After fans endured a painful first half of "Castle" season 8 where Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) had to break up with her husband Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion), there seems to be a glimmer of hope for their relationship in the second half of the season.

During Monday night's mid-season finale, Kate and Rick were forced to work together to solve the murder case when an unidentified woman was discovered dead aboard a cruise ship. But while working on the case, Rick finally found out the real reason why Kate broke up with him.

However, the bestselling mystery writer-turned-police investigation consultant was deeply hurt at first when he learned in the "Mr. and Mrs. Castle" episode that his wife chose to work on the big Lokmat mystery with Vikram Singh (Sunkrish Bala) instead of him. He later on decided to forgive her and go on with her plan to remain publicly separated so they will not blow her cover during her investigation.

This new twist in the Beckett-Castle relationship was explained by series co-showrunners Terence Paul Winter and Alexi Hawley, who were both reportedly excited to see how the current development in the couple's marriage will roll out when "Castle" season 8 returns next year.

"What we love is that now that we're twisting it so that they're in it together but the public face of them is separate, that allows the audience to be in on the joke with them — in the sense that they can "fight" in public, but the audience knows that it's just an act," Hawley explained in the interview with TV Line. "It is pretty delightful, having seen several of the episodes coming up."

Winter added that fans should expect to see a fun and explosive winter premiere titled "Tone Death," where the "separated" couple will have several great sequences that will be seen on the show.

"Castle" season 8 winter premiere airs on Feb. 1, 2016, on ABC.