m grounded right now because I didn’t make curfew last weekend. I have the best parents. And the strictest.”

3. She hasn’t forgotten her Southern roots.
“I did one pageant in sixth grade and I loved it!” laughs the Texarkana native. “I loved the dresses and the big hair. [Mine] was so big that when I took my bow, it flopped into the air then sat right back down on my head perfectly.”

4. She’s impressed the best.
“She’s everything you can ask for in an actor,” gushes Fillion. “Professional, prepared, collaborative, inspiring, clever, enthusiastic, personable and a joy to spend time with. What’s unexpected is she has all these qualities at such a young age. Molly, remember me when you are winning Oscars and I’m unemployed.”

5. She’s the real deal.
“I text a lot!” confesses Quinn, who plans to join Twitter to shut down the fake accounts posing as her online. “I don’t want people getting the wrong impression of me.”

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Home > Events/Appearances > 2011 > The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at Castro Theater Block Party

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It takes a certain kind of woman to look after a millionaire author crime-fighter and his eccentric actress mother. Or, in the case of Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Martha Rodgers (Susan Sullivan), it takes a smart and savvy 17-year-old girl.

Molly C. Quinn plays just that girl as Castle’s daughter Alexis on the ABC hit series. In Part 1 of our exclusive Wetpaint interview, Molly tells us about Nathan’s secret man-crush, weighs in on the age-old Castle/Beckett debate, and dishes on the “crazy” Castle Season 3 finale.

Wetpaint: Most of your scenes are filmed with Nathan Fillion. What’s it like working with him?

Molly Quinn: Oh, it’s wonderful to work with Nathan. I mean, he teaches me so much about life and acting. We just all have a good time.

What’s something most people wouldn’t know about Nathan?

He loves high-tech flashlights of all sorts and colors and sizes. Which I thought was really interesting when I found out because I knew he loved iPhones and things like that, but I didn’t know he had this collection of flashlights. There’s that. And also he has a huge cat whose name is Spartacus that he rescued. He’s a very sweet cat. He’s a lot like [Nathan]. They look similar.

You also work a lot with Susan Sullivan. What’s it like working with her? Has Susan given you any sage advice?

Susan is so sophisticated and elegant. Just the way she carries herself with so much grace and dignity. It’s a huge example to me. Plus, she’s fun. I mean, she doesn’t go around giving advice like some people do, but If I ask her she’s really open and talks from the heart. So it’s nice to have her around. I really love her — she’s great.

Do you think Castle and Beckett [Stana Katic] should get together?

I think they’re still getting to know a lot about each other. And I think it would be a little awkward at the precinct. I would like to see them being more about knowing more about each other before jumping into a romance. I think it would be better to get into a longer-lasting romantic relationship instead of just, you know, a flash in the pan.

If you could have a dream guest star appear on the show, who would it be?

I would love for Rainn Wilson to show up as one of Alexis’s teachers that she kind of crushes on or something and Nathan, you know, has to check him out. And what I’ve heard from Nathan is he may have some fan-crush on Rainn Wilson, too. Apparently they play Call of Duty together. So if they have this great gaming relationship, I think that Nathan should wriggle Rainn onto the show. He’d be perfect.

What can you tell us about the end of the season?

Fans will not believe what’s going to happen. Even I had trouble wrapping my mind around the last episode. It’s just phenomenal. It’s jaw-dropping. It’s crazy. I mean, you’re literally going to look at the TV and go, “What? No, what?!”

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I’ve added what appears to be magazine scans (sent in via Jess at Castle Fans) to the gallery. It is an interview from Castle Co-Star Stana Katic who is interviewing our vary own Molly Quinn.

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Home > Castle > Season Three > Season Three Screencaptures > 03×021 The Dead Pool

Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), mystery writer extraordinaire, is enjoying his third season of crime-solving on ABC’s Monday-night hit CASTLE. Castle is able to beguile most women – even Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), the prickly NYPD detective he follows around for inspiration, is beginning to fall for him.

But there are two females Castle can’t sneak anything past – his much-married Broadway actress mother Martha Rodgers, played by Susan Sullivan, and his bright teenaged daughter Alexis, played by Molly Quinn. They keep Castle honest and allow him to show enduring love and loyalty in his home life, even as he has a lot of love ‘em and leave ‘em situations elsewhere.

Sullivan is a real-life veteran of Broadway and TV (she was a regular on FALCON CREST), and Quinn, even at the young age of 17, has an extensive resume that includes the motion-capture A CHRISTMAS CAROL with Jim Carrey. The two women exhibit affection for each other that seems genuinely familial, as evidenced by Sullivan beckoning Quinn over to join in partway through what starts out as a solo interview.

ASSIGNMENT X: Were you looking for a series when CASTLE came along?

SUSAN SULLIVAN: You know, I was – and I say this to all actors – as you go along the road, you have to stay well-oiled. I was doing a play, and playing a part in this play very much like this character. Actors want to act, so that’s sort of the bottom line, and this is perfect, because at this point in my life and career, I sort of like a couple of days a week. It’s perfect. She comes in, she says a couple of little quippy things, hopefully they’re amusing, and she leaves.

AX: Are you actually old enough to play Nathan Fillion’s mom?

SULLIVAN: Oh, good, good question. I am. This is a character who started young.

AX: Do you, like your character, actually have kids who are off doing outrageous things?

SULLIVAN: No, but I have a mother. I’m sort of basing this part on my mother and last year, after we had done the pilot, I was doing a play in New York, BUFFALO GAL, which was about a mature actress, and I lived with my mother. This is part of what interests me about this part. I want to create a character where you go, “Oh, that’s how you stay in the game at [that age].” This is a bit of an homage to my own mother and of course as I spent six months living with my mother as I was doing this play, I discovered I am my mother. Big surprise. I guess we all are. And it was interesting. Because things that I thought, “Well, I don’t do that,” and then I saw my version. The paradigm shift is just slightly to the left, but there it is, same-old, same-old. So I really have learned a lot from doing this part.

AX: Does your mother react to your acting the way Martha reacts to Rick’s writing?

SULLIVAN: Well, she’s a little like that. He’s gone, but my father was the critic. And I’ve internalized the critic and when you’re a critic, it’s very hard to stop it.

AX: And parents feel that they’re –

SULLIVAN: “I’m helping, darling. Get over it.”

AX: At this point, actress Molly Quinn appears. Sullivan beckons her over.

SULLIVAN: Look who’s here! Look at my gorgeous girl, Molly Quinn. Susan Sullivan and Molly Quinn – it’s the Irish girls.

AX: How is it playing grandmother and granddaughter?

MOLLY QUINN: I really like it. I love Susan as a person, and as my grandmother, it’s even better. I just –

SULLIVAN: I don’t like this word “grandmother” – I wanted them to soften it a little with something, but they insist on saying it [laughs].

QUINN: We just want something a little classier, I think [laughs]. Because she doesn’t want to be a grandmother – she doesn’t see herself as old. I mean, does she have children? No, not yet. She’s younger. So …

SULLIVAN: Well, I absolutely adore Molly. I don’t have [real-life] children, so this is one of the great gifts of being an actor – you have all these wonderful children who go home and are on their own and being taken care of by somebody else. So here she is – brilliant, charming, beautiful and smart.

AX: Are you the same as your character Alexis?

QUINN: I believe Alexis is a year older than me.

AX: Do you feel that your characters function together on the show?

SULLIVAN: Yeah. We’re a Greek chorus and a team.

QUINN: I have to agree. We really are a team, and as dysfunctional as we try to appear, we really are so cohesive. We have the fun and the serious and the smart, so we’re really a complete group.

AX: Are you finding it difficult or amusing to act like you’re in New York while filming in L.A.?

SULLIVAN: I’m a New Yorker, so it fits right in with my rhythm, I think there’s a New York rhythm, so it fits right up my alley, but this is a little Texas [indicates Quinn, does accent] over heah, honey.

QUINN: That’s true. It was really interesting, especially moving from Texas to L.A., and then playing someone from New York, and when we did the pilot in New York, I had never been there, so that was huge, especially doing the show now, is being able to be there a little bit and know the sights and places we were supposed to be when filming here, so there really is a different beat to it and a different mindset, like what we consider dressy here and what they consider dressy there – here to go out, maybe a nice pair of jeans. In New York –

SULLIVAN: They don’t dress, really, the way they used to. In my day. I remember gloves. I even remember a hat.

QUINN: I love gloves. That’s like my dream, to go to the Derby. I should wear gloves.

SULLIVAN: It’s fun. It’s fun to play.

AX: Did you have trouble with the accent when you came here?

QUINN: No. I didn’t have an accent growing up. I had three speech impediments.

SULLIVAN: You did?

QUINN: Yeah. So I went to speech therapy. They were “T,” because I would say [she inhales before pronouncing the consonant], instead of just [makes “T” sound] and also “S,” because I pushed them, and the other one –

SULLIVAN: Wait a minute. Is this a speech impediment or is this wanting to be a perfect speaker?

QUINN: No, these were speech impediments. That’s why I was in the business at a very young age.

SULLIVAN: But were you in the business at a very young age?

QUINN: I started taking acting lessons when I was seven, but I really wouldn’t consider that being in the business. I just loved performing, because I had a very large family, and it was just fun being someone else. I was always really imaginative, [but] I didn’t get into the business until I was turning thirteen. I really did study. I went to Dallas before I came out here [to Los Angeles], and people always said, “Well, was it just that one year in Dallas that you studied?” No. I knew the Uta Hagen method when I was seven years old. It was not just a quick thing. It was a very sturdy and a very rigid upbringing.

AX: Can you talk about your favorite CASTLE episode or scene so far, in terms of your characters?

SULLIVAN: Well, I liked [Martha] being a life coach and I hope they keep that up. I know all these actor friends of mine – women, mostly – who are life coaches because they can’t get a job.

QUINN: Oh, that’s difficult. Of course, the [first-season] prom scene was fun, that was really nice, but I really enjoy when Alexis gets involved with the cases, like when she figures things out. And I have to say, my favorite scene is probably in “Little Girl Lost,” I think – she gets up and they’re talking about the rabbit and it’s a really sweet interaction late at night between her and her dad, how she is really, genuinely interested in what he does.

SULLIVAN: But I think what’s interesting is, they use these characters, his home life, as sort of counterpoint to the main mystery, and that something in his home life resonates on an almost unconscious level with what’s going on in the mystery. We’ve got a very smart writer [in series creator Andrew Marlowe].

QUINN: Yes. Group of writers.

SULLIVAN: Yes, but I think it’s [Marlowe’s] conceit originally.

AX: Do you feel like part of the function of your characters is to show a different side of  Castle’s character?

SULLIVAN: That he’s a rounded person.

QUINN: Yeah, that he has a home life, that he’s not that bad boy image.

SULLIVAN: But I think it’s really interesting how they use the home story. It’s always balancing off of the mystery. There’s always a tie-in, sometimes more subtle than others, sometimes more on the nose, but it’s kind of fun for people who watch to be aware of that.

AX: How do you like working with Nathan Fillion?

SULLIVAN: I adore him [laughs]. I absolutely adore him. On these kinds of shows, shows that go on for a period of time, the essence or the soul, if you will, to sound a little grand, of the actor is what you start to see and if you think about the characters that you like, you’re liking who that person is. Not the character that they’re playing – the person that they are. That’s what evolves over a very short period of time. So Nathan is that charming, impish, bad-boy, good-boy, kind and compassionate man.

QUINN: He really is. You took all the words. Now I can’t say anything [laughs]. I just fell in love with him when I first met him in the chemistry read. I was like, “Whatever I do, I have to work with him.” And luckily I was on this show and I got to meet Susan and everyone else. It was just a really great cast. Nathan’s a gem.

SULLIVAN: He is.

AX: Do either of you read and/or watch mysteries recreationally?

SULLIVAN: That’s not my style at all, although I did love Nancy Drew when I was your [Quinn’s] age.

QUINN: I was a real HARDY BOYS fan, to be honest, but I like MISS MARPLE. She had to be my favorite. I would sit watching all of these reruns of MISS MARPLE. Reading mysteries? Not too much. I read THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE DRESS. That was a really interesting mystery.

AX: How was it working with director Robert Zemeckis on A CHRISTMAS CAROL?

QUINN: Wow. That was so great. He was such a down to Earth guy. I’ve never had a bad experience on any set I’ve ever been on, so I really loved meeting him, especially because he did FORREST GUMP, CAST AWAY – he was a sweet man. He was really great with the kids. It was motion-capture. You really have to use your imagination. My main character, Belinda Cratchit, she looks exactly like me, down to three little scars I have on my forehead, and then I play two other characters. One of them is actually a grown man and one of them is a child, so for those, you don’t recognize me. I’m in disguise. I play Robin Wright Penn’s daughter also, so they replaced my face with hers.

AX: Anything else you’d like to say?

QUINN:CASTLE’s the best show ever.

SULLIVAN: Yes. And pay attention to your mother.

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Home > Castle > Season Three > Season Three Screencaptures > 03×020 Slice Of Death

The audiobook for the fourth novel in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series will be read by Castle actress Molly Quinn and Gossip Girl actor Ed Westwick. Here’s a quick look at the two of them recording City of Fallen Angels, as well as a clip of Westwick reading the first chapter. Check it out below, and remember to sign up for the sweepstakes hosted by Simon & Schuster: A box set of audio CDs signed by Quinn and Westwick is among the prizes.

Listen to the audio clip from behind the scenes here.